Cultures in Conflict: An Argument Against “Common Ground” Between Practicing Professional Historians and Academics

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-50
Author(s):  
JACK M. HOLL
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Public History ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
National Council ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Academic History

Abstract There is a fundamental distinction between practicing professional historians and academics, and any celebration of a “common ground” tradition masks the fundamental cultural differences between historians who practice and historians who teach. Over the past three decades, since the founding of the Society for History in the Federal Government and the National Council on Public History, practicing professional historians have struggled with definitions of public history. “Struggling with our own identify,” the author states, “many federal historians did not want to be labeled public historians, the professor's euphemism for non-academic historians.” Rather, federal historians belonged to a “cadre of professionals who practiced their specialties in the public sector.” With extensive knowledge of the federal history sector (with particular attention given to the historical office of the Department of Energy) as well as academic history departments and policies, the author argues that “professional historians [should] be defined by what they do, rather than by where they work.” The historical profession must acknowledge that federal and other professional historians “occupy their own solid ground, perhaps not adequately mapped,” and represent more than a “middle ground” between the public and the academy.

scholarly journals História Pública Digital │ Digital Public History

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Noiret
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Public History ◽  
Digital History ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Academic History ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Relationship

RESUMO A virada digital na história reformulou nossa documentação, transformou as ferramentas usadas para armazenar, tratar e acessar a informação, e, por vezes, adiantou novas questões epistemológicas juntamente com novas ferramentas criadas para responder por elas. Ainda assim, no momento, não há uma metodologia sistemática desenvolvida para abordar de forma crítica essas ferramentas digitais, analisar o deslocamento dos “big data” e compreender a nova capacidade pública para todos trabalharem com o passado. Todas essas transformações afetam profundamente o relacionamento entre os historiadores e seu público, suas abordagens visando novas fontes digitais e, finalmente, o registro escrito da história. A perturbadora virada digital questiona a profissão de historiador globalmente, e levanta as incertezas acerca do futuro da historiografia tradicional e as narrativas sobre o passado para diferentes públicos. As narrativas da história digital (pública) requerem que os métodos e códigos profissionais sejam reescritos e reinterpretados e novas práticas sobre o passado sejam dominadas na era digital. O mundo digital condicionou profundamente a presença do passado em nossas sociedades e favoreceu novas percepções do público para a passagem do tempo na história e a presença de lembranças. O domínio digital permite a criação de novas interconexões entre o passado, nosso presente e nosso futuro. Portanto, podemos nos perguntar se, à luz da disseminação pública das novas tecnologias digitais interativas, necessitamos rever em profundidade o relacionamento desenvolvido hoje em dia com o passado, nossa memória e nossa história. Mudanças metodológicas no ofício de historiadores são de tal ordem que devíamos dedicar mais tempo a elas, analisar o que a história digital (pública) ou história por meios digitais representa atualmente no século XXI para a história acadêmica e as profissões relacionadas à história pública.Palavras-chave: História Pública; História Digital; Memória; Humanidades Digitais; Web.       ABSTRACT The Digital Turn in history has reformulated our documentation processes, transformed the ways we archive, treat and access information and has sometimes anticipated new epistemological questions together with new tools created to respond to them. Yet there is still no systematic methodology developed to critically approach these new digital tools, to analyze the transit of "big data" and understand the new public capaity to deal with the past. All this change deeply affects the relationship between historians and their public, their approaches to new digital sources and, finally, the written recording of history. This disturbing digital turn questions professional historians globally and raises uncertainties as to the future of traditional historiography and narratives of the past for diverse publics. The narratives of (public) digital history require that professional methods and codes be rewritten and reinterpretated and that new practices be mastered. The digital world has deeply influenced  the presence of the past in our societiesand favours new public perceptions of the passage of time in history as well as the presence of memories. The digital domain allows for the creation of new interconexions between the past, our present, and our future. Thus we might ask ourselves if, given the public dissemination of new interactive digital technologies, we must deeply review the current relationship with the past, our memory and our history. Methodological changes in historians' craft are such that we should dedicate more time to them and analyze what (public) digital history, or history in digital media, now means for academic history and related professions.Keywords: Public History; Digital History; Memory; Digital Humanities, The Web.  

Reflections on the Public Interpretation of Regional Environmental History In Western Pennsylvania

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-69
Author(s):  
Chris J. Magoc
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Public History ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural Resource Extraction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Environmental Histories ◽  
Western Pennsylvania

This essay attempts to counter the scarcity of efforts to address issues of natural resource extraction and environmental exploitation in public history forums. Focused on western Pennsylvania, it argues that the history of industrial development and its deleterious environmental impacts demands a regional vision that not only frames these stories within the ideological and economic context of the past, but also challenges residents and visitors to consider this history in light of the related environmental concerns of our own time. The essay explores some of the difficult issues faced by public historians and practitioners as they seek to produce public environmental histories that do not elude opportunities to link past and present in meaningful ways.

scholarly journals "We Never Knew":  The Differences between Museum History and  Academic History Explored through an  Exhibition of the New Zealand Wars

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elspeth Hocking
Keyword(s):  
Public History ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Past ◽  
Presentation Modes ◽  
Academic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Museum History ◽  
Conducting Research

<p>Public history and academic history have been viewed both as opposites, two practices related only by their concern with sharing the past, as well as conceptualised as similar fields with close connections to each other. Museum history exhibitions are an obvious example of public history in action. However, is the history that exhibitions present all that different from what is produced in the academy, or is this history academia in another form? Initially this dissertation aimed to explore the relationships between academic and public histories as discipline and practice, assuming a relationship rather than divide between the two fields as suggested in some of the literature. However, the eventual results of the research were different than expected, and suggested that in fact public histories manifest very differently to academic histories within a museum context. Using an adapted ethnographic research methodology, this dissertation traces the development of a single history exhibition, "Te Ahi Kā Roa, Te Ahi Kātoro Taranaki War 1860–2010: Our Legacy – Our Challenge", from its concept development to opening day and onwards to public programmes. This exhibition opened at Puke Ariki in New Plymouth in March 2010, and was a provocative display not only of the history of the wars themselves, but of the legacy of warfare in the Taranaki community. Other methods include partially structured interviews which were conducted with ten people involved in creating this exhibition, who outlined their roles in its production and provided their views on its development, and also a brief analysis of the broader social and historical context in which the exhibition was staged. Through tracing the creation of this history, the findings suggested that the history produced at Puke Ariki is a history in its own right, with noticeable differences from academic histories. The strongest correlation between public and academic history in this instance was the shared aspiration to be rigorous in conducting research and, as far as possible, to create an accurate portrayal of the past. Otherwise the history created by Puke Ariki through the exhibition proved to be different in that it was deliberately designed to be very accessible, and it utilised a number of presentation modes, including objects, text, audiovisual and sound. It was interactive, and had a clear aim of enabling the audience to participate in a discussion about the history being presented. Finally, it was a highly politicised history, in that decision making had to be negotiated with source communities in a collaborative fashion, and issues of censorship worked through with the council, a major funding source. The dissertation concludes that producing history in a museum context is a dynamic and flexible process, and one that can be successful despite not necessarily following theoretical models of exhibition development.</p>

Rethinking Kant as a public intellectual

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-108
Author(s):  
Sofie Møller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Political ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past

In Kant’s Politics in Context, Reidar Maliks offers a compelling account of Kant’s political philosophy as part of a public debate on rights, citizenship, and revolution in the wake of the French Revolution. Maliks argues that Kant’s political thought was developed as a moderate middle ground between radical and conservative political interpretations of his moral philosophy. The book’s central thesis is that the key to understanding Kant’s legal and political thought lies in the public debate among Kant’s followers and that in this debate we find the political challenges which Kant’s political philosophy is designed to solve. Kant’s Politics in Context raises crucial questions about how to understand political thinkers of the past and is proof that our understanding of the past will remain fragmented if we limit our studies to the great men of the established canon.

scholarly journals Public History in Movement – Present Pasts: the Memory of Slavery in Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juniele Rabêlo de Almeida ◽  
Larissa Moreira Viana
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public History ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Historical Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractPresent Pasts: The Memory of Slavery in Brazil is a sound testament to the Brazilian public history movemen.This problematization of the “present pasts of slavery” finds fertile ground in Brazilian public history because of the urgent need to record and analyze representations of this traumatic past, going beyond professional and academic contexts to the public sphere. Public history offers reinvigorating possibilities for mediation between, and intervention in, the past and its publics.The Present Pasts Research Network provides a thought-provoking example of public history’s ability to be sensitive to broad public debate and how the needs, interests, and representations of communities can be addressed through historical representation, interpretation, and active history-making.

scholarly journals Entre l’arbre et l’écorce : la recherche criminologique au Canada (1960-1985)

Criminologie ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Denis Szabo
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

The author describes the relationship that has been established over the past 25 years between university centres doing research in criminology and the Federal Government, pointing out both areas of agreement and as an expert and participant in the field, advocates a pluralistic type of collaboration between the University and the public authorities.

Abusing Public Visual History

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-85
Author(s):  
Magdalena Saryusz-Wolska
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public History ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ethical Codes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Illustrated Press ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Visual History

The covers of the two mainstream right-wing magazines in Poland, (W) Sieci and Do Rzeczy, have put numerous images on display that refer to well-known events from the past. However, most of the images suggest incorrect interpretations or even falsify historical facts. Asserting that visual history as presented in the illustrated press belongs to the field of public history, the author discusses the consequences of such a deceptive use of history in the public sphere. The article challenges the affirmative approach of public history by showing that scholars should pay more attention to those who ignore ethical codes and do not follow what are considered to be best practices.

National Council on Public History Keynote Address, 2015

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-17
Author(s):  
Tiya Miles
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Native American ◽  
Public History ◽  
Keynote Address ◽  
National Council ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Historic Site ◽  
The Public

As public historians, we grapple not only with the “what” of history making (subject and argument) but also with the “how” (process and relationships). We strive to develop projects that are dialogic and collaborative in nature, and to widely share the results of our work with the public. In doing so, we often chart new academic territory, making our way by trial and error and taking risks. By focusing on a Native American and African American historic site as case study, this essay explores how the aim to illuminate ways in which history matters in the present often drives us to create “history on the edge.”

Theatre: A Neglected Site of Public History?

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-39
Author(s):  
David Dean
Keyword(s):  
Public History ◽  
Living History ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Theatre ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theatre Company ◽  
Theatrical Representations ◽  
And Performance

Abstract Although theatrical representations of the past have been examined by theatre and performance studies scholars, public historians have preferred to focus on historical re-enactments in living history sites, museums, or on film and television. This article argues that theatre is a compelling site for representing and understanding the past through a case study of one of the most performed plays in recent Canadian repertoire, Vern Theissen's Vimy. Drawing on a survey of audience members and the author's experiences as an academic historian working with a national theatre company, it proposes ways in which further study and practice can illuminate our understanding of the public and its pasts.

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