Even though history may be in the books, it’s never final. This is what two professors said they have learned in their work with archival documents. These professors shared the stories behind their work in an informal lecture sponsored by the history department on Thursday. The talk, “Conversations about the Craft of History: Mapping the Ever-Changing Face of the Past,” drew enough students and faculty members to sufficiently pack the CSS Lounge.
Vera Schwarcz, professor of history and East Asian studies, moderated the lecture. She decried each speaker’s time allotment of fifteen minutes as “criminal,” but unavoidable for such a short event.
The first speaker of the afternoon was Assistant Professor of History, Letters, and Medieval Studies Kathryn Miller. Miller specializes in Islamic studies with a particular regional emphasis on Spain. She is currently concentrating on finishing a book entitled “Guardians of Islam,” which is based on the few existing accounts of Muslims who settled in Granada, Spain, during the twelfth century, only to be later driven out in 1492 by the “Reconquista.”
“Only 0.08 percent of Muslims living in Spain converted to Christianity,” Miller said. “And yet for all their four hundred years of settlement, there remain so few records.”
Miller spent considerable time searching the Spanish and Moroccan archives. While neither was as easily accessible as she would have liked, Miller said she found the experience rewarding, as she had uncovered more clues than could be processed in a lifetime.
“The archives in Morocco were particularly exciting because I knew that these texts had not been seen for a very long time,” she said. “I had to connect dots and follow trails.”
Her concluding research confirmed a “certain tension” about the identity perception of Muslims in Spain during the thirteenth century, who were caught between wanting to belong in Spain prior to the “Reconquista,” and still creating their existence according to Muslim guidelines.
The second speaker was Professor of History Philip Pomper, whose work lies in the more psychological aspects of history. He turned to Russian psychohistory during the height of the Cold War in the 1950, and cites his greatest find as a collection of handwritten notebooks by Trotsky, written between 1933 and 1935. He published the notebooks in 1985.
While Pomper said he never had an hour of psychotherapy himself, he remains heavily interested in the psychology of individuals affected by major historical events.
“People often ask me why I’m studying psychopaths and terrorists,” Pomper said. “And I tell them that I am trying to understand how certain people, who may really want the best for mankind, eventually turn to violence.”
Pomper said that relentless perseverance was just as important as being able to seek help from others. Miller agreed, saying that she grabbed help where she could since she had only a few years of Arabic and Latin behind her. Sometimes a certain amount of bargaining was also required, such as providing archive-keepers with foreign goods like cigarettes.
“Before I could use the Moroccan archives, I had to have an interview with the Mullah in classical Arabic,” Miller said. “Courtesy was everything.”
An ensuing question-and-answer session revealed that students were intensely interested in the physical aspect of the archive-searching process, such as the need for translators. Lindsay Ceballos ’07, a Russian and intellectual history major said that some history professors made use of the Special Collections Department in Olin so that students could access primary sources.
“It’s interesting how fascinated students are by the idea of physical contact with manuscripts,” she said.
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