Week Five

In Intro to Public History this week, we submitted our exhibit reviews and began reading chapters from Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. The exhibit that I visited for my review was the Newberry Library’s exhibit on the life and work of Jun Fujita, a Japanese-American poet and photojournalist during the 19th century.

After our in-class discussion, it seems like I had a better exhibit going experience than most. The Newberry’s exhibit was successful in describing the personal life of Fujita in conjunction with his professional life. I appreciated the little insights that showcased his relationships with his wife, family, and colleagues as well as his relationship with America as a Japanese immigrant. It gave context to the work being shown and helped me have a deeper understanding as to why he wrote and photographed certain subjects. This connection between his personal and professional life kept me engaged, as I felt like I was connecting with a real person instead of someone shrouded in myth as can often happen with people of the past. 

Mystification of the past is a theme that was mentioned in our readings of Confederates in the Attic for this week as well. The way the past turns into myth plays a role in romanticizing the time period and removing it from today’s context. As a class, we talked about the removal of context being an issue in the reenactment community. When Horwitz was at the reenactment in Chapter 6,  he asked different people about their opinions on how the historical background of slavery in the Civil War plays a role in reenactments and in reenactors’ choice to portray Confederate soldiers. Many of them sidestepped the question, avoided it, or refuted the relevance of it. Reenactment is framed as a hobby which allows for this refutation. If it were to be perceived as events with primarily educational purposes, the lack of context would be unthinkable. So I guess the question that I am left with is: do reenactors themselves have any moral obligation to think about the context and statement they are making with their hobby or are they exempt from any ethical reflection because it is technically “just” a hobby?