A Challenge to Teachers of the Social Studies

When teachers in elementary and middle school classrooms portray history as an immutable sequence of certain facts, dates, and events, young learners tend to view the past, and by extension the future, as something fixed and inevitable. Learning about the past through investigating biographies can help counter this tendency by teaching students to recognize that individuals and groups have the agency to make history and shape the future. In this article, the author presents three instructional strategies in which learners make use of graphic organizers to investigate the historical contexts and chronologies of individuals' lives. Students learn how people have effected historical change and worked together to preserve continuity with the past. They also learn that the values and attitudes that motivated individuals and groups to act as they did were in large measure the result of historically specific social structures and institutional arrangements.     

Buildings as Artifacts: What Are Buildings in World History Telling Us?

Learning about people from long ago and far away poses a challenge for students because such people seem so distant and different. The lack of easily comprehensible text-based primary sources compounds this problem. Using a built environment as a primary source makes people from the distant past more accessible, concrete and exciting. Broadly speaking, a built environment entails all the changes that people have made to a landscape, such as buildings, roads, ways of conveying power and water, and even adaptations of the physical environment such as gardens and parks. Students' exploration of a built environment fosters historical inquiry and visual literacy, provides evidence for constructing a historical narrative, and offers insight into a people, place and time as they investigate not simply the structure, but the perspectives of those associated with it and the cultural and historical context in which it is situated. In this article we draw on our experience with 6th and 9th grade students as we present a guide on how to integrate the built environment as a source of artifacts into world history.     

Unrolling the Map in American History

Cinematic feature films are a big part of youth popular culture. When blockbuster movies are about historical topics, it is reasonable for teachers to be drawn to using them in the classroom to motivate students interest. This article overviews research on film in the history classroom and describes three learning functions that history movies can have fact and ficion; constructing the past and the people in it; and reacting to the past.     

A Documentary History of African-American Freedom: An Introduction to the Race,Slavery and Free Blacks Microfilm Collection

This essay offers an introduction to the Race, Slavery and Free Blacks: Petitions to Southern Legislatures and County Courts microfilm collection, edited and published by Professor Loren Schweninger and the Race and Slavery Petitions Project at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2003–04 the author joined the RSPP staff as the National Historical and Public Records Commission's Fellow in Documentary Editing. This essay identifies how the petition testimonies included in this unusual microfilm collection can inform our understanding of African-American freedom before emancipation. More specifically, it examines petition testimonies filed with county courts and legislatures for evidence of how slaves, slaveholders and free African-Americans experienced the legal process of manumission. It argues for petition testimonies as a unique form of African-American narrative.     

The Significance of the Wealth of Nations for Economic Education

Students' understanding of history may be shaped less by their social studies teachers than by the powerfully ubiquitous, historically themed media images they passively consume outside of school. In this article, the author describes two strategies conducted during a classroom-based action research study designed to explore how historically themed film can be used to scaffold activities that encourage middle school students to conduct inquiries of the past and critically evaluate feature films and documentaries. Data collected from student surveys, focus group discussions, assignments, and classroom observations suggested that students benefit from well-structured activities that encourage them to compare historical accounts with cinematic portrayals of the past. In particular, the Know-Wonder-Learn and anticipation guide strategies can encourage critical critical viewing and thinking about how film accounts are created.     

Who Cares about Water Pollution? Opinions in a Small-Town Crisis*

A survey was conducted in a small New England town following the discovery that the town's water supply had become contaminated by industrial chemicals. Principal findings include: (1) respondents from more affluent households were more concerned about the pollution problem; (2) long-term or older residents tended to be less concerned; and (3) women with young children viewed the problem as particularly serious. The first two findings are consistent with previous research on similar “technological catastrophes” and on environmental protection in general. The third finding has not appeared in environmental protection research, but it is consistent with reports from Three Mile Island. Such technological catastrophes transform environmental issues into safety issues, thereby raising parents’anxieties about the safety of their children–perhaps more so for women than for men. These safety concerns may eventually be generalized to broader environmental issues, as toxic waste and other disasters continue to occur.     

Constructing identity and oppositional knowledge: The framing practices of peace movement organizations during the Persian gulf war

Social movement organizations (SMOs) engage in the formation of public policy and social beliefs by framing issues and events for the public. These framing activities may offer an alternative source of knowledge and challenge status quo definitions of important social issues. Analyzing the statements and press releases of four peace movement organizations during the seven months of military escalation and war in the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991, this article explores the structure and content of social movement framing of a specific event. Findings suggest that the shape and content of the frames used by these SMOs are rooted in a complex amalgamation of each organization's historical and public identity, intended audiences, and contemporary motivations and organizational goals. The collective identity of an organization influences the shape and content of the organization's framing activities. The organizations studied made use of their specific structural and organizational strengths as part of a credentialing process, wherein they shaped their oppositional voices so they could be heard and accepted by specific audiences. This was in turn a matter of the organization's historical practice, the ways it presented that history, and how it constructed its con temporary collective identity (e.g., as Quakers or as Catholic peacemakers). All of this is done with a view toward claiming a voice in the public debate, a voice that may help the SMO create oppositional bases of knowledge, influence public policy, sustain and embolden members, and establish a historical record of opposition.     

CHAUFFEURING AND COMMUTING

Work and family decision-making as a factor of life in a small middle class town in semi-rural Michigan is discussed in relation to class reproduction and gendered parenting identities. Interview and ethnographic data reveal why parents choose to live in this community and how their work and family lives are shaped in part by the town's location and character. Topics considered are children's school and extracurricular activities and parents’ career trajectories, commuting distances, local job opportunities, and family participation. Framed by a life course approach, the data provide a holistic on-the-ground picture of the intersection of these diverse elements in the lives of study participants.     

MAIN STREET ON MAIN STREET:

Whereas sociologists have devoted extensive attention to the development of individual identity, the question of community identity has not received similar treatment. Most examinations of collective identity assume that communities build upon positive events and memories, but what about those communities that are forced to deal with criticism? The case of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, the hometown of the Nobel Prize winning novelist Sinclair Lewis, is instructive in this regard. In his first major novel, Main Street, Lewis was highly critical of the fictional town of Gopher Prairie, a thinly disguised Sauk Centre. Yet, within a few years reputational entrepreneurs in Sauk Centre had incorporated Lewis and the image of “Main Street” into the town's cultural identity, using these images to promote the town. We examine five processes by which this transformation occurred: revaluation, incorporating positive commentary, confronting negative commentary, selective omission, and contextualization.     

Proud to be poor? Untangling identity politics with the families portrayed in the photobook Courage (1998)

In the early 1990s, several European welfare states embraced the idea that the voice and life knowledge of people in poverty should be recognised in policymaking. In that regard, many authors proclaimed a paradigm shift from advocacy to self-advocacy, emphasising the agency of people in poverty to speak for themselves. Emblematic in these developments in Belgium was the photobook Courage, published in 1998 by an NGO called Movement for People with a Low Income and Children (BMLIK). Through documentary family photography and oral testimonies, Courage develops a visual rhetoric on the citizenship of people in poverty while reframing poverty as a violation of human rights. Historical research demonstrates, however, that Courage was produced by middle-class volunteer allies and is therefore a rhetorical tool for self-advocacy but certainly not a product of self-advocacy. Moreover, many authors have been highly critical of identity politics, since positive imagery can equally be disempowering in reinforcing neo-philanthropical principles of self-help and willpower which ultimately lead away from redistributive policies. This article therefore examines, through oral history with photo elicitation, how the people involved experienced being portrayed as the protagonists of self-advocacy on the poverty problem. The findings show how the portrayed people fluidly (dis)identified over the past 20 years through three intertwined subjective processes involving Courage as an artefact: for remembering (historical function), for assessing (evaluative function) and for advocacy (persuasive function). As such, they appear not as passive objects of others’ campaigning strategies, but as active co-constructors of self-advocacy rhetoric. Some of the pitfalls and potentials of identity politics in the struggle against poverty are discussed.     

Publicizing our product: Sociologists, the press and defining the discipline at the local level

While sociologists at the national level are often called upon to present opinions about social issues, the crucial work of clarifying the image of the discipline is probably best done in local settings. The difficulty, however, is that practicing sociologists at the state and local levels are often unsure about how to deal with the press and as a consequence are reluctant to present themselves to the local media arena. Several state associations are aware of this problem and have incorporated media training into their annual programs (notably, Georgia and North Carolina). This paper suggests some strategies for talking with the local media, based on personal experience of the author both as a sociologist and as a member of a state legislature. Paul Luebke, has also served since 1991 as a Democrat from Durham county in the North Carolina House of Representatives. His revised study of political change in North Carolina, Tar Heel Politics 2000, was recently published by UNC Press.     

Understanding the Impact of Using Oral Histories in the Classroom

Oral histories are a powerful pedagogical tool in developing historical understanding and important learning skills simultaneously. Teachers use firsthand accounts of historical time periods and/or events to help develop students' sense of history. In addition to gaining historical understanding, students are able to bring history alive by capturing personal stories and connecting with individuals to better understand their experiences and point of view. The purpose of this interpretive case study was to explore in depth how classroom teachers can develop knowledge of the social studies by engaging students in collecting oral histories of local residents. In addition, this case study explores how these strategies impact students' perception of learning social studies and their historical understanding.     

Who do you think they were? How family historians make sense of social position and inequality in the past

How do social comparisons over time shape perceptions of inequality? In thinking about subjective inequality, it is important to ask which social comparisons matter in establishing people's sense of relative social position and wider inequalities. These issues are discussed by drawing on a qualitative study of popular genealogy, which examines how people make sense of social position in the past, and explores how social change affects people's sense of social hierarchies. The gaze of family history promotes certain sorts of social comparisons, between ‘then and now’, and between immediate kin, which can flatten the sense of social hierarchies. However, the ability to determine social position also depends on the quality of information available, and how different practical engagements facilitate ‘sideways’ comparisons between contemporaries, affording different fields of vision on relative inequalities. On this evidence, when exploring subjective inequality it is necessary to examine when and how people engage in social comparison as part of everyday practical activities.     

Persons with disabilities and the Colombian armed conflict

This article is about the armed conflict in Colombia and the situation for people with disabilities. Decades of internal conflict have created a complex situation which both gives rise to disability but also fails to take account of the many urgent needs of people with disabilities. Despite the ratification by Colombia of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, persons with disabilities are still not accorded a voice in the peace agreements. Although there is little known about the extent of disability in Colombia, it is important to understand the history of the Colombian armed conflict to see how it impacts on disability issues. We conclude by highlighting the legal instruments in Colombia which provide opportunities now to redress some of those wrongs.     

Teaching, tracking, and marketing our product

Many sociology departments have faced difficult times in the past decade. This article examines how this crisis confronted two universities in North Carolina and the strategies which they used to strengthen their departments. Major emphasis is given to how state associations can assist departments in developing applied curriculum, publicizing their successful endeavors, and recruiting students. The article also provides insights about dealing with outcomes assessment as well as administering internship programs. Jan Rienerth teaching interests are in women’s issues, applied sociology, and experimental learning. Her research has focused on women and the elderly in prison. Martin Shultz primary research area involves the long term changes in the American family, especially divorce. In the past ten years, he has developed additional interests in applied sociology with an internship program. Richard Caston interests include socio-economics, health, and applied research.     

The North Carolina Online Sex Offender Registry: Awareness and Utilization by Childcare Providers

This study examined childcare providers' usage of the North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry. One hundred twenty three childcare providers in 76 counties in North Carolina were surveyed via telephone interview about their utilization of the registry Web site. Responses revealed that most providers knew about the registry (87.9%). However, over half of these providers (53.2%) did not access the Web site for work purposes. In addition, very few centers (3.2%) had a policy mandating that employees check the Web site. Based on the results of this study, the majority of childcare centers are not effectively utilizing the registry.     

Slavery and the American university: discourses of retrospective justice at Harvard and Brown

American universities have drawn international attention in recent years as their ties to and historical complicity in slavery and the slave trade have been increasingly exposed. This essay examines Harvard and Brown's self-reflective investigations into their involvement in slavery and highlights how the universities have deployed a discourse of retrospective justice as a way to grapple with the incorporation of the history of slavery into the heritage of their institutions. The essay finds that by engaging in conversations about memorialization, apology, and reparations, the universities attempt to confront the past while constructing the future.     

Religious Identity as an Historical Narrative: Coptic Orthodox Immigrant Churches and the Representation of History

Abstract  The Coptic Church has a very unique historical trajectory that includes an early separation from the Greco-Roman Byzantine Christian world in the fifth century followed by a legacy of subordination in Egypt after the Arab Conquest. This paper looks at how the Coptic Church narrates this history particularly as it transcends the national boundaries of Egypt to serve migrant Copts in Western societies. The historical narrative of the Coptic Church celebrates its contributions to early Christianity; defends its stance in the Chalcedon Council in 451 CE; and celebrates a legacy of triumph and survival after the Arab conquest. Building on theories on collective memory, this paper shows how the present and the past shape one another in a very complex way. The paper is based on interviews with both lay and clerical members of Coptic immigrant communities in Canada and the United States and on textual analysis of books, bulletins and websites launched on and by the Church.     

‘Once a miner,always a miner’: Poverty and livelihood diversification in Akwatia,Ghana

This paper offers an alternative viewpoint on why people choose to engage in artisanal mining – the low tech mineral extraction and processing of mainly precious metals and stones – for extended periods in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing upon experiences from Akwatia, Ghana's epicentre of diamond production since the mid-1920s, the analysis challenges the commonly-held view that the region's people are drawn to artisanal mining solely because of a desire ‘to get rich quick’. A combination of events, including the recent closure of Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Ltd's industrial-scale operation and decreased foreign investment in the country's diamond industry over concerns of it potentially harbouring ‘conflict’ stones from neighbouring Côte D'Ivoire, has had a debilitating economic impact on Akwatia. In an attempt to alleviate their hardships, many of the town's so-called ‘lifetime’ diamond miners have managed to secure employment in neighbouring artisanal gold mining camps. But their decision has been condemned by many of the country's policymakers and traditional leaders, who see it solely as a move to secure ‘fast money’. It is argued here, however, that these people pursue work in surrounding artisanal gold mining communities mainly because of poverty, and that their decision has more to do with a desire to immerse in activities with which they are familiar, that offer stable employment and consistent salaries, and provide immediate debt relief. Misdiagnosis of cases such as Akwatia underscores how unfamiliar policymakers and donors are with the dynamics of ASM in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Discourses of Resource Dependency: Second Homeowners as “Lifeblood” in Vacationland

In recent decades, rural destinations that once relied on the production and extraction of land and resources now rely on tourism as the primary economic pursuit. Such destinations have experienced a surge of new migrants in the form of tourists, permanent newcomers, and second homeowners. Scholars have turned to how permanent residents perceive these changes and new populations, revealing that in some instances permanent residents are more accepting of newcomers due to economic constraints. I extend this line of research by asking how, and under what conditions, permanent residents favorably view second homeowners, a specific type of rural in-migrant. Drawing on ethnographic data in Rangeley, Maine, I develop the concept “discourses of resource dependency,” to clarify how and why localities justify, explain, and ultimately pursue one economic resource over another. In this case, local residents view second homeowners as a resource that will ensure the town's economic sustainability, and this frame enables local residents to view their in-migration favorably. This frame emerges not just from structural economic circumstances, but also from a confluence of historical and cultural conditions that elevate the import of second homeowners in Rangeley's place-making project.