Making it Relevant

Our reading this week opened up a new may of thinking about history.  How we get outsiders to use their keys to open doors to worlds that they may or may not ever have entered.  In other words, helping outsiders to become insiders.  It’s all about relevancy.  If something isn’t relevant, people won’t take the time or bother.  But interesting enough relevancy plays a factor, but is not the final answer.  Convenience also is a crucial concept as it is determined.  People may stay in their swim lane and not detour if ther is too much trouble or inconvenience involved.  So how do we tie these factors to telling history?  Finding out what the community wants and cares about.  Not utilizing the old rationale of giving people want they need and disregarding their voices as to what they want and is relevant.  Whether serving lunches at a library or creating Peoples University, we need to make a space relevant.  Then and only then will we get the participation in which we seek as historians.

I can’t help but think about audiences in this regard to relevancy.  Finding community leaders that speak to the people is one way of finding out what is relevant.  Sometimes we as historians already have preconceptions about what should be relevant.  But we must first seek to engage.  Just like the tour guide that started the tour with questions about trees and what brought the visitors in.  By doing this she was able to see what is relevant to her tour members and tailor her tour to be more inclusive, not dumb down, but inclusive.  Interesting book that makes common sense ideas, like relevancy seem like a cutting edge concept that may prove a successful strategic model to be implemented.

Broxton Harvey