Comparing Accounts: Using Popular Culture in History Pedagogy

In my research, I examine how historical narratives are articulated through popular cultural representations of the past. The idea that most Americans historical understanding is filtered through these forms is a central tenet of my scholarly work, and has likewise become critical in my teaching.  In my survey of U.S. History, 1877 to present, most students are non-majors who take the course to fulfill a general education requirement. They tend to think of history as an objective account, not as a narrative that is assembled from evidence, and that evolves within contemporary contexts.  I want students to understand the craft of the historian, and even more immediately, make connections between academic history and their everyday lives. I have found that foregrounding popular interpretations and encouraging rigorous analysis and comparison between different accounts of the past has helped engender student understanding and interest.

I frame discussions of historical events by tracing their representation in cultural forms. In a unit on the settling of the frontier, we discuss the popular image of the cowboy: from the original 19c dime novels through western films, to postmodern representations like the television program Deadwood. We examine which generic qualities have remained and which have changed, comparing these to primary evidence from the “real” west.  Students learn about figures like “Buffalo” Bill Cody—looking at how he helped to create his own image through his Wild West Shows, to how he has been reimagined in the musical Annie Get Your Gun. Students use interdisciplinary methods from media studies, literature studies and other fields to perform these analyses. Students both connect their prior knowledge to course knowledge, and learn critical analytical skills. But most importantly, they understand that history is alive, and that the relationship between the past and present is both fascinating and vital.