Alexandra Guerson

Welcome!

Feb 4, 2007 Introduction, Peregrina

I’m a PhD student of history and I’ve decided to create this blog to talk about the adventures, trials & tribulations of research, writing, teaching, and presenting history. I usually avoid writing about it in my general blog since I assume it would bore most people to death. So I wanted to create a space where fellow historians and grad students could share their experiences as we make our path through the study of history… I’m sure there must be others like me out there feeling like a total fraud but who nonetheless would like to give it a real shot at being a good historian and teacher.

But before we get into that, here’s a little on my choice of “pilgrim of history” for the title of this blog:

In Spanish, the verb peregrinar means to travel through a series of places or to go from one place to another. It also defines a “peregrina(o)” (pilgrim) not only in the religious sense of someone who visits a holy site but also someone who wanders through foreign lands. It also gives it the more colloquial meaning of a weird and strange person (“raro o extraño”).

The verb peregrinor, peregrinari, peregrinatus sum in Latin means – peregrinari est peregre iter facere, per aliena loca peragrantem proficisci, patria procul abire; in English: to go abroad, travel through foreign parts or countries, live in foreign countries…

When I was a child, I thought history should be taught at the actual places events happened. We should have to go to Greece and Rome to learn about classical civilizations, to travel to Africa, Latin America or Asia to learn about European imperialism & colonization, and to visit the medieval towns of Europe in order to get a sense of the Middle Ages. Thus, the word pilgrim best describes my journey through life and history…