Shared authority, by definition, is a collaborative approach that involves sharing power and responsibility with the public. Many times, we see attempts to control the history of the people by people who are ashamed and want to “move past” what happened and leave it in the past rather than learn from it. This by far is not allowing history to be shared but instead is modifying it to make certain parties feel at ease.
You either hate or love class group projects because they will tank your grade or pull up your grade which you need for said class. Group projects for the most part are random and you may get someone who isn’t pulling their weight or someone taking charge of every aspect of the project. Sometimes by the grace of God, everyone does their part, and you score an A! This is called shared authority. Just like those group projects, historians, scholars, and institutions come together to interpret, or display history.
Benefits of Shared Authority
shared authority have many benefits to historical research, impact on scholarship, and exhibition presentation.
Historical Research:
* Diverse Perspectives
*Oral Histories & Community Input
*Ethical Research Practices
Impact on Scholarship:
*Decentralization of Expertise
*Interdisciplinary Approaches
*Challenging Traditional Narratives
Impact on Exhibition (e.g., Museums, Public History Projects)
*Collaborative Curation
*Engagement & Accessibility
*Ethical Representation:
Why Community Matters?
The community should have an impact on how their history is portrayed, if not the effects could be negative such as mistrust of historians and institutions, false narratives about the community, and distorted truths. In their article, A Shared Inquiry into Shared Inquiry, Katherine Corbett and Dick Miller write of an exhibit that did not have shared authority and the consequence of that. In Meet Me at the Fair: Memory, History, and the 1904 World’s Fair, the Missouri Historical Society aimed to challenge romanticized memories of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. A key focus was the Philippine Village Exhibit, which originally portrayed Filipinos through a colonial, radicalized lens to justify American imperialism. The exhibit highlighted how these portrayals perpetuated harmful stereotypes, such as the myth of Igorot villagers being ‘’dog eaters’’ a narrative rooted in racist propaganda rather than cultural reality.However, the curators faced tensions with the local Filipino-American community. Some community members, particularly those of Visayan descent, found the representation offensive, as it risked reinforcing negative stereotypes.
In 2015, Sandra Bland was found in a Waller County Jail cell apparently she hung herself, despite suspicion from the community, following a global outrage. Sandra Bland was an alumni to the town’s prestigious Hbcu, Prairie View A&M University. Bland would be commenced with a marker and a public memorial in her honor, and a street name change to Sandra Bland Parkway. After speaking with Counselman, Malcolm Jackson of Prairie View TX, about the restoration of the Sandra Bland public memorial, I was told that the owner of the plot where the public memorial sits, was not happy about the name change. She and other multi-generational residents of Prairie View felt that other people in the community were more deserving or had a more significant impact on the small town. The mistake was failure to connect with the community, giving them a role, and listening to their opinions on something that represents them.
The next time you have a group presentation remember the benefits and importance of shared authority to successfully depict your group’s subject presentation.
Corbett, Katharine T., and Howard S. Miller. A Shared Inquiry into Shared Inquiry. The Public Historian 28, no. 1 (2006):