wcaleb’s Twitter Archive—№ 11,297

1. @tanehisicoates often says how much he learns from academic historians; but we historians have as much or more to learn from him. #BTWAM
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 14 Retweets ❤️ 20 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood 0

…in reply to @wcaleb
2. And I'm not just talking about what historians can learn from @tanehisicoates prose style, though that's on vivid display in #BTWAM.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
3. I'm talking about what he says to us, as historians, about our methods, both as crafters of narrative and as classroom teachers.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
4. First, on methods, I'm thinking a lot about what @tanehisicoates has to teach us, as historians, about writing the history of slavery.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 2 Retweets ❤️ 2 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood -3 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
5. In a vivid passage, Coates says "slavery is not an indefinable mass of flesh" but a "particular, specific enslaved woman" (69).
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…in reply to @wcaleb
6. The passage (transcribed in link) reminds of the import of microhistorical reconstruction of enslaved lives. wiki.wcaleb.rice.edu/coates2015
On twitter.com ♻️ 2 Retweets ❤️ 3 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood -2 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
7. On p. 69 Coates sketches an imagined enslaved woman's life; archives, microhistory allow us to #SayHerName if we'll agree to do the work.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
8. At same time, Coates warns us, as historians, against ever-present lure of history as parade of heroes, part of what he calls The Dream.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
9. Though Coates credits Howard historians for disabusing him of that notion of history (p. 53), incautious historians can fall into it too.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 2 Retweets ❤️ 2 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood 0

…in reply to @wcaleb
10. A challenge @tanehisicoates gives us is to narrate specific enslaved lives w/o always making them nat'l/personal "success story" (p.96)
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…in reply to @wcaleb
11. (I tweet this as a historian now wrestling with how to narrate life of a "specific, particular enslaved woman" wiki.wcaleb.rice.edu/Henrietta%20Wood)
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 2 Retweets ❤️ 2 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood -2 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
12. Point is historians should read @tanehisicoates not just for "style" points, but probing questions about how (not) to shape narratives.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 5 Retweets ❤️ 4 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood 0

…in reply to @wcaleb
13. And we should also read for challenging questions about how we teach in the classroom, as @CathyNDavidson noted @CathyNDavidson/626078282723786753
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…in reply to @wcaleb
14. Nice to bask in nice things @tanehisicoates says about historians, like Linda Heywood, whose classrooms changed his life, but ...
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…in reply to @wcaleb
15. Coates also says: "The classroom was a jail of other people's interests. The library was open, unending free." #BTWAM
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 6 Retweets ❤️ 5 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood +2 🙂

…in reply to @wcaleb
16. #BTWAM not just a victory lap for history; it challenges me (us) to ask: "Is my classroom a Moorland, or a jail built of my interests?"
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 9 Retweets ❤️ 6 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood +4 🙂

…in reply to @wcaleb
17. Of course, these are just least of issues @tanehisicoates raises, but beginning of an attempt by an historian to say "thank you" back.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 3 Retweets ❤️ 6 Favorites 2015 Jul 28 Mood +2 🙂