It's Just All About You, Isn't It?

Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, Presence of the Past (Columbia, 1998)

Michael Frisch, A Shared Authority (SUNY Albany, 1990)

Hyounggon Kim and Tazim Jamal, "Touristic Quest for Existential Authenticity" (Annals of Tourism Research, 2007)

Three readings this week, each adopting different methods, yet each providing commentary on a common goal. If last week's readings explored how professional historians have attempted to engage with a broader public, this week is largely about the public's own engagement with historical material.

If there is a common thread through all three works it is this: the popular historymaker (to borrow Rosenzweig and Thelen's term) is primarily concerned with their own personal relationship to the past, whether it be facilitated through family and community (Rosenzweig and Thelen), a traveling exhibit (Michael Frisch), or even, remarkably, a Ren fair (Hyounggon and Jamal). For each of these varied audiences, history is first and foremost an experiential and existential affair, something to be witnessed, a testimonial to past, present, and future.

Huzzah!: Self-affirmation through exploration of the past


The results of this kind of historical engagement can lead to a number of positive and empowering outcomes, among them, a deeper connection to their ethnic community or neighborhood, strengthened bonds between parent and child, even self-affirmation of public and private identity. As Rosenzweig and Thelen suggest, such evidence of active involvement should be encouraging to professional historians - this research confirms the existence of a diverse, open-minded, intelligent audience.

But I also must second Rosenzweig's larger concerns about method and popular historymaking's neglect of structural analysis. This nagged at me throughout Presence of the Past, and it was comforting to read Rosenzweig voice similar concerns in his afterthoughts. He and Thelen seem optimistic that popular and professional historymaking yet have much to learn from each other, that collaboration between these two camps is the path to historical relevance and longevity. Some ten years removed from the publication of their book, one wonders how successfully the authors have forged those bonds. Certainly there are some inspiring examples of this "shared authority": Brooklyn Historical Society's Public Perspectives series comes to mind (http://www.brooklynhistory.org/exhibitions/perspective_series.html).

Courtesy Brooklyn Historical Society's Public Perspectives: Brooklyn Utopias?

As an aspiring academic, I must admit I have great difficulty compromising the methodology and analytical framework of professional historymaking. Articulating one's personal engagement with the past is a valuable endeavor; I'm not yet convinced, however, that such an endeavor requires the guidance or participation of academic historians, that their missions are the same, that they can truly share such authority. I'm curious what others are thinking on this point.