For the past two weeks, I’ve been struggling to\u00a0define what I could feasibly write about during the coming weeks. From the practical viewpoint of a historian,\u00a0national topics are appealing; one’s research material is physically closer, in one\u2019s language, culturally familiar, and questions are limited to a certain extent by national borders. And yet transnational inquiry would seem to\u00a0deepen\u00a0our understanding of the past, especially in studying eras before state sovereignty was as rigid as it is today. There’s no reason\u00a0for a false dichotomy here because, even if most non-academic\u00a0readers\u00a0would struggle to move beyond their own nationally-defined worldviews, including the “movement of peoples, ideas, technologies and institutions across national boundaries” (Tyrell 2007, p. 3) would simply deepen anyone\u2019s existing understanding of the past.<\/p>\n
I’m personally fascinated by\u00a0researching and physically recreating\u00a0clothing\u00a0from\u00a0the late 18th century, with the goal of using these in \u2018public history\u2019 (ie. living history museum programs). I find that building clothing is a hugely useful way to engage people with the historical period I’m passionate about, because it provokes conversation (there’s no way to not react to someone dressed in 250 year old fashion). Similarly, complex \u2018academic\u2019 topics can be grounded in concrete items, for instance, an interaction that begins with someone listening to the ticking of an antique verge-fusee watch, and ends with a discussion of conceptions of time before the industrial revolution! At present because of my involvement with a Tall Ship and French nonprofits in the naval town of Rochefort, I\u2019ve been researching the dress of French sailors from 1778 to\u00a0 1786, and reproducing their clothing for my own use at the site.<\/p>\n
In a certain respect much of this is already\u00a0transnational, namely, in mapping the multiple flows of materials, fashions, and influences that determined how sailors dressed. For instance, the textiles being used are often produced within France, but some come from around the world (eg. Dutch linen, Chinese silk). Maritime working garments are sometimes shared by seamen from various countries (like \u2018petticoat breeches’) and sometimes are nationally specific (for instance, French sailor wear sashes, while Anglo-American ones do not). In finding primary sources like estate inventories (bureaucratic lists of dead mens\u2019 clothing and effects) I have to go to France’s\u00a0\u2018National Archives\u2019 at Paris; but I also get to collaborate with French friends who help me translate and understand these texts, or specialize in areas that I lack understanding. In essence, in studying the dress of sailors from one nation (France), I have to had to contextualize the transnational connections of what they wore and why.<\/p>\n
Now my only question is how to relate this topic to this MO3351 course, and compress this body of material to a relevant question\/topic ; do you have any ideas you can offer?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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