HIST 250-02, Interpreting the American West, Spring 1999

Abstract

In this course students will explore both the analytical and expressive possibilities of collaboration between History and the Theater Arts. Students will engage in primary historical research, using archival materials from the history of the American West. From these sources, students will develop a performance piece. Professor Garceau will guide students through the processes of historical interpretation; Professor Ewing will guide students through the processes of dramatic interpretation.The history of the American West offers a compelling blend of myth, scholarly debate, and evidence that invite further study. “For more than a century,” wrote Richard White, “the American West has been the most strongly imagined section of the United States.” Through oral and written history, songs, fiction, art, and film, the West has been identified with mythic themes of adventure and transformation.Once thought a simple tale of white migration westward, historians now recognize the West as a meeting ground of cultures, a crucible of intertribal diplomacy as well as encounters between Indian nations and EuroAmerican colonizers. By studying in depth three of the most mythologized forms of migration --the fur trade, the Overland Trail, and the cattle drives-- students can appreciate the complexity of western history and search for its dramatic core. We hope that students will come away with new insight into the processes of constructing history as well as the processes of creating theater.