History, the Public, and the Market

Professor Toby Liang

Department of History, National Taiwan University
Email: yglhistory@gmail.com

What does it mean to study history? How does studying history relate to our
Course description twenty-first century society? How is studying history useful? In the last few
years, the humanities, including the discipline of history, have faced questions
about their relevance. These concerns become even more immediate as economies
undergo transformation including de-industrialization, income stagnation, and
youth underemployment. And yet as new economies emerge based on services,
knowledge, and technology the humanities and history have roles to play.
Technology platforms including traditional media, social media, and entertainment
need content. Even more, an interdisciplinary education in the humanities trains
students in vital contemporary skills including information literacy; critical
analysis; creativity; textual, oral, and visual presentation; collaboration; and
leadership. In a fast-paced economy characterized by constant change and
disruption, these skills prepare students for future jobs that have not yet been
invented.

The study of history has a particular advantage. Every person has a past and every
persons development links to a past. Most individuals, therefore, have an intuitive
understanding of the importance of the past. Likewise, history is all around us: in
our physical surroundings, the consumer products that shape our daily lives, the
entertainment we enjoy, the fashion we put on, the tastes we cultivate, etc.
Ultimately the lives and lifestyles we lead all have pasts. History has immediate
relevance. The challenge, then, is to understand how the study of history is
useful; find a way to transform the study of history to the practice of history;
and articulate the value of this practice to a market.

There are three components to this course:

1) Through course readings on history, historical theory, and historical concept,
students think about what it means to study history. We will analyze methods of
studying history, how history is related to contemporary society, and how history
is presented to different audiences.
2) Another set of readings will introduce students to basic concepts of business
 and business skills such as competitive strategy, leadership, networking,
collaboration, etc.
3) Most of all, this course guides students to produce a historical project such as
a museum, a site, a film, etc. Students will research the subject of the project,
create content to share with a public, design instruments to deliver the content to
the public, formulate a business plan, draft a marketing strategy, organize a
management team, etc. To do this, students will apply their understanding of how
history is useful in the twenty-first century learned in 1). They will also apply the
principles of competitive strategy, leadership, networking, collaboration, etc.
learned in 2).

Throughout this course, students are encouraged to be creative, expressive, and

think outside of the box about history, historical practice, and their uses for the
public and in the market.

Course quote: If you have no doubt of your premises or your power and want a
certain result with all your heart you naturally express your wishes in law and
sweep away all opposition ... But when men have realized that time has upset
many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more ... that the ultimate
good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas that the best test of truth is
the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.
--- Oliver Wendell Holmes (United States Supreme Court Judge), Abrams v. U.S.
(250 U.S. 616, 1919), no 316.

Historical practice
Course objectives Understand the difference between history and historical practice
Identify uses of historical practice to connect with the public
Identify the value of historical practice in the market
Professionalization and business
Learn about basic concepts in business
Learn and practice basic professionalization skills
Undertake a team project creating a historical product

This course consists of a number of elements

Course Readings and films that address issues of history, the public, and the
requirements market
Readings that introduce students to basic concepts in business
Discussion and analysis of course materials
 Professionalization exercises including producing CVs/rsums, LinkedIn
sites, networking and informational interviews
Independent research, site-visits, and presentations on historical sites,
museums, and other projects
Team-based semester project producing a historical project such as a
historical site, museum, or other

Grading Attendance (10%)

Discussion (25%)
Exercises (20%)
Semester project (45%)

Course Schedule

Week 1 Introduction to the course

Personal and professional introductions Networking

Week 2
Individual introductions

Story-telling and the love of learning Story-telling about yourself

Week 3 Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader (1-120)
Exercise: Map of your life
Competitive strategy Academic startups
Joan Magretta, Understanding Michael Porter (19-90)
Week 4
(Optional) Michael Porter, Competitive Strategy (3-33)
Exercise: Informational interviews and cover letters
Framing questions Arguing for yourself
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel (13-28)
Week 5
John Reader, Africa: A Biography of the Continent (205-38)
Exercise: Introduction to rsums and LinkedIn
History, the nation-state, and frameworks Collaboration
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1-65)
Week 6
Charles Tilly, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons (1-15)
Exercise: Present a favorite historical product
Power in the modern world Leadership
Week 7 Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Right of Death and Power
over Life (135-159)
 Project: pitch potential projects
The power of narrating history Narration
Hayden White, The Content of the Form, The Value of Narrativity in the
Week 8 Representation of Reality (1-25)
Robert Nisbet, Social Change and History (3-11)
Project: Preliminary draft of project proposal due

Week 9 Final draft of project proposal due

Film-making and popular historical narration

Week 10 The Band of Brothers film screening
Stephen Ambrose, The Band of Brothers (15-41)
The humanities and knowledge in the present and future
Yuen-Gen Liang The Humanities, History, and the Production of
Week 11
Societies in the Past and the Future
Immanuel Wallerstein, The Uncertainties of Knowledge (1-15)

Week 12 Independent work day

Week 13 Independent work day

Week 14 Independent work day

Week 15 Submit visual marketing strategy (website, Facebook page, iMovie, and/or logo)

Week 16 Independent work day

Week 17 Presentation practice

Week 18 Final presentation