In this practicum, participants will explore two case studies as models for investigating local history through global perspectives. First, a case study involving the small Chinese town of Kuliang, Fuzhou where secondary students in Shanghai investigated the local history at the turn of the 20th century. Students completed short documentary film projects in collaboration with others based on oral history interviews and the analysis of local sources. As a result, with endorsements from various levels of current Chinese government circles, the town now has been renovated as an historic site with multiple museums celebrating the historical collaborations and stories between east and west. Chinese provincial news has placed a spotlight on the work that these students and others in the community did to initiate these hopeful stories of exchange and collaboration across borders. Global processes involved here include imperialism, collaborative scientific efforts around combatting Rinderpest in livestock, and American missionary work in China amidst tensions emanating from the Boxer Rebellion. The second case study focuses upon the history of Los Angeles through understanding of global food history and stories of migration and identity. Students have completed oral histories about food diasporas with members of a diverse range of local communities. These stories speak to the lived experiences of immigrants who can share recipes and culinary traditions and how they have adapted and assimilated in Los Angeles. Global processes at play here speak to questions of migration due to conflict, and economic push and pull factors such as the Gold Rush and Immigration Acts, assimilation and ethnic enclaves, gentrification and urbanization, syncretism through food, and exchange through trade.

The goals of the workshop will be to introduce participants to these stories by actively exploring related primary sources such as artifacts, interviews, letters, and recipes to understand how local history can be understood through global processes. Through an analysis of these sources, the local experiences will be contextualized in terms of global events. Maps and timelines will be included as they would be in the classroom. Participants will then brainstorm how their students could explore the local history of their own city, by viewing it through a global lens. Specific attention will be placed on how students can participate in oral history research in terms of asking questions, documenting evidence, developing the stories, and passing on these stories to the larger global community as a means of bridging cultural differences. Access to digital hand-outs will help provide participants with the technical and historical tools necessary to employ this in their own schools. The session will end with a comment from Dr. Black on the pedagogical strengths of this level of historical engagement and with an opportunity for additional questions from the audience.