As an integrated social studies education major, I have taken a number of history courses, and there seems to be a common denominator about most of the classes in the department:
They’re all very white.
When I say white, I mean that the Department of History at Ohio University often presents an incredibly Euro-centric vision of the world. Just look at the course offerings this semester. The list is dominated by classes on either Europe or the United States.
For example, the 1980s in the U.S.: The Age of Reagan and Madonna is a 3000-level class offered by the department this semester, but the entire continent of Africa only gets attention in one upper-level history course, History of Africa since 1850.
I have no problem with studying Madonna, but it is an embarrassment to teach only one course a semester on the second most populous continent in the world.
By offering mostly Western civilization history courses, the department reinforces the false notion that Americans and Europeans are most worthy of in-depth study.
This all isn’t entirely surprising because, according the Department of History’s website, only one out of the 25 professors in the department specializes in African history. The vast majority focus on U.S. or Western history, with a smattering of interest in Latin America or Asia.
There is such an overabundance of American and European historians in the department that they have even created the George Washington Forum, an organization that conducts research and spreads the values of “American liberal democracy.”
In itself, that isn’t a bad thing, but the problem is where the forum gets its money and who it goes to. The forum receives funding from The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, an organization that has funded tea party candidates and other right-wing causes in the past.
It is hard to believe the forum is not somewhat influenced by its conservative donors when its most prominent speakers over the past few years have included ultra-conservatives such as John Yoo, Roger Ailes and John Bolton.
Although I support academic freedom, I question how free an organization that is funded by clearly partisan sources can be.
It may have been socially acceptable to teach mostly American and European history in the 1960s, but perhaps the department should stop living in the past and hire another Africanist the next time a tenured position opens up.
Matt Farmer is a senior studying political science and education. Are there any departments on campus you think need to change? Email him at mf291209@ohiou.edu.
