Hello! My name is Elias (he/him) and I am a junior history major. I am from the Hudson Valley of New York, which is where I will be living for the duration of the term. My primary focus in history at Carleton has been on histories of colonialism and decolonization, resistance against structures of oppression, and international exchange. Additionally, over the past few terms I have developed a keen interest in public history, particularly in theorizing about how history might best be produced and reproduced for diverse public audiences. Beyond the realm of the theoretical, however, I do not have a lot of experience in this area. I am very excited to be working with my peers in HIST200 this term on creating and curating an archive dedicated to this particular moment!
My focus throughout the term will be on how organizations and institutions have evolved and changed their practices to continue serving their communities. Decision making within public institutions is fascinating enough as an object of historical inquiry, and this moment of urgency and uncertainty has raised the stakes substantially. I have been very interested, over the past few weeks, in observing how organizations and institutions that communities depend upon for various services and goods have responded to these troubling circumstances. In the chaos of this moment it is also important to keep in mind the various stakes and incentives that drive decision making. Economic, relational, and public health imperatives are interacting within every household, business, and Zoom call. From newspapers providing increased online services to public parks making admission free to the subway system in NYC running fewer trains, the landscapes of our lives are changing significantly and – importantly – differentially.
It is important to highlight these changes in the public, institutional infrastructure of this moment in order to allow historians of the present and future to examine the structural and cultural contours and faultlines that this moment has elucidated.
Elias, this is a really interesting approach to take. I’ve also been thinking about what decisions institutions are making and how much responsibility they are placing in the hands of ordinary people, and how to balance different (and possibly competing) economic and public health needs. It’s also interesting to think about how institutions or administrations are communicating their reasoning for certain decisions – I know in Minnesota the government has been working to be very transparent on this, and online they are providing information about available resources (like current number of ventilators in use, ICU capacity and what can be ready in 24 hours), and also fairly detailed information on the modeling they are doing. I’m excited to see what materials you find!