Abstract This article delves into the role of public history within the context of suppressed and erased colonial pasts, underscoring the importance of individuals in actively shaping, uncovering, documenting and disseminating history. The period from the late 1940s–1960s marked a pivotal transition for the British Empire, as numerous colonies gained independence. This shift in sovereignty from colonial rule to sovereign nations unveiled deep apprehensions regarding the potential use of Britain’s historical actions and documents by newly independent governments. Operation Legacy was a clandestine initiative by British colonial authorities to destroy or hide records that could tarnish the British government’s image or compromise secret intelligence. The ethical ramifications of this operation, and its impact on the construction of memory and knowledge, remain a contentious issue for many in former colonies who are still striving to piece together their colonial history and seek justice for past wrongs. By highlighting the experience, methodologies and challenges of the Museum of British Colonialism collective, the article explores what a framework for decolonial public history may look like in a digital age. Decolonial public history requires negotiations that are continuously shaped by interrogating multiple sources, employing multiple mediums, engaging diverse audiences, and constantly reflecting and refining one’s own process and methodology. Inspired by Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s influential work Devil on the Cross, which portrays resistance to colonialism as a communal and interconnected endeavor, the article reflects on the character Wariinga’s query: “Where is the seeker who searches for another?” It concludes with thoughts on how digital public history can achieve decolonial significance and effectiveness, not merely through technological means, but by centering human connections and extensively building communities of practice across multiple frontiers.
摘要 本文深入探讨了公共历史在被压制和抹去的殖民地历史背景下的作用，强调了个人在积极塑造、发掘、记录和传播历史方面的重要性。20 世纪 40 年代末至 60 年代是大英帝国的关键转型期，许多殖民地获得了独立。从殖民统治到主权国家的这一主权转变，揭示了新独立国家政府对英国历史行动和文件的潜在使用深感忧虑。遗产行动是英国殖民当局的一项秘密举措，旨在销毁或隐藏可能有损英国政府形象或泄露秘密情报的记录。对于前殖民地的许多人来说，这一行动的伦理后果及其对记忆和知识建构的影响仍是一个有争议的问题，他们仍在努力拼凑殖民历史，为过去的错误伸张正义。通过重点介绍英国殖民主义博物馆集体的经验、方法和挑战，文章探讨了数字时代的非殖民公共历史框架可能是什么样的。非殖民化公共史需要通过对多种来源的审问、多种媒介的运用、不同受众的参与以及对自身过程和方法的不断反思和完善来持续形成。恩古吉-瓦-蒂昂奥（Ngugi wa Thiong'o）的作品《十字架上的恶魔》（Devil on the Cross）将抵抗殖民主义描绘成一种共同的、相互关联的努力，受此启发，文章对人物瓦里安加（Wariinga）的疑问进行了反思："寻找他人的人在哪里？文章最后思考了数字公共史如何不仅通过技术手段，而且通过以人与人之间的联系为中心，广泛建立跨越多个疆界的实践社区，来实现非殖民主义的意义和有效性。
{"title":"Where is the Seeker Who Searches for Another? Decolonial Approaches to Digital Public History","authors":"Chao Tayiana Maina","doi":"10.1515/iph-2024-2005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2024-2005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article delves into the role of public history within the context of suppressed and erased colonial pasts, underscoring the importance of individuals in actively shaping, uncovering, documenting and disseminating history. The period from the late 1940s–1960s marked a pivotal transition for the British Empire, as numerous colonies gained independence. This shift in sovereignty from colonial rule to sovereign nations unveiled deep apprehensions regarding the potential use of Britain’s historical actions and documents by newly independent governments. Operation Legacy was a clandestine initiative by British colonial authorities to destroy or hide records that could tarnish the British government’s image or compromise secret intelligence. The ethical ramifications of this operation, and its impact on the construction of memory and knowledge, remain a contentious issue for many in former colonies who are still striving to piece together their colonial history and seek justice for past wrongs. By highlighting the experience, methodologies and challenges of the Museum of British Colonialism collective, the article explores what a framework for decolonial public history may look like in a digital age. Decolonial public history requires negotiations that are continuously shaped by interrogating multiple sources, employing multiple mediums, engaging diverse audiences, and constantly reflecting and refining one’s own process and methodology. Inspired by Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s influential work Devil on the Cross, which portrays resistance to colonialism as a communal and interconnected endeavor, the article reflects on the character Wariinga’s query: “Where is the seeker who searches for another?” It concludes with thoughts on how digital public history can achieve decolonial significance and effectiveness, not merely through technological means, but by centering human connections and extensively building communities of practice across multiple frontiers.","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141334954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As a historical settler and colonizer in Asia, yet a state not colonized by European countries, Japan and its colonial history seem to have been left out from the debates on public history as a decolonizing process, due to the field having arguably been Eurocentric. This article interrogates the extent to which public history could serve as a vehicle to decolonize the history-making process in Japan and demonstrates the challenges of decolonizing through public history within Japan’s national framework due to nationalistic or patriotic silencing and censorship. Such nationalistic public history is rooted in Japan’s narratives of victimhood fostered in its course of history, including the ‘inferior’ position against the West or the experience of the atomic bombs. Moreover, Japan’s historical division between the internal and external colonies as well as its nationalistic, defensive attitude towards the history of external colonialism have played significant roles in burying its settler colonial past. To include narratives about the internal and external colonial victims, I argue that both Eurocentric decolonization and academia-centered public history in Japan need to be, in themselves, decolonized so that they provide more nuanced approaches to Japan’s colonial past. Furthermore, given that narratives of the colonial past in national history projects can be silenced under nationalistic victimhood, this article suggests that transnational collaborative public history could disconnect historical narratives from nationalistic discourses of victimhood, gathering more sympathy beyond Japan and supporting efforts towards decolonization. The overall article eventually contributes to decolonizing the Eurocentric debates on ‘decolonization through public history.’
{"title":"Can It Be a Gamechanger? Interrogating the Prospects of Decolonization Through Public History in Japan","authors":"Emi Tozawa","doi":"10.1515/iph-2024-2001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2024-2001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 As a historical settler and colonizer in Asia, yet a state not colonized by European countries, Japan and its colonial history seem to have been left out from the debates on public history as a decolonizing process, due to the field having arguably been Eurocentric. This article interrogates the extent to which public history could serve as a vehicle to decolonize the history-making process in Japan and demonstrates the challenges of decolonizing through public history within Japan’s national framework due to nationalistic or patriotic silencing and censorship. Such nationalistic public history is rooted in Japan’s narratives of victimhood fostered in its course of history, including the ‘inferior’ position against the West or the experience of the atomic bombs. Moreover, Japan’s historical division between the internal and external colonies as well as its nationalistic, defensive attitude towards the history of external colonialism have played significant roles in burying its settler colonial past. To include narratives about the internal and external colonial victims, I argue that both Eurocentric decolonization and academia-centered public history in Japan need to be, in themselves, decolonized so that they provide more nuanced approaches to Japan’s colonial past. Furthermore, given that narratives of the colonial past in national history projects can be silenced under nationalistic victimhood, this article suggests that transnational collaborative public history could disconnect historical narratives from nationalistic discourses of victimhood, gathering more sympathy beyond Japan and supporting efforts towards decolonization. The overall article eventually contributes to decolonizing the Eurocentric debates on ‘decolonization through public history.’","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141098477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dachau concentration camp was set up in March 1933. During the twelve years of its existence, more than 200,000 prisoners from over 40 nations were imprisoned here and in its sub-camps. At least 41,500 people died there from hunger, disease, torture, murder, and the consequences of their imprisonment. In her introduction, Kerstin Schwenke describes the history of the camp and the memorial site. The head of the Education Department at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial also explains the educational approach used there. This is followed by a discussion with her and other members of the Education Department as well as U.S. public historian Marty Blatt on the educational work, graphic novels as well as politics of remembrance.
{"title":"A Reflection on and a Conversation about History, Memory, and Education at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial","authors":"A. Etges","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Dachau concentration camp was set up in March 1933. During the twelve years of its existence, more than 200,000 prisoners from over 40 nations were imprisoned here and in its sub-camps. At least 41,500 people died there from hunger, disease, torture, murder, and the consequences of their imprisonment. In her introduction, Kerstin Schwenke describes the history of the camp and the memorial site. The head of the Education Department at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial also explains the educational approach used there. This is followed by a discussion with her and other members of the Education Department as well as U.S. public historian Marty Blatt on the educational work, graphic novels as well as politics of remembrance.","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139603403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Joanna Wojdon, Dorota Wiśniewska, ed., Public in Public History","authors":"P. Knevel","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139152950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article emphasizes that social justice – as both a process and a goal – should be put forward as guiding principle for applied historians who want to engage in partnerships with public institutions. While ethical issues are intrinsically intertwined with addressing contemporary problems and facilitating social change, I argue that reflective and reflexive questioning before, during and after a partnership with institutions in power can bring ethical responsibility to the applied history field. The principles of reflection and reflexivity align with social justice by creating greater transparency in both the actions of applied historians, as well as in the actions of the advised institutions.
{"title":"Partnerships with Public Institutions: Reflecting on Applied History and Social Justice Principles","authors":"Julie Wynant","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article emphasizes that social justice – as both a process and a goal – should be put forward as guiding principle for applied historians who want to engage in partnerships with public institutions. While ethical issues are intrinsically intertwined with addressing contemporary problems and facilitating social change, I argue that reflective and reflexive questioning before, during and after a partnership with institutions in power can bring ethical responsibility to the applied history field. The principles of reflection and reflexivity align with social justice by creating greater transparency in both the actions of applied historians, as well as in the actions of the advised institutions.","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138957122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The ‘aragalaya’ or the ‘people’s struggle’ was perhaps one of the most important and successful movements of Sri Lanka’s long history of democracy. In 2015, democracy prevailed, unexpectedly and against all odds, when Sri Lankans, unsatisfied with their political representation, ‘voted out’ a government. In 2022, just as unexpectedly and for the first time in his history, the people of Sri Lanka ousted a government through mass protest and uprising. The protesters, cutting across socio-economic class and arguably many other barriers, came together and marched to Colombo’s Galle Face Green, in parallel to each other and to each other’s goals. This time, they came to do more than simply oust a government but for an idea of justice, equity, democracy, and system change. This article explores the memories and perspectives of those who ‘lived’ on the protest site and the relationship between memory, place, and the social construction of space, as they reconvened for a memory-mapping exercise in co-creating public histories of the aragalaya (struggle) and the aragala bhoomiya (site of struggle).
{"title":"Memoryscapes: The Evolution of Sri Lanka’s Aragala Bhoomiya as a People’s Space of Protest","authors":"Radhika Hettiarachchi, Samal Vimukthi Hemachandra","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The ‘aragalaya’ or the ‘people’s struggle’ was perhaps one of the most important and successful movements of Sri Lanka’s long history of democracy. In 2015, democracy prevailed, unexpectedly and against all odds, when Sri Lankans, unsatisfied with their political representation, ‘voted out’ a government. In 2022, just as unexpectedly and for the first time in his history, the people of Sri Lanka ousted a government through mass protest and uprising. The protesters, cutting across socio-economic class and arguably many other barriers, came together and marched to Colombo’s Galle Face Green, in parallel to each other and to each other’s goals. This time, they came to do more than simply oust a government but for an idea of justice, equity, democracy, and system change. This article explores the memories and perspectives of those who ‘lived’ on the protest site and the relationship between memory, place, and the social construction of space, as they reconvened for a memory-mapping exercise in co-creating public histories of the aragalaya (struggle) and the aragala bhoomiya (site of struggle).","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138589840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. S. Sosu, G. Boadu, Emmanuel B. Boateng, Christopher Appiah-Thompson
Abstract The Transatlantic Slave Trade was one of the cruelest events in human history, with its effects spanning several centuries. Slave monuments are visible representations of the memory of the slave trade and avenues for public discourse about the event and its impacts. This study draws on YouTube videos commemorating the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Ghana, examining not only the content of the videos but also the comments that YouTube users made on the videos. Based on the videos and comments, we analyze public sentiments, interpretations, and reconstruction of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This study finds that social media presents opportunities to intensify public discourses about the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Public interpretations of the event convey a sense of optimism, forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope for a better and fairer world. Implications for the teaching of difficult histories in schools are discussed.
{"title":"Public History in Digital Spaces: Public Interpretations of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Its Implications for History Teaching","authors":"E. S. Sosu, G. Boadu, Emmanuel B. Boateng, Christopher Appiah-Thompson","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Transatlantic Slave Trade was one of the cruelest events in human history, with its effects spanning several centuries. Slave monuments are visible representations of the memory of the slave trade and avenues for public discourse about the event and its impacts. This study draws on YouTube videos commemorating the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Ghana, examining not only the content of the videos but also the comments that YouTube users made on the videos. Based on the videos and comments, we analyze public sentiments, interpretations, and reconstruction of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This study finds that social media presents opportunities to intensify public discourses about the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Public interpretations of the event convey a sense of optimism, forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope for a better and fairer world. Implications for the teaching of difficult histories in schools are discussed.","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138587705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Over the last two decades, there has been an emergence of research pertaining to the impact of in-person engagement with historical sites on visitor wellbeing. Yet, despite this increasingly prolific research into the impact of historic places on individual visitors’ or participants’ wellbeing, the impact of digital online engagement with historical places on user wellbeing has been largely overlooked. This research sought to investigate and compare the impact of digital engagement versus in-person engagement on wellbeing at the heritage site Elizabeth Gaskell’s House (UK). The quantitative and qualitative evaluation is based on public health care accredited measures (PANAS), previously piloted wellbeing measures designed for use in a heritage context (MWS), and visitor/user commentary. These methods enabled this study to begin to determine the differential wellbeing impact when engaging with heritage online or in-person and conclude that digital engagement provides an opportunity for historic places to lessen wellbeing inequality and support wellbeing.
{"title":"Public History and Wellbeing: A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Digital and In-Person Engagement on Visitors’ Subjective Wellbeing at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, UK","authors":"Amy Luck, Faye Sayer","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Over the last two decades, there has been an emergence of research pertaining to the impact of in-person engagement with historical sites on visitor wellbeing. Yet, despite this increasingly prolific research into the impact of historic places on individual visitors’ or participants’ wellbeing, the impact of digital online engagement with historical places on user wellbeing has been largely overlooked. This research sought to investigate and compare the impact of digital engagement versus in-person engagement on wellbeing at the heritage site Elizabeth Gaskell’s House (UK). The quantitative and qualitative evaluation is based on public health care accredited measures (PANAS), previously piloted wellbeing measures designed for use in a heritage context (MWS), and visitor/user commentary. These methods enabled this study to begin to determine the differential wellbeing impact when engaging with heritage online or in-person and conclude that digital engagement provides an opportunity for historic places to lessen wellbeing inequality and support wellbeing.","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138591005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sarah Abel, Permanent Markers","authors":"J. de Groot","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138599274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"History Education and Public History – Introduction","authors":"J. Wojdon","doi":"10.1515/iph-2023-2007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2023-2007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52352,"journal":{"name":"International Public History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43763994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：