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HIST 250-02, Interpreting the American West, Spring 1999
Garceau-Hagen, Dee Ewing, Julia
Garceau-Hagen, Dee
Ewing, Julia
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History, Department of, Syllabus, Curriculum, 1999 Spring
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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.
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This syllabus was submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by the course instructor