by Projects are always overwhelming when it comes to preparation and participation. Each project branches into different paths in order to reach the same goal: delivering a message about what the project is about. For my Digital Public History class, the project I am working on provides no exception to the rule. Since the beginning of the spring semester, I have worked tirelessly to pick my topic, figure out the message I’m trying to deliver, and how I wish to relay that message.
Picking the topic and message
One of the hardest things for me when creating this project wasn’t exactly what point I’m trying to relay. Instead, it was how I was going to deliver that point. Since I focus more on multicultural and transcultural history, I considered many different historical cultures and topics. Ranging from Khazars, Tatars, Manchus, Boers, and the Portuguese; I eventually settled on the Mongols of the Persian Ilkhanate. My goal was to use the history of this time period to talk about how the Mongols, a then Tengri people ruling over a Muslim-populated Persia, eventually became the Mughals, a Persian Muslim empire ruling over a massive Hindu population. However, as soon as I went to the drawing board, I hit my biggest hurdle, the lack of reliable primary sourcing.
Drafting and redrafting
Back to the drawing board I went, and this time I chose a familiar face: the Normans of Sicily and Italy. However, unlike the Mongols of the Ilkhanate, the Normans didn’t fully assimilate into Sicilian life. Instead, they adapted their culture and ways of life to the locals, creating a distinct Siculo-Norman culture. One of the reasons I ended up choosing the Normans of Sicily is because of how diverse the region was, as well as the type of rulers the Normans were. During this time period, Sicily and southern Italy were dominated by Germanic Lombards, Catholic Italians, Byzantine Greeks, and Sunni Berbers; all of whom were ruled by a Norman elite that was both French and Scandinavian decent.
Primary and secondary audiences
Finding my audience was always going to be one of the biggest questions I faced with this project. By working backward, I believe that I was able to find my audience. The questions I had when figuring out my audience pertained to what exactly I was hoping to relay to them. For example, the Normans have had major impacts on Mediterranean history, but the average historian and large population wouldn’t know that outright. As historians, we have to present the topic and the evidence to prove our point has merit. As for the masses, my problem was figuring out how to make the topic engaging for people who tend to focus on a social media posts for less than a 5 to 10 second duration. However, this could be remedied with interactive features and catchy titles
Figuring out the “why?”
Amongst the difficulties of this project, the biggest issue I came across was the “why,” as in why is this topic relevant. From my research and understanding of world history, our past is entirely complex and full of untold stories. The average individual tends to think of history as black and white. Faith vs. faith. Empire vs. empire. Brother vs. brother. We tend to look at the history of a nation as if every culture and language of the past was as similar as it is today. For a region like Sicily, centuries of being under multiple kings, emperors, basileis, and caliphs, shows a region with multiple cultural practices that shaped the region into what it is today. Therefore, my “why” focuses on how these multicultural and cross-cultural historical occurrences aren’t just important to historians, but for other individuals to understand the natural occurrence of a multicultural society and what we can learn from the past to help us live together in the future.
Wrapping everything together
In conclusion, creating the focus of the project wasn’t easy. There was a lot of angles to approach this from, but also many obstacles that each angle had for me to overcome. I never expected to be a cakewalk, but the difficulties seemed to be far greater than expected. However, through careful researching and planning, I believe I found ways to approach this project appropriately, answering most (if not all) the questions I previously had. Though it won’t be easy, I look forward to seeing and documenting the progress of my Digital History project as it nears completion.
