Onderzoek

The IPG analyses ‘historical practices’ in the public domain. It examines how history and/or historians have functioned in the past and in the present.

1. History as legitimation

  • (Political) commissioned history (for example: research commissions, large public initiatives and so on).
  • History as political and social instrument (People’s history, folk culture, backyard history).
  • History as (political) consciousness.
  • The use and abuse of history.
  • History in public spaces (commemorations, monuments, lieux de mémoire).
  • History and historians in juridical and political contexts (lawsuits [ war crimes, negationism, litigation] transitional justice [truth commissions and so on]).

2. History as ‘format’

  • Museums:
    history and historians in (historical) museums, exhibitions and theme parks.
  • Film and television:
    historical documentaries (radio and television), historical fantasy films, historians as media figures (TV experts), waves of interest in history and so on.
  • Literature:
    historian/novelist, historical imagination, stories in history, history in stories, history in the theater.
  • Art:
    history as inspiration, the artist as medium of the past, artisit-historical imagination, history as heritage.
  • Heritage and Patrimony:
    history as an (im)material testament of the past.
  • Written media:
    history in newspapers and magazines, historians in journalism.
  • Computer and the internet:
    virtual historical reality, historical games, historical cyber-communities.

3. History as social practice

  • History as a hobby.
  • Local and family history.
  • Applied folk history.
  • Collecting.
  • Re-enactment.
  • Construction and hosting of historical websites.
  • Historical tourism.
  • Visiting historical exhibitions.
  • Etc.

4. History as instruction

  • History in education.
  • The history of historical education.
  • Theories of education and pedagogy and the importance of history.
  • Didactic methods and media.
  • Textbooks and educational material.

5. Methods and skills that are relevant to one or more of the historical practices mentioned above.

  • The analysis of images, narrative and techniques of visualization.
  • Heuristics of historical sources and media intended for the public.
  • Oral history.
  • Styles of writing.
  • Laws about privacy, access, borrowing, intellectual property and copyright.
  • The budgeting of historical projects.
  • Analysis of historical interests.