March 22, 2015 - 16:12
I keep going back and forth between two topics that I am interested in studying more in depth. The first is high education why do we split it off? How do people who teach in these offset fields feel about not being not part of the mainstream teaching? I was thinking specifically about African American studies, Asian studies, gender and sexuality, how they are destiny separated out from departments like history. And how we call one ‘history’ and the other is offer just viewed as a side subject, why are they not taught in more intersection. My other ideais in erasures in history, and how when we erase a certain group of people (specifically my focus would be women) from history and how it creates problems. How it leads us to fall into think that great man theory of history is much truer then it is. The idea of this one came to me while reading an article called why would man need a 28 day calendar.
Comments
side subjects and erasures
Submitted by jccohen on March 23, 2015 - 13:37 Permalink
slafennog,
Either of these would be viable inquiry topics. As you've outlined them very briefly here, I'd say the second one is less clear to me at this point -- would you be looking at how the 'erasure' of women in the field of history has 'created problems' in terms of what we think history is and how we teach/learn it? With the first topic, it might be interesting to look at how/why this came about as well as various perspectives on 'separate' versus more integrated iterations of these areas in higher ed, and I think you'd find plenty of material on this. It might also be interesting to interview some people about these questions, once you've done some research and have some framing ideas...
Hi Slafennog,
Submitted by jkang on March 23, 2015 - 14:01 Permalink
Hi Slafennog,
Regarding your first inquiry proposal, I suggest you think about how separating different areas of study can actually be empowering and a way to reclaim identity and history for historically marginalized peoples. For example, as an Asian American, I am excited when Haverford or Bryn Mawr offers a class solely on Asian American history because I think of it as a way to learn and produce my own knowledge on my own identity and my community.
I definitely agree that I think it is problematic that there are points of separation that classify certain studies as secondary. But I also think it is important to think about how the difference can be a way to claim and self-produce identity.