... and as it turns out the universe loves me. As I was doing my usual trawl through the Medievalists.net blog I came across an article about the newly formed Society for the Public Understanding of the Middle Ages. Oh my gosh if this wasn't for me. And heck if I am not going to use this as leverage to get me into a PhD program this year. It seems to suggest that I have taken all the right things, BAH Medieval Studies, MA Norse and Viking Studies, MA Public History, at all the right times, and also that though Public History is a field that has been around for more than twenty years, it is now coming en vogue in many different areas, academic and otherwise. Not only en vogue but this society is also using terms that we used in public history, beyond just the words 'medievalisms', so as to suggest that what I have been studying this year is in the same discourse as what is currently being produced. I can't say that I felt out of place as a medievalist doing a Public History degree, but I was aware that I had an odd background for someone who was contemplating a Public History career. I now have an overwhelming sense of validation. Not only might I have students who want to take classes with me, I might have department heads who see the value in the path that I have taken. Alright, this is a lot to put on the shoulders of one society and one website, but I am very excited nonetheless.
"I can't say that I felt out of place as a medievalist doing a Public History degree, but I was aware that I had an odd background for someone who was contemplating a Public History career."
ReplyDeletePlease, elaborate on why your background is odd for a career in Public History. Makes perfect sense to me.
I think it could be summed up by the fact that everyone was very surprised when I expressed a disinterest in WWII. Not that it doesn't interest me at all, just that, frankly, of all the historical periods, I find it one of the least interesting. That was like blasphemy. Most of the other people who were taking public history had worked at, or were interested in, institutions that dealt with more of a Canadian type history - a history that can be said to truly belong to the visitors of that area. Public History and the Middle Ages makes perfect sense, I agree; the Middle Ages is the fantasy playground of all of Western culture. And maybe it was Western, or maybe medievalists don't feel there's a future for them in public history when they are looking for public history jobs later, but whatever the reason I was the only one, and there hadn't been really any medievalists that had come before me.
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