Teaching Public History

Julia Brock, Evan Faulkenbury, Julia Brock, Evan Faulkenbury

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781469673301
  9781469673295
• eBook ISBN:
  9781469673318
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Dissertations dans l'éducation

The field of public history is growing as college and university history departments seek to recruit and retain students by emphasizing how studying the past can sharpen their skills and broaden their career options. But faculty have often sought to increase course offerings without knowing exactly what the teaching and practice of public history entails. Public historians have debated the meanings of public history since the 1970s, but as more students take public history courses and more scholars are tasked with teaching these classes, the lack of pedagogical literature specific to the field has been challenging. This book addresses the need for a practical guide to teaching public history now. In eleven essays by esteemed public historians teaching at colleges and universities across the United States, this volume details class meetings, student interactions, field trips, group projects, grading, and the larger aims of a course. Each essay contains wisdom and experience for how to teach a public history course and why such classes are vital for our students and communities.

Contributors include: Thomas Cauvin, Kristen Baldwin Deathridge, Jennifer Dickey, Torren Gatson, Abigail Gautreau, Romeo Guzmán, Jim McGrath, Patricia Mooney-Melvin, Lindsey Passenger Wieck, and Rebecca S. Wingo.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• 1. Reflective Practice: Public History’s Signature Pedagogy, Course Design, and Student Engagement
• 2. The Great Syllabus Swap
• 3. The Big Picture Goals of Public History
• 4. Upbuilding an Inclusive Future: A Semester of Reciprocal Learning
• 5. Digital Restorative Justice in the Public History Classroom: Data Literacy and Archival Literacy in Mapping Violence
• 6. The Real Trick Is Holding On to That Energy and Not Collapsing: Teaching Undergraduate Public History on the Verge of the Pandemic
• 7. Imaginemos Cosas Chingonas: Building the Other Football Public History Project
• 8. Seven Weeks of Heaven: Teaching an Undergraduate Introduction to Public History Course in Half a Semester
• 9. Keeping the Tensions Present in the Public History Classroom
• 10. A Journey at the Center of Public History
• 11. Do Public Historians Need Grades?: Ungrading during a Pandemic
• Contributors
• Bibliography
• Index