Professor of History Erika K. Jackson engages students while working on her newest book
Colorado Mesa University Professor of History Erika K. Jackson, PhD, is an expert at weaving history, storytelling and media together in the courses she teaches and the books she writes. Jackson recently delivered a colloquium on the research for her forthcoming book entitled Small-town Feminism: A History of Midwestern Girlhood During the Late Twentieth Century and engaged the audience by incorporating music videos, magazine covers and advertisements as she discussed how young people discovered a unique blend of feminist ideals in small-town America during the 1980s and 1990s.
Jackson teaches courses in women’s and gender history, the history of sexuality, immigration, race and ethnicity and courses in modern U.S. history at CMU. In all her classes Jackson works to involve students as much as possible with active questioning and hands-on work.
“I will use video clips, music videos, and we do a lot of lyrical analysis in my pop culture classes. I really like to break it up and to actively show my students how I analyze these points of media as primary sources.”
Jackson also includes her students in the research she conducts allowing them to experience the process of historical research firsthand. In one of her classes Jackson assigned her students to conduct preliminary interviews with her research participants and then transcribe each interview “so they really got a sense of how incredibly daunting the process is,” explained Jackson.
Those interviews and transcripts will become part of Jackson’s upcoming book in which she is working to highlight the untold stories of people coming of age in small-town America during the final decades of the 20th century and their experiences with feminism. In true Maverick spirit, Jackson is taking an unconventional approach to her research, starting with interviews and then learning from each oral history to get a sense of the pop-culture mass media that was important to each interviewee. She, along with students, will then work to analyze and place that media in the context of her interviewee’s stories. Jackson hopes that people reading her book will “come away feeling like feminism is accessible to them and that it’s a concept that we should all be on board with.”
In addition to helping students find success by participating in the research and writing associated with her forthcoming book, Jackson serves as a faculty mentor for student research that is presented during the Student Showcase each spring at CMU. This year Jackson is working with four different students on topics including: the evolution of religious radio programming, feminism and popular music, the Satanic Panic and “kid culture”, and the intersection of progressivism and primitivism in 19th century summer camps. You can come check out these presentations and more at the Student Showcase on Friday, April 28.
Jackson also works as an advisor for aspiring elementary and secondary education teachers at CMU. She helps students unpack curriculum, understand standards and acquire new teaching strategies, but perhaps most importantly Jackson helps future educators learn how to be engaging. She teaches her students improvisational techniques, like those you would find in a theatre program.
“When you’re in the classroom, you’re on the stage whether you like it or not. It’s very performative and to be engaging as an educator you need to have that performative aspect of yourself that you can pull out of your back pocket.”
When asked about why the history she teaches and researches still matter today, Jackson said, “Sexism, oppression and misogyny affects everybody, regardless of sex. For us to get to a point within our society where everybody is benefiting from the social structure, we need to embrace feminism — we need to embrace equality as a common value. Feminism is just basic equality and equality benefits everybody.” Jackson argues that the history she covers can teach all of us about dignity and the intrinsic value of every individual.
Students interested in learning more about women’s and gender history are encouraged to take advantage of the interdisciplinary Women’s and Gender Studies minor offered at CMU, of which Jackson is an advisor. This program consists of a new women’s and gender studies core class and from there students can choose other classes related to women’s and gender history within the fields of history, psychology, criminal justice, English, political science and engineering. More information about the minor can be found on the Social and Behavioral Sciences site. Jackson also supports CMU’s Association of Feminists (Fem Club) and students are encouraged to contact her to get involved. Through Fem Club students on campus engage in club meetings, scholarly events and work to educate their peers on the importance of gender equality.