Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Academic History
I hate academic history!! That seems odd coming from someone who has chosen to spend their entire career wading in the waters of history in the academy. I am truly at a crossroads in my early career and feel the pull of more "narrative nonfiction" than academic history. This would put me in the same catagory as those journalists who tred all over our fine discipline. I know that some look down on journalists writing history, but at least their works are readable. So much of modern academic history is theory, jargon, and other psuedo-political tripe that masquerades as academic. Are we (historians) so far removed from what once brought us to this discipline that we can no longer talk to the average man on the street (whatever that means)? What has truly re-lit a fire under me has been the work I've done with Still Spring Productions of Hiawatha Diary. Bringing my work to the larger public--rather than the 10 other PhDs who find academic interest in my topic--has given birth to an unusual feeling in me--optimism! I really believe that if people understand and are exposed to the trials and tribulations facing American Indian people both now and historically, then the idea of the invisible Indian will pass from this nation. Nathan, this is entirely your fault. Without realizing it, you've inspried me once again--your dissertation and the concept of average white people not even seeing Indians has prompted this rethinking of my role as an historian, an Indian, and a human being. Thus, I have a new goal for my writing--to make sure that never again, will Indians be an invisible group in this country! My academic colleagues will scoff, but I believe that my work will have a higher purpose.
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2 comments:
I feel the same way. Why are we as historians herded like cattle into writing the same boring nonsense. The writing of history is for all people, from all walks of life, no matter educational background. The writing of history should know no boundaries. This may get me in trouble, but I refuse to write about things that do not interest me. So what if I am labeled a baseball or sports historian. Those who wear the tweed jackets and scoff at my work, and do not take my writing seriously will only miss out.
As an "average white guy" I have to agree and yet disagree in the same breath. I agree with everything and disagree with nothing, because everything you've said is true. And yet, at the same time, it is all a lie.
Truth and the general public perception of truth are at odds, and you know this. I think it's the wilfulness of the ignorance that escapes you.
Stereotypes have existed for eons as a way by one group to elevate themselves above another. There's a small comfort in crushing a People to make your own feel more powerful.
This comes to the very heart of what you say. As a Historian, and an Indian... You're a terrible historian in academic terms, because you're not wrapped up in clinical truth, but are unfettered in your exploration of the social, personal, emotional aspects of events, allowing them to become personal to you. For shame!
You're also not an Indian. You're a white man of Indian heritage. I say this with utmost respect of what this means to you. When looking at you, I do not see who you are as who you would be if I and 'my people' where not here. Everything about the routine of your daily life has been handed to you by my culture. You have had to explore to discover your own cultural provenance. Hardest of all, you're encumbered by your education and career choice - your academic study of your world has been in the language and culture of my world. You understand yourself in cultural terms defined by a culture different that your own. That is the very definition of dispossessed, at the most intimately personal level. Your spirit has been changed.
I have worked hard on Hiawatha Diary, and I have made many new contacts and a few new friends. I've talked to people I never expected to talk to. And in all of this, I have felt more and more like an exile of my own culture, and more at home in the one you've lost. Your academic work has allowed me to relate to something I could otherwise have never understood.
I think what I am trying to say is that on the cultural railroad, I went to the hills of South Dakota, and you bought my ticket.
For this reason, I believe you speak the truth. Your skill may lay in academia, but your talent has repeatedly been in making ordinary people feel something outside of themselves. To see perspectives, be they historical, cultural or personal.
You've had a deep impact on my Worldview - you have changed myspirit.
I hope you have the same effect on many, many others. It could only make the World a better place.
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