Public Policy Research and Consulting, Assignments of World History

Download Public Policy Research and Consulting and more Assignments World History in PDF only on Docsity! Dr. Michael Wm. Doyle Office: 765-285-8732; Fax: 765-285-5612 Ball State University E-mail: mwdoyle@.bsu.edu Department of History Home Page: www.bsu.edu/web/mwdoyle/hist_240 Burkhardt Bldg. 213 Office Hours: Thu., 2:00-4:00 P.M. & by appt. Muncie, IN 47306-0480 [HST240SQ.W15.doc] HISTORY 240 / Sec. 001: INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HISTORY Spring Semester 2009 READING ASSIGNMENT STUDY QUESTIONS Week 15: Weds 22 April Public Policy Research and Consulting; Oral History Gardner: Rose T. Diaz and Andrew B. Russell, “Oral Historians: Community Oral History and the Cooperative Ideal,” pp. 203-216: 1. In many cultures oral history has been the principal method of passing down a group’s social memory and traditions. According to the authors, when did oral history first emerge as “a professional mode of inquiry and documentation”? 2. On what type of people did the Columbia Office initially conduct oral history interviews? 3. According to the authors, when did historians begin studying “everyday life” or “people’s history” and come to recognize the value of non-elite as well as elite autobiographies? 4. What role do public historians typically play in oral history projects, according to the authors? 5. What deficiencies do professional historians sometimes exhibit in their practice of oral history? 6. What attributes can professional historians contribute to the practice of oral history? Every oral history project takes careful planning to ensure that the results provide credible historical evidence. Answer the following questions regarding the actual interview process: 7. Describe the three components of the first step the authors recommend for planning a community oral history project. 8. Describe the second step and explain why it is important to the overall project. 9. The third step deals with the foundation of the interview itself. What is this foundation, and what procedure must be initiated to ensure accurate, authoritative interviews? 10. The fourth step takes place after the interview is completed. What processes do the authors insist should be followed to make the interviews more accessible by historical researchers? 2 14. Identify the numerous obstacles involved in getting target communities to participate in the process of exhibit production? 15. What criticisms were spoken against the museum after its opening? 16. What structural fault lines does Wallace see in the struggle over text in the Enola Gay exhibit? 17. Who did Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich blame for the change in attitudes toward history in the United States? What was Gingrich’s solution to the problem of “counterculture” history? 18. What was offered in the National Standards for United States History? Why was Lynne Cheney critical of the proposed new national standards? 19. Describe the truncated version of the Enola Gay exhibition that finally opened in June of 1995. 20. What does Wallace predict would happen if government funding to public history institutions were drastically cut? Do you agree or disagree with his position? Justify your answer. 5 21. In what specific ways have critics attacked the interpretation of the American past in new history textbooks and museum displays? How do the critics of “revisionism” want history to be portrayed? 22. Explain how Wallace would design an exhibition that incorporated the curators' point of view. Do you agree or disagree with his suggestions? Explain why. 23. How does Wallace characterize standards of professional rights and responsibilities and their application in the design of interpretive exhibits? 24. List the four points made in the New York Times editorial which came out in support of the Smithsonian’s Enola Gay exhibit. 25. Wallace suggests that museums form a mutual support network. How would this help “isolated institutions” and museums which want to present controversial exhibitions like the Enola Gay show? Course Packet: David B. Mock, “History in the Public Arena,” Public History: An Introduction ed. Barbara J. Howe and Emory L. Kemp (Malabar, Fla.: Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1988), pp. 410-413 [distributed in class on Week 1]: 1. What two roles does Mock indicate policy historians play in the federal government? 6 2. How does Mock characterize the planning process? 3. According to Mock, what is the difference between tactical and strategic planning? 4. Identify and briefly characterize the six steps involved in public policy planning. 5. What special skills does Mock believe that historians are especially well-suited to bring to the planning process? 6. Evaluation, Mock tells us, is the second facet of policy advising. What are the two types of evaluation? 7. What are the three steps involved in evaluation? 7