Blanca Garcia-Barron, Student, California State University, San Bernardino
Proposal Type: Panel
Abstract: Panel discussing issues that public historians and students of color face in academics, career, and in the field in general. Panelists will discuss how issues of race, ethnicity and class have affected their respective experiences. The issue of representation being prominent; how the importance of representation in academics and public history careers shape our field in general.
Seeking: This proposal needs feedback to better shape the initial idea, as well as panelists who are willing to share their experiences as public historians of color. The main goal of this panel is for public history students and new professionals who come from racial and ethnic minorities to see a more visible and inclusive representation of the experiences they can expect as public historians of color.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: Blanca Garcia-Barron,bmgarciabarron[at]gmail.com
If you have general ideas or feedback to share please feel free to use the comments feature below.
All feedback, and offers of assistance, should be submitted by July 3, 2015.
Related Topics: Careers
Hello Blanca,
This is a very important topic and I think that focusing on graduate students/new professionals may be a good way to approach it. You might want to think about structuring this as a roundtable or structured conversation, which can be an efficient way to maximize the number of perspectives in the session. Some of the issues that NCPH attendees may be interested in include the issues of pipelines (how do people find graduate programs); what experiences and strategies when you’re “the only [fill in the blank]” at your graduate program and/or site of work; and expectations from professors and/or employers that public historians of color have are _only_ interested interpreting the experiences of people of color.
Good luck!
Blanca, I agree that a roundtable format could be the most useful format for your panel. You might also create explicit questions that your panel wants to answer and also that you hope the audience can answer. For example, are you seeking methods for representing yourselves, your perspectives, and your work in different kinds of institutions: local, state, federal, tribal, private, academic? Are you seeking assistance in developing your portfolios effectively in order to present them to different kinds of communities and employers? Once you answer some of these questions as a panel, audience members can be more prepared to help you.
To add to Modupe and Laurie’s excellent suggestions above, if you frame the roundtable as a graduate student/new professional one, you may also find that audience members will be interested in hearing about the experiences and interests that drew panel members into public history. Graduate program directors and hiring officials, in particular, are very much looking for insight into how to recruit a more diverse workforce/student body, and how to fashion a language and description of our work that connects with those who may not identify with the term “public history” but are nonetheless interested in issues of representation and cultural authority.