Transmedia history

ABSTRACT In this paper, I argue that history is a large-scale transmedia project that is not understood as such, and this causes friction when history is engaged with through media in which historical research is not usually presented. To do this, I go through Henry Jenkins’ ten-step definition of transmedia and argue that history matches the definition very well. This transmedia discussion brings forth the concept of ‘world-building’, in which narrative is superseded by world-building as the all-encompassing concept and as the beginning point of analysis. In the analysis, history (as a product of historiography) is treated as phenomenon instead of a discipline and compared to other forms of transmedia world-building.