HIST 3080: Topics in Public History: Walt Disney World: From Fantasyland to Historyland

University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Examination of a topic in public history. Section information text: Examination of a topic in public history. This course’s topic explores how the public learns history from theme parks, particularly Walt Disney World in Florida. Disney World includes idealized representations of Colonial and Revolutionary America in Liberty Square, the nineteenth-century American West in Frontierland, the turn-to-the-twentieth-century American town with Main Street U.S.A., and much more. We will examine Disney World and other theme parks for how they use history to entertain the public, i.e., what they leave in, what they take out, and why. You will complete various assessments, including a semester-long project where each student will examine a historical-flavored attraction at Disney World and develop an entry for a class-produced Disney World as Public History experiential project