Continuing the Conversation: "History Dialogues" and the Right to Research

In 2019, the GHL launched the pilot for a second blended course: History Dialogues (HD), currently open to students enrolled at GHL partner institutions. Realizing that the diversity of experience in the GHL classroom was not always reflected in the authors, texts, and sources used to teach global history, HD seeks to expand the range of voices involved in the researching and writing global history. Employing the same networked, blended model used in "A History of the World", HD trains students in oral history methods and project design. Students, collaborating with each other and with local instructors, develop and answer research questions before carrying out independent research projects. At the end of the course, they share their findings with the class, creating opportunities for students to see and explore connections, parallels, and intersections between their diverse projects. “History Dialogues” inverts traditional hierarchies of knowledge production by helping displaced learners and their neighbors build the research and critical thinking skills needed to create and share historical narratives—turning them from consumers to producers of historical knowledge.