History Making: The Historian as Consultant

Main Article Content

Jorma Kalela

Abstract

History is not just a genre of knowledge but also a basic feature of human life. Accounting for the past, or creating histories, to quote David Thelen, is ‘as natural a part of life as eating or breathing’. Casual references to what has taken place make up the vast majority of these accounts. But there are also a great number of deliberately created expositions of the past. They are produced in every field of society and by a wide variety of actors, from private persons to, for example, politicians and various media. The totality of them can be called everyday history. These accounts of the past serve present purposes – histories have innumerable functions and are of countless types. Divergent accounts also influence each other, and my suggestion is that their interaction be called the never-ending social process of history-making. History making, in other words, is not the preserve of academically-trained historians. They are experts but not outside observers. Scholarly historians are inescapably involved in the social process of history making. Their work goes beyond prevailing histories: they seek interpretations that make better sense of the past than the existing ones. Embedded in this effort is another constructivist function: they demonstrate ways to think about the past and how to use it. When demonstrating ‘that’s not how it was’, historians at the same display ‘how the presentation should have been constructed’. Even if they don’t think of themselves as consultants on history making they act in this capacity.

Article Details

Section
Articles (PEER REVIEWED)
Author Biography

Jorma Kalela, University of Turku

Emeritus Professor of Contemporary History, University of Turku

References

Ahonen, S. 2012. Coming to Terms with a Dark Past: How Post Conflict Societies Deal with History, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, Peter Lang.

Ashton, P., Hamilton, P. & Searby, R. 2012. Places of the Heart: Memorials in Australia, North Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing.

Gardner, J. B. 2010. Trust, Risk and Public History: A View From the United States. Public History Review, 17, 52-6.

GLASER, E. 2013. We are just more subtle about our propaganda. Guardian Weekly, 24 May.

Groot, J. D. 2009. Consuming History: Historians and heritage in contemporary popular culture, London and New York, Routledge.

Kalela, J. 1991. Patronage as a problem of adult education. The significance of research done by ordinary people. Paper presented to the 1991 World Conference on Comparative Adult Education, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Kalela, J. 1991. Patronage as a problem of adult education. The significance of research done by ordinary people. Paper Presented to the 1991 World Conference on Comparative Adult Education, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Kalela, J. 2000. Historiantutkimus ja historia, Helsinki, Gaudeamus.

Kalela, J. 2012. Making History: The Historian and Uses of the Past, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-35658-0


Kean, H. 2004. London Stories: Personal Lives, Public Histories, Sydney and Chicago, Rivers Oram Press.

Kean, H. 2011. Introduction. Public History Review, 18, 1-11.

KEAN, H. 2013. Introduction. In: KEAN, H. & MARTIN, P. (eds.) The Public History Reader. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520275591.003.0001


Kean, H. & Martin, P. (eds.) 2013. The Public History Reader, London: Routledge.

Ricoeur, P. 1988. Time And Narrative, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press.

Rosenzweig, R. 1998. Everyone a historian. In: Rosenzweig, R. & Thelen, D. (eds.) The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life. New York: Columbia University Press.

Rosenzweig, R. & Thelen, D. 2013. The Presence of the Past: popular uses of history in American life. In: Kean, H. & Martin, P. (eds.) The Public History Reader. London: Routledge.

Samuel, R. 1994. Theatres of Memory, Vol 1. Past and Present in Contemporary Culture. London and New York: Verso.

Samuel, R. 1998. Island Stories: Unravelling Britain, Vol 2. Past and Present in Contemporary Culture. London and New York: Verso.

Thelan, D. 1998. A Participatory Historical Culture. In: Rosenzweig, R. & Thelen, D. (eds.) Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life. New York: The Columbia University Press.

WHITE, H. 2007. Afterword: manifesto time. In: JENKINS, K., MORGAN, S. & MUNSLOW, A. (eds.) Manifestos for History. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1201/b13957-13