Communicating the relevance of history and historical narratives is at the core of what we do as public historians. How do we define relevance? Why is it important to communicate that relevance? What are some strategies we can use to connect to the public? What are our ultimate goals in making history relevant?
History (and sometimes badly interpreted history) can easily circulate among the public with social media. How can we use social media and other public relations approaches to strategically engage in public history practices? What are some of the dangers or disadvantages to engaging in history in this way? Each social media platform has different audiences and means of engagement – how does this create challenges and advantages in using social media as a public historian or an institution?
Guest Speaker: Dr. Michelle Delaney, National Museum of the American Indian
How did your understandings of decolonizing museums change or deepen this week with the additional examples Lonetree provided? What are specific examples from the NMAI and the Ziibiwing Center that were successful or not successful (or partially successful) in Lonetree’s perspective? What are the takeaways for museum practices from Lonetree regarding collections, site design, representation, and other course themes? What is repatriation, and how does it relate to these discussions of decolonization?
How do museums represent their constituencies today? How can they keep their focus on the local community while still engaging in a national conversation? How does the mission for a community-founded museum differ from other institutions?
Guest Speaker: Cynthia Prescott
History is complicated and messy. Based on these readings, how would you describe the historical process? Is history absolute and permanent or something more fluid that reflects back on the time in which it was written? How should we handle conflicting accounts of the past? How should we commemorate the past?
