Author Archives: Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda

7 Reasons (Academic) History is the Study of the Present

Historians en masse say that History is the study of the past and change over time. This is misguided. While I have previously written about this topic (History, intertextuality, and how Barack Obama has influenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., not the other way around and The Nature of History and the History of History),Continue reading “7 Reasons (Academic) History is the Study of the Present”

Continued Conversations and Philosophizing: “What is Texas History?”

Articulating various responses to “What is Texas History” with my students continues to fascinate me, as does teaching and learning more and more Texas History, and I wanted to share a few things in particular that have been on my mind. In my Mexican American History I class (stay with me!), we were recently readingContinue reading “Continued Conversations and Philosophizing: “What is Texas History?””

The Joys of Teaching

The past few weeks have flown by. This semester I am teaching Texas History, Mexican American History, and four sections of First Year Seminar (which is basically an “Introduction to Critical Thinking” course). I have around 130 students, and I have an exceptionally talented group of students.  My students in Texas and Mexican American HistoryContinue reading “The Joys of Teaching”

Celebrating Amanda Marshall and the music we can love to love.

Amanda Marshall is a singer based in Canada. In this blog, I look at how and why her music is really neat and special. Most importantly, her music is very feminist and free of so many of the problems we see in our contemporary music.  Amanda Marshall has been my favorite singer since the mid 1990s. Her band,Continue reading “Celebrating Amanda Marshall and the music we can love to love.”

The circumstances in which we meet determine history.

Thomas Hardy’s “The Man He Killed” greatness is in part its application to a variety of settings and times:  Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin! But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at himContinue reading “The circumstances in which we meet determine history.”

Presidential Inaugural Addresses: A Different Kind of History of the United States (part 2 of 2)

Data makes for some uniquely powerful and important studies. Word Clouds are one tool among many used in the field of Digital Humanities. In Word Clouds the bigger the word, the more often the word appears in the original text. This two part series (see part one here) looks at presidential inaugural addresses. Part one was just theContinue reading “Presidential Inaugural Addresses: A Different Kind of History of the United States (part 2 of 2)”

Presidential Inaugural Addresses: A Word Cloud History of the United States (part 1 of 2)

First Inaugural Address of George Washington, April, 30, 1789 Second Inaugural Address of George Washington, March 4, 1793 Inaugural Address of John Adams, Saturday, March 4, 1797 First Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1801 Second Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1805 First Inaugural Address of James Madison, March 4, 1809  First Inaugural Address ofContinue reading “Presidential Inaugural Addresses: A Word Cloud History of the United States (part 1 of 2)”