AHA Session 276
Sunday, January 5, 2025: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Empire Ballroom West (Sheraton New York, Second Floor)
Chair:
Matthew Gabriele, Virginia Tech
Panel:
Tanisha C. Ford, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Megan Kate Nelson, writer and historian
Ada L. Palmer, University of Chicago
David M. Perry, University of Minnesota
Chad Louis Williams, Brandeis University
Megan Kate Nelson, writer and historian
Ada L. Palmer, University of Chicago
David M. Perry, University of Minnesota
Chad Louis Williams, Brandeis University
Session Abstract
It isn’t too much to say that the study of the past in the academy is under assault. The number of History majors has seen a steady decline, that data then “justifies” shuttering programs, fewer professorial jobs are being made available, and forces outside the university (legislators and donors, among others) are questioning the very value of our scholarship. But in the face of that doom spiral, we see a paradox - popular interest in the study of the past (at least in the context of the United States) remains high. Streaming shows and video games with historical settings break ratings records and win awards, history majors may be down at universities and colleges but enrollments are largely not, and bestseller lists are filled with historical non-fiction. This roundtable then aims to help us think about how to bridge that gap, to reconcile that seeming paradox, by shining light on the different modes of historical discourses - academic and trade/ popular - and argue for the embrace of narrative history. The participants, all established scholars, also (prosaically) “tell stories about the past” that highlight the best recent scholarship, that open the tent’s flaps and invite people into the discipline, building communities that will hopefully hunger for more courses - and more people - doing history. In other words, narrative history long thought of as simply information conveyance is indeed a form of knowledge creation. Here, David Perry will discuss how one writes narrative from a fragmentary source base. Chad Williams, evoking Albert Bushnell Hart’s 1909 Presidential address to the AHA, will talk about creating “drama” in history. Megan Kate Nelson will talk about working within the “system” of trade publishing. Tanisha Ford will focus her remarks on building audiences that move within and beyond the academy. Finally, Ada Palmer will talk about how varieties of writing - both fiction and non - can usefully work together to help people better understand the past and why it matters.
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