Meet the Charlie Brown scholar + professor who makes historical past enjoyable

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Charlie Brown, Batman and American historical past all join within the life, work and teachings of Dr. Blake Scott Ball, an affiliate professor of historical past on the University of North Alabama.

A Muscle Shoals native, Ball has lengthy been obsessed with popular culture, comics and historical past—pursuits he has channeled into educational analysis, two books, talking engagements and relatable teachings. In 2024, he fortunately returned to his dwelling neighborhood to show at his undergrad alma mater.

His strategy exemplifies a mode of educating and mentorship that college students received’t discover anyplace else, and there’s no place he’d moderately be, both.

Keep studying to find out about Ball’s work and the way it shapes college students’ experiences at UNA at this time.

WATCH: Meet Dr. Blake Scott Ball

(Ben Johnson / Hville Blast)

Comics, tradition + the classroom

Author of “Charlie Brown’s America: The Popular Politics of Peanuts,” Ball selected the subject in a second of reality over 15 years in the past when exploring matters for his doctoral dissertation. When typical educational matters weren’t clicking, he “finally admitted [his] inner comics nerd” and went with a topic that actually him.

Beyond the dissertation, the ebook took roughly 10 years to finish, together with intensive archival analysis within the Charles Schulz Museum in California. There, sudden discoveries generally appeared in actual time, just like the day Schulz’s widow walked in with a forgotten field containing a Christmas reward from Pablo Picasso to Schulz: a sweatshirt on which he had puffy-painted Schroeder’s treasured Beethoven bust.

Ball says his favourite half about his first ebook continues to be how folks share with him about what Peanuts means to them:

“Every time that happens, I wish I could send Charles Schulz a thank-you letter.”
_{Dr. Blake Scott Ball}

His second ebook for Oxford University Press, titled “Batman: The Making of an American Myth,” is about for publication in 2027.

Coming dwelling to the Shoals

After graduating from UNA in 2008, Ball left dwelling to earn his grasp’s and doctorate levels at The University of Alabama earlier than pursuing a profession in greater schooling. Over seven years working for a non-public school in Montgomery, Ball started to listen to the decision of dwelling rising stronger when returning to go to household through the years.

“Every time I came back, it just lifted my heart. I was increasingly happy to be back up here in the Shoals. When the opportunity came up to get back up here, I jumped at the chance.”
_{Dr. Blake Scott Ball}

Returning to the neighborhood that formed him evokes the views he brings to college students as they start their very own journeys right here.

Continued help + stronger scholar experiences

Describing himself as the child who all the time left his mind on the playground at recess with Batman, Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles, Ball says he agrees with the adults who inspired him to refocus on the intense issues…to an extent.

“Even as a kid, I thought ‘I am focused on the serious things. I think these things are important, too.’ So there’s still that little kid in me going back, looking and saying, I don’t think we were just being naive children. We were recognizing larger truths, larger realities that were built into the art, and that’s what made the art great.”

“I want to bring it down where everybody can enjoy it. Not to degrade it, but to make it accessible.”
_{Dr. Blake Scott Ball}

He says he deeply appreciates the chance with UNA to proceed analysis whereas bringing it into the classroom, inspiring college students enrolled in historical past and social research coursework.

Learn extra in regards to the high-quality instruction and schooling college students obtain on the University of North Alabama.

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