The event held on June 11, 2022 featured three keynote addresses from experts in the field of frontier history:
Dr. James Hill, University of Pittsburgh, “Whose Frontier Is It? Decolonizing Narratives in World History”
This talk seeks to reframe frontier histories from the perspectives of Indigenous peoples. As a first step, capturing the historical views of the colonized towards colonizer is an admirable goal. However, decolonizing efforts should not stop there. A fully decolonized history should demonstrate how Indigenous peoples have adapted to and coped with colonialism, countering narratives of their disappearance and erasure. Indigenous peoples have moved beyond mere survival by refashioning themselves to endure and thrive in a postcolonial landscape.
Dr. Matt Matsuda, Rutgers University, “Water’s Edge: Histories and Frontiers in Pacific and Oceanian Worlds”
Histories of the Pacific world have, over the last decades, been shaped by examinations of frontiers and places of encounter, both insular and connected. Scholars have pursued “unending frontiers,” “oceans unbounded,” “waves across the South,” and a “sea of islands” to illuminate new ways of telling histories and underscore long silenced voices and pasts. We will begin by mapping millennia of the translocal, examine traditions of navigation and diaspora, look to commerce and conquest, seek out lives and legacies of acculturation and persistence, understand imperial power and migrations, and the promises and perils of labor, migration, and a changing oceanic environment. We’ll pay respects to a canoe, a sea creature, a saint, a warrior, and a woman who cared for children, all living in and making their presence known across the centuries.
Dr. Veronica Castillo-Munoz, UC Santa Barbara, “Teaching about the Border: Border Crossings and the Making of the US-Mexico Borderlands”
The U.S.-Mexico border is over two thousand miles long and ranks among the longest borders in the world. Understanding the formation of communities that facilitate border crossings and cultural interactions between these two nations is now more important than ever. This workshop will focus on the best practices to teaching about the border as well as the broader history and experiences of border people.
Email ALWH@pitt.edu with any questions
To learn more about other programs and resources offered by the Alliance for Learning in World History visit the homepage here!
This event is hosted by the Alliance for Learning in World History, based at the University of Pittsburgh’s World History Center and is cosponsored by Pitt's History Department, Asian Studies Center, Center for Latin American Studies and Global Studies Center.