{"id":33168,"date":"2026-02-11T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/?p=33168"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:16:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:16:55","slug":"engaging-with-complex-histories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/engaging-with-complex-histories\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Map: Engaging with Complex Histories to Support Critical Place-Based Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Matthew Panozzo, Lara Condon, Keishana Barnes, Anna Falkner, and Carolyn Michael-Banks \u201cQueen\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2005, the novelist David Foster Wallace gave a <a href=\"https:\/\/web.ics.purdue.edu\/~drkelly\/DFWKenyonAddress2005.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">commencement speech<\/a> at Kenyon College, Ohio. During that speech, he observed that \u201cthe most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; color: initial;\">We live and work a few states south of Ohio, in Memphis, Tennessee, yet this statement resonates deeply with us. Our city\u2019s narrative is filled with competing, conflicting stories of space and place, but these layered histories often fade into the blur of our everyday routines.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-woocommerce-memberships-member-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce-info wc-memberships-restriction-message wc-memberships-message wc-memberships-content-restricted-message\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3>Subscribe to Keep Reading<\/h3>\r\n<p>\ud83d\udd11 You\u2019re one step away from unlocking premium content.<br>\r\nSubscribe now for as low as $5.99 and get full access!<\/p>\r\n<p><a class=\"btn\" href=\"\/product-category\/subscription\/\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><small>If you\u2019re already subscribed, please <a href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/my-account\/\">Log In<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\t\t    <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As educators, we are rarely asked to sit with the histories of our city and consider how they influence our pedagogy, curriculum, and relationship with the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":854,"featured_media":33221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3151,3150,3028,3154,3152],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-black-voices","8":"category-diversity","9":"category-new-teachers","10":"category-social-justice","11":"category-social-studies"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beyond the Map: Engaging with Complex Histories to Support Critical Place-Based Learning - TEACH Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As educators, we are rarely asked to sit with the histories of our city and consider how they influence our pedagogy and relationship with the community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/engaging-with-complex-histories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond the Map: Engaging with Complex Histories to Support Critical Place-Based Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Engaging with our local community through a guided tour helped us view the city, our teaching, and our research in a new light.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/engaging-with-complex-histories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TEACH Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/teachmag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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