Red Dead Redemption used to teach American history

History professor Tore Olsson combines his love for history and his love for games in a new history class at the University of Tennessee called “HIUS 383 ″: Red Dead America”. The course will use both Red Dead Redemption and its sequel as starting points to explore the 1899-1911 period of American history.

In a Twitter thread explaining what the class curriculum will cover, Olsson admits that, taken in isolation, the games are “often historically inaccurate,” but nonetheless are good starting points for discussing many issues. historical, notably colonialism, racism and the rise of monopoly capitalism.

Olsson credited fellow historian Jonathan S. Jones for inspiring him to develop the class, after Jones wrote an article for Slate examining how Red Dead Redemption 2 portrays and allows players to interact with the racist past of the States. United.

According to Mr. Olsson, the course will not require owning the game on PC or console, although he assumes that most students will have played the game before. In a later tweet, he explains that he hopes the processing will be low. Orthodox history will help attract students from disciplines other than history. Olsson also hopes his class will inspire other teachers to think about play-oriented classes that will appeal more to young students than a traditional curriculum.

Players lucky enough to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will be able to take the course in August, while others will just have to hope that Mr. Olsson brings the program online for those of us who want. follow him from home.

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