Happy
end of the week, everyone! Matt Craft, Award-winning Man, Myth, Legend,
Historical Investigator, here. Don’t know about you, but I’ve enjoyed profiling
the Belmont history professors here on The
Bruin History Blog. They all have plenty to say, and what they say is
phenomenal. Continuing this groovy trend, this week profiles Dr. Cynthia
Bisson! – or Dr. Mrs. Bisson as some call her.
Originally from Paducah, Kentucky, but a seven-year
resident of Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Bisson earned her Bachelor of Arts “in History
and French [. . . and her Masters of
Arts] in History”[1] at the Murray State
University in Murray, KY, and her Doctorate of Philosophy at the Ohio State
University. A veteran sensei[2] like her
colleagues Drs. Peter Kuryla, Brenda Jackson-Abernathy, and Daniel Schafer, she
has “been teaching history in general for 28 years and at Belmont for 25
years,”[3]
and Dr. Bisson first joined the Belmont history family “in August 1987”[4]
with her husband, Dr. Douglas Bisson, or Dr. Mr. Bisson as some call him.
In
addition to her teaching duties, Dr. Bisson finds time to work as an active
historian and serve as the head of Xi-Alpha (the Belmont chapter of Phi Alpha
Theta).[5]
She told me, “I give papers at conferences, assess articles for review, and
work on my own research projects.”[6]
She said she “became the faculty advisor to Phi Alpha Theta in 2007”[7]
and commented that she served as “president of [her] chapter at Murray State,
but this is [her] only time as an advisor.”[8]
And now, my exclusive interview with Dr. Mrs. Bisson…
CRAFT: Were you always interested in history?
BISSON: Always, since
elementary school.
CRAFT: Why history?
What first got you interested?
BISSON: Since I was in elementary school, I always
liked to read history books better than any other kind. The stories were fascinating, and I liked
learning about famous people and their lives.
Later, I began to read about how people lived and found that very
interesting too. There was no “moment of
Zen”[9] that
got me interested in history. It seems
that it is a subject that I have always enjoyed.
CRAFT: Is there a specific avenue or focus of
history you find most interesting, and why?
BISSON: I specifically like French and Japanese
history. Within those two national
histories I enjoy the 19th century.
For France, the 19th century is the working out of the legacy of
the Great Revolution[10]
and Napoleon[11] in French society,
culture, and politics. It is also the
century of my favorite artists, the Impressionists, as well as some of my
favorite novelists such as Balzac[12]
and de Maupassant. [13]
For Japan, the 19th century is an era of enormous transition as
the Tokugawa Shogunate[14]
comes to a chaotic end and the modern nation emerges in the Meiji period.[15] To
read and understand how this transformation affected Japan’s people is most
interesting. For example, Japanese
peasants began the century living lives that were essentially the same as they
had been for 300 years. By century’s end, the equality of opportunity brought
about by the Meiji era changed their lives incredibly as they left the land for
other occupations or remained and changed how they farmed. It is also interesting to see how Japan
wrestled with the issue of how much Westernization can you absorb without
losing your Japaneseness.
CRAFT: Do you
bring history home with you?
BISSON: That is an interesting question. I suppose I do. I read it constantly,
punctuated by periods of reading fiction.
CRAFT: Other than your husband, does your family
share your passion for history or teaching?
BISSON: My son loves to
read history, though he graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in Physics and
Math. In fact, he only needed one more
course to have a History minor there.
CRAFT: How many foreign languages and/or alphabets
do you know? What are they?
BISSON: French is my
true second language because I have studied it the longest and spent almost in
year in France on a Fulbright research grant for my dissertation. Living in a culture where you have to speak
the language daily really helps you retain it.
I also read it daily. My not-so-great
third language is Japanese. I took three
years of it at Belmont and have visited Japan four times, but it is difficult
to retain. I know about 50 kanji[16]
of 2,000; however, the 64-character kana[17]
syllabary I can still read.
CRAFT: What do you read for pleasure?
BISSON: Memoirs of not so famous people, travel
literature, and novels. Right now, my
novel reading is limited to what is in the public domain on Amazon or Google,
but I also enjoy the work of modern American novelists like Michael Chabon.[18]
CRAFT: What book of historical nature would you
recommend that everyone read?
BISSON: I would recommend that everyone read a good
history of the post-World War II world.
I am not sure that a good global history of this period exists, but
there are plenty of national histories that discuss the effect of World War II
in terms of the social, economic, cultural, and political changes that it
brought about. We are still dealing with
its legacy in many areas.
CRAFT: What book of historical nature would you
recommend that any president, prime minister, or head of state should read?
BISSON: Another difficult question because what I
would recommend would depend on what nation the head of state resided. Since each nation has its own unique history
I would recommend a national history.
So, for President François Hollande[19]
of France, I would recommend a biography of Jean Jaurès,[20]
the founder of the French Socialist Party (Hollande is a socialist), and a
history of France since 1870.
CRAFT: Is there a person you admire or model
yourself after?
BISSON: There is no one that I model myself after. That
being said I do find certain traits in both historical and living personages
that I find are worth emulating.
CRAFT: Who is your favorite intellectual, and why?
Where do you see his or her historic relevance and importance?
BISSON: This is a
difficult question for me. There are so many men and women whom I have read it
is hard to pinpoint just one as a favorite.
I am influenced by a variety of intellectuals, whether I agree or
disagree with what they wrote. Though, I
must say I like the French philosophes of the Enlightenment. My favorite is Voltaire[21]
because he promoted toleration, especially religious toleration, and worked to
make his world a little more just. He
saw the value of an education for everyone and also believed women could be
better educated than they were at the time.
CRAFT: What role does history play in education?
BISSON: History is very important for education in
all fields. Personally, you need to know
about where you came from to help better understand why you do what you do in
your life. Then, you understand that you
need to explore beyond yourself, and this is where history comes in for all
subjects. If you are studying biology,
you need to know the origins of that field of study and the discoveries of past
biologists. The same is true of
business. Business history is an
important field that enables a person to know about the achievements of
individual entrepreneurs. It also helps
someone better understand a culture and why business practices develop the way
that they do in certain nations. In every subject, you must learn about the
past to some degree in order to comprehend the present and even look to the
future.
CRAFT: Do you feel history gets enough attention or
focus in all levels of school?
BISSON: There are many subjects that students must
take at all levels of school, so perhaps there are enough history courses. The problem is that sometimes it is presented
in a boring manner or there is too much emphasis on memorizing dates and not
discussing content. It is also seen as
something irrelevant because of the emphasis on the present. I would say that just as history is
downplayed in schools, so is thinking about the future.
CRAFT: In your opinion, what role does writing play
in history and other disciplines?
BISSON: Writing is extremely important in how we
express ourselves in life. Any type of
writing that is unclear or ambiguous can be interpreted in many different
ways. We might be misinterpreted as to
our intentions or beliefs in a personal letter or email. In business, if an order for a product is
badly written, it might be wrongly filled, while in medicine, an unclear
physician’s report might result in the wrong medicine or treatment being given
to a patient. Concerning history, it is
important to be precise about your subject and how you evoke an era. You are trying to recreate the past as accurately
as possible, and you want others to be able to enjoy reading your work so that
they may learn from what you say. If a
historical work is badly written, then people lose interest in what is being
said and no one learns.
CRAFT: What is the most important thing students
leave your courses with?
BISSON: I hope that my students leave my courses
with a better attitude towards learning history. More importantly, I hope that
they leave with an idea about how all life is connected. That when something happens in one part of
the globe, it affects another part of it, even if it is very far away.
CRAFT: Where is the gap in the average person’s
historical knowledge the widest? Where is it the narrowest?
BISSON: The gap is the
widest in knowledge about the distant past—the ancient world, the medieval
world. The narrowest gap is in modern history, specifically in Modern U.S
[history]. Since I teach European and
Asian history, there is a wide gap no matter what era you cover.
Thanks a million for reading, peeps. Stay tuned. For next
week, I’ll profile her husband, Dr. Mr. Bisson! Peace!
AW MML, HI
[1]
Cynthia Bisson, personal interview, April 4, 2013.
[2]
Japanese term for teacher.
[3]
Bisson.
[4]
Bisson.
[5]
Phi Alpha Theta is a national history honor society.
[6]
Bisson.
[7]
Bisson.
[8]
Bisson.
[9]
According to the Urban Dictionary
(which, personally, I think is a less reliable source than Dictionary.com for most projects), a “moment of Zen” is basically a
moment in which you are inspired or attracted to a specific thing.
[10]
The French Revolution – 1789-1799.
[11]
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).
[13]
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant
(1850-1893) – French writer.
[14]
Tokugawa Shogunate – 1600-1868. The last military government in feudal Japan.
[15]
Meiji period – 1868-1912. The beginning of modern Japan.
[16]
Kanji – Chinese characters adopted by
and used in present-day Japanese calligraphy.
[17]
Kana – another form of Japanese
calligraphy.
[18]
Michael Chabon (1963-present) – American writer.
[19]
François Hollande (1954-present).
[20]
Jean Jaurès (1859-1914) – French socialist. A contemporary of American
socialist Eugene Victor Debs. :)
[21]
François-Marie Arouet, a.k.a. Voltaire
(1694-1778) – French intellectual.
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