Modern Latin America 2020

History 216

Class Notes 1/24/2020

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Class Notes 1/24/2020

  1. A one or two paragraph summary of the day’s activities.  What historical questions did we discuss in class?  How did the assigned readings for that day hold together?

We began class today by taking our Modern Latin American Map quiz before moving on to our workshop on digital history. Our main discussions for the day were about public history and how we can best execute our digital timeline projects. The historical questions asked were:

  • What is public history?
  • In what ways might the work you do for our digital timeline be different from a primary source essay?
  • How can you use this work as part of your digital profile?

These questions helped to aid our discussion on public history and how we will be using it in our projects.  Public history is a form of history that is meant for a more general audience than normal academic history. The goal of public history is to make it more accessible so that everyone is able to enjoy and comprehend it. We then discussed certain things that we need to consider when making our timelines to ensure it can be enjoyed by the public, here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Choose sources/images that will be appealing to a general audience and not just scholars
  • When creating descriptions avoid academic language and make them as short and concise so people don’t loose focus.

We then discussed our timeline projects and what we would be doing. For each entry we have to pick a primary source that represents your country during that time period and then write about 2-3 paragraphs (250-400 words) that analyze your source. You will then upload them to the timeline website: www.cowlatinamerica.voices.wooster.edu

For finding sources, we went through a lot of reputable options that have many primary sources available for our use, some of which will be linked bellow.

Due Dates:

1/29: Upload pdf to moodle with a draft of your first entry and ideas for 2 more (do not need to be done in order of the timeline)

1/31: Peer review the entries of 2 classmates before class

2/3: In Class workshop on how to upload entries to website.

  1. Transcribe at least one passage that we talked about in class, and explain how it related to the main point.

Before class, we had to read the “How do we define Public History” page on the National Council on Public History website. Since our class period isshort, this reading allowed us to get a more in depth look into the definition of public history as well as some examples of the many forms it is able to take. It also explains the connection to the general public that is unique to Public History, there are many projects in which public historians are in discussions with community members and the general public about their project and taking suggestions on how to best present their material. We will not be doing consultations with the public but it is important for us to remember that our timelines are meant for public consumption so we should keep that in mind when choosing and describing our sources.

  1. Key terms that came up in class, plus a definition.
  • Public History: history geared toward a broader audience and not just scholars
  1. Three (or more!) links to reputable websites or scholarly sources that, in some way, clarify, extend, or correct something that was said in class.
  1. Three or more potential examination questions.  These questions should encourage analysis, synthesis, and interpretation (not just asking for the repetition of facts).
    1. What does Public History contribute to the field of history as a whole?
    2. What do we need to keep in mind when creating work for public consumption?
    3. Why is public history important, not just to the field of history but to society as a whole
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