History in the News

Laura Madokoro

For the past two years, I have had the great pleasure of teaching a course at Carleton University called History in the News (HIST3909A). The idea for the course came from the notion that the contemporary news sphere could benefit from more historical context (a premise behind many of my posts here at Active History). As such, the course is almost entirely dedicated to the production of research portfolios for working journalists who invite the students in the class to dig deep on issues that they believe would benefit from additional historical context. This year, the students are focused on three themes: Migration to Canada, Housing History, and Black Canadian History. They are producing rich and varied topics relating to the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, urban planning, the history of community churches, and little known sporting leagues among many others. This part of the class has been entirely gratifying.

The other part of the class, which proved a challenge last year and again this fall, is about pivoting to respond to contemporary events. We were in the middle of the semester last year when the Hamas-led attacks against Israel occurred on 7 October 2023. I knew then, and I continue to believe now, that as a historian trained broadly in histories of migration and refuge that I could guide the students in the conversations that followed to some extent.  I did not, however, have the depth of expertise required to navigate the long history that preceded those attacks, especially in the heightened polarized environment that followed. The best I could do given my own knowledge was to provide students with some of the broader context by  discussing the history of international human rights protections, including the Geneva Conventions, and to create as much space for dialogue as possible. 

This sense of being out of my depths has persisted this year. The question of what historical context to provide, and how, to explain the relentless violence and unrelenting suffering in Gaza, and now Lebanon, has been a daunting one. To this end, I have been grateful that subject-specific experts have been willing to share their knowledge about topics such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, which the government of Israel recently banned from the West Bank and Gaza. It is a reminder of the value of having scholars with deep knowledge about a given topic guide the conversation, and how much researchers with expertise about the history of Israel and Palestine have been asked to do over the past year. 

I was similarly grateful that a colleague visiting from the United States on a Fulbright was willing to pop by our class last week the day after the US elections. As a scholar of migration, with a focus on issues of race and exclusion, I had lots of thoughts about the absolutely atrocious discourse on migration across the spectrum in the lead up to voting day. I was dismayed by the ways that migrants were demonized and criminalized and the long-term damage that this will have for people globally. 

Migration has long been a precarious and fragile enterprise and the recent US election campaign was a reminder of how any sense of security can be easily shattered, even for those with legal status, including residency as well as citizenship. How to protect oneself against othering remains a perpetual challenge, one that for many people manifests itself on a daily basis and is further heightened during times of crisis. All this to say, I had lots to say and I thought I was ready to discuss all of it post-election. 

The results stunned me and a week later, I still haven’t been able to make full sense of the news. In fact, I haven’t been able to read a single news story or listen to a single news broadcast about the election itself. This, after I very sagely told the students in HIST3909A two Mondays ago, to “watch and read the news” before class on 6 November 2024 because our time was going to be entirely dedicated to discussing the US election results. Unlike many of the other events that have appeared on the horizon this semester (e.g. expulsion of diplomats by Canada and India), this one was in the calendar. I had been able to build space for it when I was planning the syllabus last summer. 

Fortunately, Dr. Saje Mathieu a Fulbright scholar from the University of Minnesota was able to come to the class that met the day after the election. She led the students through a lively discussion of the election campaign tactics as well as what the results might indicate about current American society. As a scholar of race, migration, and gender, Dr. Mathieu provided particular insights into the ways that Kamala Harris was treated by the media as well as her relationship to various voting blocs in the United States. It was a very productive conversation and Dr. Mathieu commented afterwards about the depth and breadth of the questions and comments raised by the students. They showed an awareness of US politics and demographics that Dr. Mathieu considered impressive given that they were not themselves participating in the election. 

I was also impressed with the candour that the students demonstrated. The discussion reminded of another theme that we have been exploring in this course: the notion that journalism is the “first draft of history” and that future historians will be returning to this moment’s news coverage to understand what people were thinking and feeling. I therefore asked the students to document their thoughts and feelings about the US election for future historians. Dr. Mathieu suggested that they make it clear what they wanted future historians to know about who they were in this moment, not just what they were thinking (a reminder of the diversity of people and perspectives engaged with this election). Here are some of the reflections shared by the students: 

• I am currently feeling a level of uncertainty that I can’t…
• I am a student, but I am also a sister, a daughter, and a friend. I’m a lover, not a fighter. I woke up this morning and I cried. 
• I’m feeling uncertain, scared and intimidated of what is to come.
• When I look at the results of the election, I see a reflection of what mixed messaging does. Trump had a message that was easy for people to follow while Harris felt all over the place. As a Canadian who knows another election is on the horizon, I fear the echo from this win spreading up here.

The students’ thoughts are an important testament to the deep engagement, and the deep concern, amongst people across the world in the wake of the 2024 US election. They tell us a great deal about the current moment, in ways that may or may not be captured by future historians. With this exercise, personally learned that asking students to engage with what they want future historians to know about the present is one way to probe our current moment in all its complexities. It doesn’t resolve the question of how to pivot an entire class in response to changing events, or what to do when the news itself is too much to bear, but it does help anchor discussions in ways that help stake out the significance of the past, the challenge of the present, and the possibility of the future.

Laura Madokoro is a member of the Active History Editorial Collective.