What is Public History?

Summary

In this video, historian Thomas Kovan explores the concept of public history as a field that engages with a broader audience beyond academia. He discusses the challenges of defining public history due to its diverse interpretations across countries. Kovan outlines three key principles: doing history with a public perspective, broadening the meaning of historical practice, and the necessity of new skills for historians to communicate history effectively. He emphasizes the participatory aspect, suggesting a democratization of history-making and the importance of collaboration and shared authority with various stakeholders.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Public history is a field that emphasizes a public perspective, involving a broader audience beyond academic peers.
• 🌟 The project 'Public History as the New Citizen Science of the Past' is based at the University of Luxembourg and aims to redefine how history is done, where, and by whom.
• 🔍 Defining public history is complex due to its varying approaches and translations across different countries, reflecting its diverse nature.
• 📚 The first principle of public history is doing history with a public perspective, which means history is done for and in public spaces, and with a larger audience in mind.
• 🌳 The 'tree of public history' metaphor illustrates the broadening of historians' roles from interpreting sources to creating, communicating, and considering the uses of history.
• 💬 Public history involves new skills for historians, such as public speaking, scriptwriting, and learning to write for different media to effectively communicate history.
• 🤝 The participatory aspect of public history calls for collaboration with partners, institutions, and communities, leading to a democratization of the history-making process.
• 🔧 Sharing authority is a key concept in public history, where historians work with other experts and community members, balancing rigorous methodology with diverse perspectives.
• 🎯 Public history raises questions about the role of historians in contemporary societies, challenging traditional boundaries and inviting a reevaluation of historical practice.
• 🔗 The International Federation for Public History aims to connect projects, people, and events to share knowledge and best practices in the field of public history.

Q & A

What is the main focus of Thomas Kovan's project on public history?

Thomas Kovan's project on public history is focused on presenting his views on public history as a field, discussing how history is done, where it is done, and who does it. It is based at the University of Luxembourg and aims to reinvent the questions related to the practice of history.

What does the term 'public history' encompass according to Thomas Kovan?

Public history, as described by Thomas Kovan, is a way of doing history with a public perspective. It involves doing history for the public, in public spaces, and with the public, which includes a broad audience and various types of media and spaces.

Why is defining 'public history' considered tricky, and how does it vary?

Defining 'public history' is tricky because there is no single definition, and the approach can vary significantly according to country and context. It can be difficult to translate, as seen with different translations in Brazil, Poland, and Italy, reflecting the diversity in its interpretation and application.

What are the three main principles of doing public history that Thomas Kovan discusses?

The three main principles Thomas Kovan discusses are: 1) doing history with a public perspective, 2) broadening the meaning of doing history, and 3) the need for new skills to communicate history effectively to a broad audience.

How does public history differ from traditional academic history in terms of audience?

Public history differs from traditional academic history in that it is done for a larger audience, not just academic peers or scholars. It aims to communicate history to the general public through various mediums and in public spaces.

What is the significance of doing history 'in public' as mentioned by Thomas Kovan?

Doing history 'in public' signifies conducting historical work outside of traditional academic settings like universities, in spaces such as archives, through guided tours, podcasts, websites, and more. It emphasizes the accessibility and visibility of historical work to the public.

What metaphor does Thomas Kovan use to describe the broadened activity of the historian in public history?

Thomas Kovan uses the metaphor of a tree to describe the broadened activity of the historian in public history. The roots represent creating sources, the trunk is interpreting sources, the branches are the various ways of communicating history, and the leaves are the different uses of history by various publics.

What new skills are required for historians to effectively practice public history according to Thomas Kovan?

For historians to practice public history effectively, they need to master new skills such as public speaking, script writing, and learning different writing styles for various mediums like podcasts, museum labels, and captions.

How does the concept of 'sharing authority' come into play in public history?

In public history, 'sharing authority' involves historians working with partners, institutions, and communities, recognizing and incorporating their expertise and perspectives. This collaboration ensures a more inclusive and democratic approach to history-making.

What challenges does public history pose to the traditional role of historians?

Public history challenges the traditional role of historians by asking them to move beyond source interpretation to also consider the creation, communication, and various uses of history. It requires them to collaborate with non-historians and share authority, which can be controversial but enriches the historical narrative.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Public History

In the first paragraph, Thomas Kovan, a historian, introduces himself and his project titled 'Public History as the New Citizen Science of the Past' based at the University of Luxembourg. He aims to discuss the reinvention of historical practice in the public sphere, including who does history, where it is done, and why. Kovan highlights the difficulty in defining and translating 'public history' across different countries and cultures, emphasizing that it is a field that requires a public perspective and involves a broad audience.

05:02

🌐 Expanding History to Public Spaces

The second paragraph delves into the concept of doing history in public spaces, expanding the traditional academic setting. Kovan discusses the various mediums and spaces where public history can be conducted, such as exhibitions, guided tours, podcasts, and websites. He introduces the idea of the 'tree of public history' as a metaphor, where historians are involved not only in interpreting sources (the roots) but also in creating and preserving sources, and communicating history through various branches to different publics.

10:02

🌳 The Tree Metaphor for Public History

Kovan uses the tree metaphor to explain the broadened role of historians in public history. The roots represent the creation of historical sources, the trunk symbolizes the interpretation of these sources, and the branches signify the diverse methods of communicating history to the public. The leaves represent the various uses of history by different publics, such as tourism, marketing, social justice, and education. This interconnected system requires historians to engage with a wide range of audiences and to consider the uses and impacts of history beyond academic circles.

15:02

🤝 The Participatory Aspect of Public History

In the final paragraph, Kovan addresses the participatory nature of public history, which involves collaboration with partners, institutions, archives, museums, and communities. He emphasizes the importance of democratizing the history-making process and sharing authority with various stakeholders, including historical actors and community representatives. Kovan discusses the challenges of balancing public participation with maintaining rigorous historical methodology, highlighting the need for historians to adapt their skills and collaborate with experts from different fields.

Keywords

💡Public History

Public history refers to the practice of history that is done for, in, and with the public. It encompasses a wide range of activities aimed at making historical knowledge and skills accessible to a broad audience beyond academia. In the video, Thomas Kovan discusses public history as a field that calls for a reinvention of how, where, and by whom history is done, emphasizing its democratic and participatory nature.

💡Citizen Science

Citizen science is a form of scientific collaboration between professional scientists and volunteers. In the context of the video, Kovan likens public history to the 'new citizen science of the past,' suggesting that public history involves the active participation of non-professionals in the creation and interpretation of historical knowledge.

💡International Federation for Public History

This is an organization that aims to connect projects, people, and events that discuss and practice public history. In the video, Kovan mentions this federation as a platform for sharing and discussing the new kind of history that is being made through public history initiatives.

💡Translation

In the video, Kovan points out the difficulty in translating the term 'public history' across different languages, indicating the complexity and variability of its meaning and approach in different cultural contexts. This highlights the challenge of defining public history universally.

💡Public Perspective

Doing history with a public perspective means that the work is intended for a broad audience, not just academic peers. Kovan explains that public history is about enlarging the public for whom history is done, which can include various forms of communication and engagement with the past.

💡Communication

Communication is a key aspect of public history, as it involves sharing historical knowledge with a broad audience. Kovan emphasizes that public historians must be able to communicate effectively through various mediums, such as exhibitions, tours, podcasts, and websites, to reach different publics.

💡Participatory

Participatory history is a concept where the public is actively involved in the creation and interpretation of historical narratives. Kovan discusses the importance of doing history with the public, which includes working with communities, institutions, and individuals to democratize the history-making process.

💡Sharing Authority

Sharing authority in public history refers to the collaboration between historians and other experts or community members in the creation of historical narratives. Kovan mentions that this can be controversial, as it challenges traditional notions of historical authority, but it is essential for a more inclusive and democratic approach to history.

💡New Skills

Public history often requires historians to develop new skills beyond traditional academic research and writing. Kovan highlights the need for skills in public speaking, scriptwriting, and other forms of communication to effectively engage with diverse audiences.

💡Democratization

Democratization in the context of public history means opening up the process of historical research and interpretation to a wider range of participants. Kovan discusses the desire to give voice to historical actors and communities, thereby making the practice of history more inclusive and accessible.

Highlights

Thomas Kovan introduces himself as a historian focusing on public history.

Public history is presented as the 'new citizen science of the past'.

Public history involves doing history for, in, and with the public.

The International Federation for Public History aims to connect projects, people, and events in the field.

Defining public history is complex due to varying approaches and translations across countries.

Public history is not just history for a broad audience but also history done in public spaces.

Public history can take many forms, including exhibitions, tours, podcasts, and websites.

Public history projects can cover diverse topics, such as the history of beer and breweries.

The 'tree of public history' metaphor illustrates the multifaceted nature of public history.

Public history requires historians to interpret primary sources and communicate history to different publics.

New skills are necessary for historians to communicate history effectively in public history projects.

Public history involves a participatory aspect, including collaboration with communities and other experts.

Sharing authority is a key concept in public history, requiring historians to work with various partners.

Public history raises questions about the role of historians in contemporary societies.

Public history challenges traditional views on who can participate in the process of making history.

The International Federation for Public History seeks to identify good practices in sharing and communicating history.

Transcripts

hello everybody

my name is thomas kovan i'm historian i

do

teach and research public history

and in this video today i want to

basically present my views on a public

history

as a field

i will show you a few slides about what

public history is and what i

what what kind of projects i develop for

my students

and with my partners first

you can see the name of my

project which is public history as the

new citizen science of the past

which is based at the university of

luxembourg

especially at the center for

contemporary and digital

history in this video i want to discuss

um

how we do history and and

where we do history who does history

and why we do history because i do

believe that public history calls for

a reinvention of all those questions

all those questions also connect to the

work

that we do at the international

federation for

public history that was website you you

can now see

on on the slides because we do think

it's important to connect projects

people and events that discuss

this new kind of history that we are

making

defining public history is a tricky

process

there is no one single

definition of public history and the

approach to public history can

vary very much according to country

according to

profiles plus it is sometimes difficult

to

translate public history you have here a

few examples

of uh translation of public history for

example

in brazil it is often translated into

historia publica

or on as you can see on the right hand

side of the slides

and in poland it is more translated

like something into uh history in the

public space in polish obviously

so it is difficult to translate

that's the reason why for example in

italy

the slide you can see in the middle they

do not translate public history into

italian

instead they say association italianate

public history

that shows you that it is quite

difficult to translate

and to define a public history

having said that i believe there are key

principles

in doing public history and what i want

to do now

is to show you and to explain three of

the main principles i have when i

do and teach public history

the first principle that i want to share

with you is that

public history is a way of doing history

with a public perspective

what it means is that public history is

first of all history right

the the rule doesn't change it's still a

practice

of studying analyzing the path this is

not different

but this is doing history

with a public perspective so what does

that mean

it means that it is history done

for the public

history is always done for a public

even if the public is quite limited

even as some traditional

old academic articles like like this one

had a public right historians

always write for a public but doing

public

history or doing history with a public

perspective

means that this public is enlarged

you're not only talking to academic

peers you're not only talking to

scholars or

experts doing public history

is talking is doing history for a large

public a large audience

in this way history is very much

a sort of communication communication of

history to a broad

audience it can share in cutting the

shape of

an exhibition it can

take the shape of a tour as you can see

on the slide it's doing history for a

large

audience right on the left you can see

an example of an exhibit

which is one way of doing history so

doing history for a large

public but doing public history is also

doing history in public right

in public spaces um

for a long time uh the only space where

students

were confirmed working was either in

universities or in a research center

doing public history invites people

students to

teach and to do history outside of

universities as well outside of the

classroom and you can think about many

possible

spaces where you can do public history

you can do public history as you can see

at the bottom left

in archives you can do

public history through guided tours as

you can see on the bottom right

you can see you can do public history

through podcast

top right or you can do public e3

through

websites so you have many different

spaces where history can be done with

a public perspective so it open

public history opens door for many

different types of

medium and media so doing

history for the public doing history in

the public

with different types of topics too this

is an example

uh on the slide of a project i had uh

some some years ago about doing history

of

beer and doing history of breweries in

colorado and beyond so you can imagine

having some sort of

exhibitions as we did some podcasts and

tour

some tours so you have multiple spaces

where you can do

a public history

doing for doing in public also

doing history with the public and this

is certainly the most controversial

aspect of

doing public history because it calls

for

a reinvention and redefinition of

authority

who is doing uh history was

the the ownership of history and this is

something i will

come back to later in in the discussion

so the first principle is doing history

with a public perspective

my second principle is to broaden

the meaning of doing history

and history is very often seen

as basically interpreting primary

sources

right historians find and interpret

primary sources this is the an image of

a traditional

view of an historian working in an

archive working on the primary source

analyzing the source and then creating

an article writing an article writing a

book so analyzing

primary sources public history called

for

broadening of that activity of the

historian

a few months ago i was thinking about

a metaphor for public history and i

came up with this idea of the public is

three and i believe the tree is a

metaphor for doing public history

you have here a design of that tree and

i believe this

this designed metaphor is useful

for it shows that the work of these two

one is

not only interpreting sources

the the roots that you can see on the

tree is basically

creating sources creating sources can be

done through

archive through our history but it can

also be done through

the preservation of a building or

creating a collection of digital born

documents

so the roots are basically creating

sources and historians are taking part

in that process

you also have the trunk which is the

main

activity the main part of doing history

interpreting sources integrating the

roots

to create a historical understanding of

the past and historians are used to

doing this

but the tree is also composed of

branches as you can see on the slide and

branches

are the multiple ways in which you can

communicate

history to different publics it could be

done through

books as you can see in one branch but

it could be done through

tv through blogs through comics

video games social media in schools

exhibition

and so on so all those branches are part

of the process of doing public history

public history is not only interpreting

sources public history is communicating

this history to a large audience

and that means that if you want to do

public history you will have to know how

to communicate history the branches

and the the final part which is uh

the the leaves are basically the

different uses

of history by different publics history

can be used

uh for tourism can be used for

marketing for social justice for

education

obviously for identity and all those

uses those leaves

are part of the processes historians

cannot

stop at interpreting sources and

not look at how the past and history is

done understood and unused the uses of

the past are part of the process

and the tree is an interconnected system

it means that the roots are connected to

the trunk to the branches to the leaves

i believe that public history is a

broader and

richer system in which historians can

play a role

in the different parts so

this is what i i call uh

broadening the role of history and

broadening the meaning of doing history

communicating history is part of public

history

this this is the second uh principle

that i use in in my work the third

principle

comes directly from that broadening of

history

because public history is broader than

simply interpreting sources

you need new skills to do public history

and this is very

important in public history training

to communicate history you need skills

for example if you want to communicate

history through a podcast and that's a

project my students had

last last year you need to be able to

enrich and to get better in your public

speaking because you're going to have to

deliver history through a very specific

medium the podcast it means you also

need some skills in script writing

because writing a script for a podcast

is very different than writing

an article for journals so you need to

adopt different

writing styles and you need to learn new

styles

right historians working in museums or

for museums have to learn

how to write labels and caption captions

for objects

and this is very different writing a

text for a museum a panel is very

different than writing an essay so you

need to learn

those skills if you want to successfully

communicate history

to a large public not only to peers and

to colleagues

but to people who may have no idea what

you're talking about or people who

also want to have fun listening to your

podcast so there are new skills that

historians need to master

if they want to work with a public

perspective

i mentioned before the participatory

aspect of public history

this is a very important aspect for me

of doing public history

doing history with partners

with institutions archives museums but

not only

with communities with individuals with

users

right and this comes from

the wish to have a democratization of

the history making process

to have an open up opening up the

process of

making history with people giving a

voice to

actor historical actors something done

when you do our history

but not only doing a voice to historical

actors to

communities to other experts in the

field

so historians doing public history have

come across

and have mentioned different concepts

like public participation

public collaboration co-production or

share authority sharing authority is one

of the most controversial aspect because

historians

need to share authority with other

partners

it doesn't mean that historians lose

their authority

right they're still trained to analyze

sources

but other expertise are at play

for example if you want to make an

exhibition

you may have to work with the museum

designers right

or the marketing officers and both of

them have expertise in the field

doing an exhibition is not simply the

expertise from the historian

this is a one of the the easy examples

sharing authority is quite more

difficult when you talk about very

conflicting issues

or some facts and some histories that

people disagree with so the the key

question is how do you balance

public participation co-production and

sharing authority

with um keeping the rigorous methodology

of doing history

right this is a very important question

for doing public history

as i said sharing authority doesn't mean

that these students are relinquishing

what they've learned

right it means that they have to work

with

people they have to work with designers

it's not because an instrument had a you

know wrote a great text about the topic

that this text

can be translated into an exhibition

without

some design so it's on sneaker to

collaborate with

other experts from partners cultural

institutions

but other experts as i mentioned

designers

they have to work with historical actors

that's what you do when you do all

history

you have this sort of collaboration

between the witness the historical

actors

and the historians but you also

may have to share authority with

community experiences

for example we have lots of projects in

in canada

or in the united states about native

american history and those kind of

projects are done

with the representative of of the

natives right

so you have here a sharing authority

of expertise of living memories of

traditions

that need to get

accepted and and developed in public

history

so to conclude this this brief talk

about

my key principles in public history

i think public history um raises

questions about the role of historians

what is the role of historians in our

contemporary societies

right is it only to interpret sources

do east ones help with creating sources

collecting sources you have examples

nowadays about projects that collect

memories of the kovi 19

experiences and instruments are part of

them so historians are taking part in

collecting sources

but public history also raises questions

about how to make history

right how to communicate history and how

the communication

uh the research and the making of

history and

finally maybe one of the most

controversial question is uh public

history was this question about

who is historian right who can take part

in the process of making history

right who can take part in in the

collecting who can take part in the

interpretation of history

what skills do you need to interpret

history

all those questions are not connected to

one single context that's why we think

at the international federation for

public history that we need to pull

all those questions the fantastic

projects done all over the world about

sharing history about communicating

history to find

good practices in doing history

and doing public history so uh thank you

for your attention

and i will send in addition to this

slide

some links for additional resources

thank you for your attention

and i'm looking forward to your comments