H I S T O R Y

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in February, 1998. Although some of the courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed in the meantime, it still provides a full and accurate picture of the History Department. For the most current course information and faculty listing, we encourage you to visit the department's homepage.

History

Developing a textured understanding of history

"The Vietnam Experience," a course offered this semester, is team-taught by associate professors John H. Chatfield and Michael E. Lestz of the history department. With the pairing of Chatfield, who specializes in American history, and Lestz, an expert in the Far East, students learn that every story -- every history -- has at least two sides.

According to Peter B. Collins '00, students may have read a Tim O'Brien Vietnam-War novel in which the war is seen as part of American popular culture, but in this course they have to read a text from the "other side" -- one written by a North Vietnamese general, People's War, People's Army: The Viet Cong Insurrection Manual for Underdeveloped Countries. Says Collins, "There's just a huge advantage in seeing it from both sides." Some days, Collins notes, one or the other professor will be the main lecturer. But the best classes, he asserts, are the ones in which East meets West in a riveting dialogue between Chatfield and Lestz. Together the two professors provide the warp and woof of what Lestz calls a "textured" understanding of history.

A large and visible department
Although unique, the course on the Vietnam War is also illustrative of the many strengths of Trinity's history department: the breadth and depth of the faculty's expertise, the commitment to going beyond U.S./Eurocentric perspectives, and the effective teaching techniques that help students discover for themselves the surprisingly subjective nature of the discipline.

Graduating about 40 majors per year, history is one of Trinity's largest and most well-established departments. It is, however, far from being stuck in the past. Department chair Lestz notes that the department has continued in recent years to broaden its scope geographically to include Latin American, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asian history. Currently the department is actively seeking a specialist in Middle Eastern history. Lestz says that with these expanded options for history majors, the department is now considering how to modify its curricular requirements to reflect the faculty's increasing commitment to more global perspectives.

On the Trinity campus, the history department's contributions are fairly ubiquitous and often interdisciplinary. Associate Professor of History Dario A. Euraque, for example, is the director of international studies; Associate Professor of History Cheryl Greenberg is the director of American studies; and Professor of History Joan D. Hedrick is the director of women's studies. In addition, the department sponsors out-of-classroom learning opportunities, including a new series of "brown-bag lunches" this semester during which students are invited to hear faculty members informally discuss their research. Perhaps the best current example of a history department initiative is the campuswide "Decolonization: Painful Transitions in the Cold War Period" program. According to Dario Euraque, the genesis of the program was a history department meeting at which Assistant Professor of International Studies Vijay Prashad came up with an idea for an interdisciplinary exploration of decolonization and the effects of imperialism. The "small idea" grew into a series of over 40 thematically related courses, films, and lecture/panel discussions with participation from more than a dozen of Trinity's academic departments and numerous outside experts.

Diverse teaching methods
While the history department's members are well-published with a reputation for sterling scholarship, Trinity students are most impressed by what goes on in the history classroom. The teaching styles are diverse. There's the classic lecture practiced by many and said to be perfected by Professor of History Samuel D. Kassow, who is known for his extemporaneous, cogent, brilliant presentations. There are the simulation games, debates, and role-playing that Professor of History and American Studies Eugene E. Leach and several others employ to prompt students to understand -- and even defend -- perspectives that they may not agree with. There's Assistant Professor of History Luis A. Figueroa's effective use of computer-projected maps, and the way Associate Professor of History Susan D. Pennybacker, among many others, uses art, films, and literature to enhance students' understanding of a historical event or period.

Eugene Leach notes that students' prior experience in history is often very little like what they experience at Trinity. He says the historiography course, which introduces students to the diverse ways that historians understand and evaluate history, is often "a revelation." Different historians view the same events differently, he says, and "students are often surprised by the degree to which history is a construction."

Amy H. Zubko '98 recalls that when she first became interested in history in high school, she thought it was very much about memorizing names and dates and events. "Now," she says, "I think history is about how it's written and why it's written. You have to remember the biases the writers are coming in with. I've learned that everyone is going to have a different perspective and it's your responsibility to come up with an interpretation that fits the facts."

Cheryl Greenberg's favorite teaching technique is what she calls "a walking debate." In a walking debate, a question is posed (such as: "Is it ever appropriate to violate the First Amendment and freedom of the press?") and all those who answer "yes" walk to one side of the room, while those who say "no" go to the other. "Nobody," says Greenberg, "gets to stay in the middle." Then the debate begins. A student from one side will make a statement about why he believes what he does. Anyone who agrees with that argument, walks to that student's side of the room. An opposing perspective is then offered, and more students change sides. Some students go back and forth like Ping-Pong balls as they consider each new argument. "It forces everybody to examine their beliefs and to listen carefully to what others are saying," says Greenberg. She notes that it's also a lesson in the importance of communication. She explains, "You can really see the effect of a good argument when six people get up and walk across the room."

Writing a thesis, making history
Associate Academic Dean and Lecturer in History L. Ronald Spencer teaches the senior thesis seminar for history majors. Spencer notes that the thesis is often the culmination of the analytical thinking and writing skills that history students develop during the course of their four years. A history thesis is more than "cutting and pasting" from interpretations of others before them, says Spencer. "Students are creating a piece of history from their own reading, their own understanding, and their own analysis of sources."

Robert T. Barlick, Jr. '98 is working on a thesis about imperial pageantry during the Victorian period, a topic that was partly spurred by the Decolonization program. Barlick believes that a history education -- especially with a thesis -- is the best preparation for a career in law, which is his intention. "History teaches you to think and sharpen your writing skills and to put events in context, and that's important in law." Lisa J. Davis '98, who says her focus has been primarily on social and cultural history, believes that studying history has given her a greater understanding of people as well as of patterns in history. "When I read about things happening in various parts of the world, I read more into them."

Davis, who opted for the one-semester senior research seminar as opposed to the two-semester thesis, says that history is a constant source of fascination because of the challenge of investigating and interpreting events for which there are no living witnesses. "There isn't anyone to tell you," she says. "There are things you can't really know."

Does that bother her? "No," Davis says. "It intrigues me."

-- Leslie Virostek

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