National Council on Public History

Kathryn Wilson, Associate Professor, Georgia State University

Proposal Type: Roundtable

Seeking: Additional Presenters,General Feedback and Interest

Abstract: Speaking to the 2016 theme, “Challenging the Exclusive Past,” this roundtable/panel explores the variety of strategies public historians have used or can use to engage and interpret the immigrant experience. Some questions the roundtable could consider are: What strategies or practices enable “shared inquiry” across cultural, linguistic, and racial boundaries? What are the barriers and opportunities for collaboration and engagement with underrepresented immigrant communities? How do public historians produce, resist or revise dominant tropes of the immigrant story in their interpretive practice? What constitutes a “usable past” for immigrant history in the US? What dilemmas do public historians, particularly those funded by government entities, face in interpreting the experience of those whose presence on US soil is shaped by federal policy? How do issues of legality, confidentiality, and ethics eme rge when working with immigrant groups and how are these issues addressed?

Seeking: I am seeking 2 or more panelists or presenters for a roundtable or panel on immigration and ethnicity and public history. Topics or interests may include addressing the questions asked in the abstract, as well as the presentation of specific case studies related to specific immigrant communities. I welcome interest from folks who have worked at institutions or sites outside the usual suspects in immigration history as well as those from more familiar sites. The goal is to highlight some of the dilemmas or issues that arise when working with immigrant communities, the kinds of negotiations public historians have found themselves engaged in, how they have add ressed dilemmas, and how they see their work fitting into a larger story of immigrants in the US. I would be willing to consider this as a panel, structured conversation, or other format such as working group if people were more interested in that than a roundtable per se.

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: Kathryn Wilson,kewilson[at]gsu.edu

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: Civic Engagement, Immigration and ethnicity, Memory, Oral History

Discussion