Diversity in Outerspace? The Uniformisation of Human Cultures in the Star Trek Universe

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When I was poor, just out of grad school and jobless, I passed the time watching television and trying like hell to make it useful. The up-side was that I kept my brain working and that it was relatively cheap. So long as we had cable, I could do research.

Then I became a professor and the research never got written down as articles for lack of time. Which is sad. Enjoy the first of a few old presentations on Star Trek and sci-fi television:

 

Of Exoduses and Raptures: A Theology of Battlestar Galactica

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in 2009, I was part of a host of authors in a proposed collection studying the then still-running Battlestar Galactica reboot. It was to be published by McFarland under Barbara Silliman and Michael Palumbo. I do not know why, but McFarland let the publication go. I certainly was looking forward to it. I have a few of those failed publications in various stages of completion and will add them to the section of this blog called "Articles of Interest". Enjoy!

Edited 7 August 2014: I have taken down the text of this article, because I have found a venue in which I can publish it. If it is not published, I will post the text again.

Pseudo-history syllabus (near to final version)

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So I think I'm done with this. Things may change a bit, depending on getting permissions to use films and texts here, but I am happy with this. What do you think?

 

HIST401*: Topics in History

History vs. Pseudo-history:
Ancient Vikings, Ancient Chinese and Ancient Aliens in Canada

[Standard contact info redacted]

Description:
    In this 12-week senior seminar, students will explore the prevalence of pseudo-history and pseudo-archeology in Canadian popular media (books, television, web). The course aims to provide students with critical tools to identify and debunk these attractive and pervasive modern myths. Popular media, especially television, is filled with wild claims of secret origins, hidden discoveries and forgotten ancestors. From ancient aliens to destroyed civilizations, we are used to being told we have been either lied to by governments or that scientists wilfully blind themselves to the “truth”. Why does history and archeology so easily inspire endless theories about aliens, lost civilizations, dark conspiracies, apocalyptic predictions, and mysterious technologies? How do we tell the truth from the bunk?

Objectives:
    One of the most useable definitions of pseudo-history comes from (yes) Wikipedia: “Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.” In this course, we will try to understand how this fallacy works.

    Students will become familiar with the most common of these theories and unpack the real, evidence-based ones from the confabulations of pseudo-historians and pseudo-archeologists: the numerous purported Viking, Welsh and Irish landings on the Eastern sea-board, the claimed extra-terrestrial influence on First Nation cultures, the "secret" histories of various Canadian political entities, the supposed Chinese colonization of Cape Breton, among others.

    Using critical, analytical tools commonly weld by historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and ethnologists, students will better understand the ways in which these ideas emerge and evolve in popular culture and public consciousness. More importantly, students will explore the many reasons why these hoaxes and pseudo-mysteries become and remain prevalent. More importantly, this course aims to explain why pseudo-science can so easily disguise itself as scholarly work in popular media.

Workflow:
    To the extent possible, this course will operate in a seminar format, emphasizing discussion and minimizing lectures, though there will be short presentations during most sessions. Students will have three principal assignments in this class. First, each student will prepare a short paper presenting and analyzing a common pseudo-historical myth from a given list. Second, each student will prepare a short paper presenting a pseudo-historical myth of their own invention, explaining critically how their fallacy could become popularly known. Third, each student will be responsible for participating in the online weekly discussions on Moodle. As in all seminars, in-class participation will also be part of your final mark.

Assignments:
Myth Summary, 20%, Week 5
Create-a-Myth, 20%, Week 12
Online Discussion, 10x5%=50%, Week 3 to week 12
In-class Participation, 10%, All semester

Full assignment descriptions and guidelines will be posted on Moodle and explained in class.

•Myth Summary (5th week): Pick one theory from set list and present its original inception and origins; provide hypotheses as to why it remains popular despite being debunked.
•Create-a-Myth (12th week): Create a pseudo-historical theory and explain the process and details needed to make it fully believable in popular media.
•Online discussion (from 3rd week to 12th week): Weekly questions. One entry per week minimum in the Moodle weekly forum.
•In-class participation (every week): Diligence in reading and active in-class discussion.

Books to purchase:
    Compulsory :
• Garrett G. Fagan, ed. Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public. (Abingdon, UK and New York: Routledge, 2006).
• Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 8th edition. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013).
    Suggested :
• Fritze, Ronald H. Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions (New York: Reaktion Books, 2009).
All other weekly readings will be accessible through Moodle.

WARNING ABOUT THE WEEKLY READINGS:

    The weekly readings on Moodle are comprised of both serious, well-researched, academic works, AND fringe theories, pseudo-histories, bunk-filled speculations and sheer delusions. Nevertheless, the two types of writings are at times remarkably difficult to distinguish. In this course, we will endeavour to separate them. Be warned!

Academic Integrity Statement: [standard copy]

Disability Accommodations : [stardard copy]

Late Assignments, Extensions, and Rewrites: [standard copy]

 

Weekly Themes, schedule, readings:

1. Introduction to the course: concepts and caveats

Please try to read:
• Gulyas, Aaron, “History, Pseudohistory, and the Survey Classroom”, paper presented at the 2013 Midwest Popular Culture Association Meeting, St. Louis, MO, http://www.ajgulyas.com/papers-and-presentations/history-pseudohistory-and-the-survey-classroom/#_ftn7

2. Pseudo-histories: So attractive, so wrong

• Read the Gulyas article above.
• H. E. Legrand and Wayne E. Boese, “Chariots of the Gods? And All That: Pseudo-History in the Classroom”, The History Teacher, Vol. 8, No. 3 (May, 1975), pp. 359-370
• Benjamin Kelly, “Deviant ancient histories: Dan Brown, Erich von Daniken and the sociology of historical polemic”, Rethinking History, Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2008, 361–382.
• DOUGLAS ALLCHIN, “Pseudohistory and Pseudoscience”, Science & Education, 13 (2004): 179–195.

3. A history of pseudo-histories I: National narratives

• Stefan Berger, “On the Role of Myths and History in the Construction of National Identity in Modern Europe”, European History Quarterly, Vol. 39(3), 490–502.
• Bettina Arnold (2006). “Pseudoarchaeology and nationalism. Essentializing Difference”, Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public (Ed: Garrett G. Fagan) (Abingdon, UK and New York: Routledge), p. 154-179.
•Feder, Kenneth L., Konstantin Sheiko and Stephen Brown) ‘Pseudo History/Weird History: Nationalism and the Internet,’ History Compass, 7, (6), November 2009


4. A history of pseudo-histories II: History before/beside professionalization

• Wright, Donald A., The professionalization of history in English Canada, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), p. 3-27.
• William D Rubinstein, Shadow Pasts: 'Amateur Historians' and History's Mysteries. (New York: Routledge, 2007), chap. 1 (“Introduction”).
• Fagan, Garrett G. (2006). "Preface". Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public (Ed: Garrett G. Fagan) (Abingdon, UK and New York: Routledge). pp. xvii-xix.
• Feder, Kenneth L. (2006). “Skeptics, fence sitters, and true believers: student acceptance of an improbable prehistory”. Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public (Ed: Garrett G. Fagan) (Abingdon, UK and New York: Routledge). pp. 71-95.


5. Ancient Explorers? St. Brendan and the like

• Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 8th edition. (McGraw-Hill 2013). chap 5.
• T. J. Oleson, “BRENDAN, SAINT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed May 26, 2014, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brendan_saint_1E.html.
• Jude S. Mackley, The Legend of St. Brendan: A Comparative Study of the Latin and Anglo-Norman Versions. BRILL, 2008, p. 43-68.
• David B. Quinn, “MADOC,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed May 26, 2014, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/madoc_1E.html.
• Fagan, Garrett G. (2006). "Preface". Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public (Ed: Garrett G. Fagan) (Abingdon, UK and New York: Routledge). pp. xvii–xix.


6. Ancient Explorers? Vikings, the real and the fake

• Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 8th edition. (McGraw-Hill 2013). chap 6.
• Wallace, Brigitta, ed.. Where is Vinland? http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/vinland/home/indexen.html
• Palmer, Craig T., Wolff, Benjamin and Cassidy, Chris. “Cultural Heritage Tourism along the Viking Trail: An Analysis of Tourist Brochures for Attractions on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.”, Newfoundland & Labrador Studies. Fall 2008, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p. 215-230.


7. Ancient Explorers? The Chinese and The Island of Seven Cities

Film in class: Mysterious Ruins: Cape Breton (2006, Ellis Entertainment, approx. 50 min)

• Chiasson, Paul. The Island of Seven Cities. Vintage Canada (2007), p. 1-24.
• Harrold, Francis B. and Eve, Raymond A. (1987). "Preface". Cult Archaeology & Creationism: Understanding Pseudoarchaeological Beliefs about the Past (Iowa: University of Iowa Press). pp. ix–xii.
• Fritze, Ronald H. (2009). Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-religions. Reaktion Books, chapter 2.
• Wade, Geoff, ed. 1421 Exposed, http://www.1421exposed.com/


8. Secret History? Ancestors, Indian Princesses and Disgraced Nobles

• Allen B. Robertson. "'In a glass clearly': Genealogy, History and the Professional Researcher", Nova Scotia Historical Review, 15:2(1995)
• William Cronon, “Loving History”, Perspectives on History, April 2012, <http://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/april-2012/loving-history>
•  John P. DuLong, « The Origins of the Acadian Michel Forest ». Acadian Genealogical Exchange, 27, no 4 (oct. 1998): 103-121; extended article at <habitant.org/forest/index.html>
• Lambert, Robert D. «Looking for Genealogical Motivation». Families, 34, no 3 (1995): 149-160.


9. Secret History? Oak Island

Film in class: excerpt from Ancient Aliens, season 1, episode 4, “Closer Encounters” (approx. 10 minutes).

• Robertson, A. B. (1996). “Oak Island Secrets”. Nova Scotia Historical Review, 16(1), 163-176.
• Joltes, R. "A Critical Analysis of the Oak Island Legend." History, Hoax, and Hype: The Oak Island Legend. Critical Enquiry, last updated 2012. <http://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/analysis.shtml>


10. Ancient Aliens? Influencing First Nations since 10000 BCE?

Film in class: Indians and Aliens, season 1, episode 1 (22 minutes).

• Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 8th edition. (McGraw-Hill 2013). chap 9.
• Andrew Hind, “Ojibwa Tale of a 'Skyman' Visitor May Have Been Alien”, UFO Casebook,  http://www.ufocasebook.com/2012/skyman.html
• m_spicer, “Ancient Alien Theory and BC Coast First Nations People”, InfoBarrel, http://www.infobarrel.com/Ancient_Aliens_Theory_and_BC_Coast_First_Nations_People
• Coppens, Philippe, The Ancient Alien Question (Pompton Plains, NJ: New Page Books, 2012), chap. 8.


11. Ancient Aliens? Mysterious Ruins, or not

• Kenyon, J. Douglas “Exposing a Scientific Cover-Up: Forbidden Archeology Co-Author Michael Cremo Talks about the 'Knowledge Filter' and Other Means for Cooking the Academic Books”, in Kenyon, J. Douglas, ed. Forbidden History. Prehistoric Technologies, Extraterrestrial Intervention, and the Suppressed Origins of Civilization. Bear & Company, 2009.
• Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 8th edition. (McGraw-Hill 2013). chap. 7.
• Robert C. Mainfort, Jr., and Mary L. Kwas, “THE BAT CREEK STONE: JUDEANS IN TENNESSEE?”, Tennessee Anthropologist, Vol. XVI, No. 1, Spring 1991


12. Wrapping up. Why all the bunk?

• Karl Banse, “Mermaids – Their Biology, Culture and Demise”, Limnology and Oceanography, 35.1 (1990), p. 148-153.
• Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 8th edition. (McGraw-Hill 2013). chap 13.
• Michael D. Gordin, “Where Are the Pseudohistory Wars?” History News Network blog, 31 December 2012, http://hnn.us/article/14986
• Fagan, Garrett G. (2006). "Conclusion". Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public (Ed: Garrett G. Fagan) (Abingdon, UK and New York: Routledge). pp. 362-367.

So many things in the last few weeks! Also: woof!

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Short version: my son is great, my husband survived Easter (while we survived my parents being with us for a week!) and we have a dog.

Long version: Wow. What a month or so!

  1. My son is smarter and smarter every day. He is such a hoot and a love bug, so this is wonderful. He told me. He told me that he loved me more often than ever. He's great.
  2. Lent and Easter were difficult. It is the most busy period of the Christian year and this year coincided with the end of the academic year, Chaton's birthday and so many other things, my head is still spinning. I was supposed to go to Chicago for the PCA, but there was no way we were going to afford it. I stayed home. My parents were there. It helped but I was ready to strangle them by the second to last day. Oy. I was able to work while they took care of Chaton. Mamou was out of the house most days and nights, of course. Chaton is great.
  3. And we got a dog. On the day my parents left, we got a dog! We had put ourselves on the SPA waiting list weeks ago, but on Easter Friday, I got an email from my sister-in-law telling me that the breeder she got her miniature schnauzer from had a dog returned to her that needed adoption urgently. The old lady who had gotten him could no longer take care of him. We got into contact with her and arranged to meet the dog on Easter Monday. We dropped my parents at the train station and we drove to somewhere deep on the South shore of Montréal. The dog is a 10-month-old male, salt-and-pepper miniature schnauzer, dumb as a door nail but adorable. He was originally named Cognac but we dropped that name right quick the second we imagined my four-year-old son calling “Cognac!” out loud in the street. We named him Igrec (as in Y in French) and he already answers to it. Or at least to my tone of voice when I call him. He is completely fused to me. He follows me everywhere and cannot bare to be separated from me one second. Honestly, he thinks I'm his mother.

And there lies the problem. We saw a vet last week and she confirmed what we suspected. My dog is developmentally delayed. Although he is physically 10 months old, he reacts, behaves and has the reflexes of a 5-month-old. The reasons are unclear, but they could be a combination of lack of stimulation and bad nutrition when he was with the old lady. He could also be naturally dumb, but it's impossible to tell. We know that he did not get much exercise before and that the old lady fed him mostly treats and tried big-breed adult kibble. In fact, he would not eat much at all during the few days he was back at the breeder and it took a couple of days before he ate at our house as well. He only ate his proper enriched puppy kibble when I held it in my hand. The vet suggested I mix the kibble with a light coating of wet dog food, which I did, and boy is he eating all his food now, licking the bowl clean every time. That's good.

This leads to the biggest problem with Igrec: he is not yet clean. He still goes everywhere in the house. He's better now that he is eating regular meals and having regular walks. His bowels are much more regular and predictable (to a point), but the peeing is not yet predictable. He does not understand he can't pee in the house, does not ask for the door; just squats without notice and wets my floors. We have puppy mats: he sleeps on them. It's going to be a challenge. The old lady never really scolded him for not using the pee mats because she believed that a 10-month-old dog being still technically “a puppy” meant that it was normal for him to wet the floor. Not surprisingly, he was the first puppy she ever had, She only had had older, fully house-trained dogs before. Yeah. So we are (I am) walking him four times a day. We are also engaging his brain as much as we can so we can bring him up to speed. Hopefully, we can overcome the delays. As I am writing this, we are outside and he is eating leaves. And grass. And dirt. Just like a 5-month-old puppy would. He is duuuuuuuumb.

He is also really cute and adorable and a great addition to the family. Even the Chaton is warming up to him. Chaton still does not like being sniffed or licked, but they do play a lot. I got rid of most of the squeaky toys (the few remaining are outside) and we got a Kong. Chaton likes to throw it and say “ping pong!” and the dog runs like hell to get it. He almost always returns he in time for my son to throw it again. Igrec has the attention span of a gnat so if the Kong or ball leaves his sight for even a second, he's already forgotten it. Thankfully, Igrec does not have the instincts of a gnat, at least in terms of other dogs, and runs behind my legs if he does not like any particular dog's vibe. In terms of humans, he's completely brain dead. But what a charmer. I got two girls to what him for a few minutes while I got something at the café and they were so ecstatic to help and pet “the puppy!!!” He cried for me the whole time.

We are starting beginner obedience training next week, because he needs it, and we will certainly do all the classes from there on up. He needs it. If I can't get him to stop peeing everywhere before the end of the summer, we are going to potty training class too.

The only darker spot in sight is that Mamou is away in Seattle until Friday night and Chaton and I are leaving for Québec on Thursday morning. Gillian is coming to puppysit on Thursday night, but she is working on Friday and will have to leave him in the morning. In short, Igrec will be alone for most of a 24-hour and getting only two walks in the meantime. Instead of seven or eight walks. Yeah. I'm expecting the neighbours will be angry with us. I also expect some set backs in terms of development. Knock on wood and Gillian is a saint.

We will survive. Somehow.

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Graphical Epiphany applied

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So I've been thinking a lot* about using a more graphical approach to my slide presentations and seminar discussion prompts. As the previous blog entry showed, I had a sort of epiphany about this a few days ago. Yesterday, I went to a Departmental Seminar series conference where I tried taking sketchnotes (sorta). The conference was not as interesting as I had hoped. I was expecting a presentation of three relatively new concepts in academic history (big history, deep history and history of the Anthropocene) and instead got a manifesto for the return to the longue durée. Since I never gave up on the longue durée, it was not as useful as I had wanted. But I took notes. I had issues with my pen, and I killed the English language in places, but I took notes!

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Then I thought about trying to work more on my Sketchplanations-inspired discussion prompts. What is interesting about what Jono Hey is doing is that he takes one idea, one concept, or one set of info and distills it all into one graphic or a three to four set of graphics. That is a spectacularly difficult thing to do, I find. He has done hundreds by now and he was a UX guy long before that, so graphics are not a foreign language to him. I am a wordsmith by nature, so thinking in images is much harder for me. Words come out easily. Images come out with some difficulty. The more so that I am not used to doing it much. I'm getting better. I still kill English, but I'm better.

Very basic anthropological concept discussion prompt ('shoped)

Very basic anthropological concept discussion prompt ('shoped)

 

*Yes, this means thinking about this rather than marking or writing the things that have deadlines, I know.

Today, I had a Graphical Epiphany

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My friend @wendywoohoo, my favorite UX genius, was at the IA Summit 2014 conference in San Diego this past week, where a host of UX geniuses discuss information architecture, user experience and web design. I alway look forward to Wendy going to conferences, because she live tweets all the presentations and posts links to wonderful visual notes by attendees. Following those links into glorious web ratholes today, I found what I was looking for this past year in terms of a graphical design approach to my seminar discussions. I aim to apply this in all my upcoming courses. If I find a way, I'll retrofit my old courses as well.

I had an epiphany, people! Here are the results.

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