Welcome to HUM 501, I’m glad you’re here! This is our space to post weekly blogs using the prompts that are assigned on the schedule page.
I’m Dr. Jen Andrella, a historian and Digital Humanities scholar. My academic background bridges U.S. history, Native American history, and digital scholarship. I earned my Ph.D. in History from Michigan State University, along with a graduate certificate in Digital Humanities. My research focuses on the intersections of Reconstruction, settler colonialism, and U.S. territorial expansion.
I’m currently writing my first book, which examines post-Civil War Reconstruction as a national project that also unfolded in the trans-Mississippi West.1 Using Montana Territory as a case study, I explore how federal and local forces shaped this contested region—and how those efforts contributed to the formation of a more exclusionary, unstable, and often violent American nation in the late nineteenth century.
This term, I am most looking forward to our discussions about the ethics and responsibilities of doing cultural heritage work in the context of Digital Humanities. There is a rich and growing body of scholarship on the intersection of these themes, and I look forward to hearing your insights each week. From a skills standpoint, I’m looking forward to the unit on digital mapping and geospatial analysis, one of my favorite areas of Digital Humanities.
an alpaca farm in Medina, OH (2023)
I also hope that you will find our readings and conversations throughout the course thoughtful and engaging. One of the goals of this course, being an Intro to DH, is to explore a variety of skill sets and opportunities to “do” Digital Humanities. No matter your skill level or background, everyone can get started with Digital Humanities and work their way to more advanced skills. In selecting the theme of “cultural heritage” for this course, I wanted to have a topic through which we can experiment with digital tools and analysis. From there, I hope that you can begin to draw connections between the course and your own work and interests.
In closing, here is a photo of two alpacas, because they are fuzzy and cute, and also because I’m demonstrating different image alignments.
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Footnotes
[1] This book will be adapted from my dissertation, “When the War Raged On: Montana Territory, the Politics of Authority, and National Reconstruction.” See Jennifer Andrella, “When the War Raged on: Montana Territory, the Politics of Authority, and National Reconstruction,” 2022, Michigan State University. http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/when-war-raged-on-montana-territory-politics/docview/2730324833/se-2.