Published since June 20, 2018

International Public History

ISSN: 2567-1111

Editors-in-chief: Andreas Etges, David Dean

About this journal

International Public History is a major international stimulus to the field of public history, which has been growing all over the world, both as an academic discipline and as a self-identity for its practitioners. The peer-reviewed online publication IPH is a timely development, providing a much-needed publishing venue for anyone engaged in public history. Submissions to International Public History are assessed in double-blind peer review.

Published twice a year, IPH provides a mix of theoretical, research and "practice-oriented" scholarly articles on a wide range of topics. The multimodal journal offers readers a rich experience through the enhancement of articles using photos, film and audio clips.

IPH is the official organ of the International Federation for Public History.

About the society

The International Federation for Public History was founded in 2010 to create a network of public history programs, scholars, and practitioners for facilitating the international exchange of information on teaching and research in and the practice of public history. The Federation’s aim is to share recommended professional and academic best practices, including standards for evaluating public history scholarship. Fostering participation of public historians and their organizations in international congresses and other meetings of scholars in the field is one of its core issues.

IFPH’s main purpose is to build an international public history community to encourage, promote, and coordinate contacts, teaching, and research in public history.

Learn more about the International Federation for Public History here: http://ifph.hypotheses.org/

Your Benefits

Official organ of the International Federation for Public History
First international journal dedicated to the topic of public history
Multimodal e-only journal, enabling content enhancement with photo, video and audio material

Free Online Access: All articles published in Issue 1-1 (2018) of International Public History are freely available to all readers.

Abstracting and Indexing

International Public History is covered by the following services:

Baidu Scholar
CNKI Scholar (China National Knowledge Infrastructure)
CNPIEC - cnpLINKer
Dimensions
EBSCO Discovery Service
Google Scholar
J-Gate
KESLI-NDSL (Korean National Discovery for Science Leaders)
MyScienceWork
Naver Academic
Naviga (Softweco)
Primo Central (ExLibris)
Publons
QOAM (Quality Open Access Market)
ReadCube
SCImago (SJR)
SCOPUS
Semantic Scholar
Sherpa/RoMEO
Summon (ProQuest)
TDNet
WanFang Data
Web of Science - Emerging Sources Citation Index
WorldCat (OCLC)
X-MOL
Yewno Discover

Supplementary Materials

Topics

Volume 5 Issue 2

December 2022

Publicly Available December 30, 2022

Frontmatter

Page range: i-ii

Download PDF

Special Section on Practices of Counter-Curation: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Renegotiating Norms and Narratives in Meaning-Making

Open Access December 12, 2022

Curation as a Social Practice: Counter-Narratives in Public Space

Torsten Kathke, Juliane Tomann, Mirko Uhlig

Page range: 71-79

More Download PDF

Abstract

The term “curation” has taken on a host of meanings beyond the museum context. While there are marked differences between its meanings – including the specific act of exhibition-making as well as the act of keeping and tending to an existing collection in a museum – we here specifically foreground curation as a social process of selecting and negotiating various forms of (embodied) performances in public, transcending institutionalized contexts such as museums. We argue that, when combined with the idea of counter-narratives, the concept of curation can elucidate aspects of social practices and open up a useful heuristic for the analysis of representations and performances in the public sphere. Since these practices make extensive use of imaginaries of the past, this approach is suitable for combining perspectives from public history and anthropology.

December 26, 2022

Female Counter-Curation: A Case Study of Polish Napoleonic War Reenactment

Juliane Tomann

Page range: 81-92

Abstract

Historical reenactment has developed from a niche phenomenon to a global one over the past couple of decades. As a popular pastime it sparks enthusiasm and curiosity for past lifeworlds among the reenactors themselves as well as among the audiences. With its focus on restaging battles and combat, the reenactment environment is a predominantly male one. This article examines female practices of reenactment in a Polish reenactment group. It aims to not only add to the existing body of literature on female reenactors, but to further pinpoint the extent to which the concept of curation helps expand and deepen the understanding of reenactment practices both in general and with regard to female participation. The focus is on female-to-male cross-dressing, interpreted as an ambiguous practice which allows for both the deconstruction of normative gender performances and their stabilization.

Open Access December 26, 2022

‘On Our Own Terms’: Refusal, Masks, and Indigenous Counter-narratives in Santiago de Chile Public Space

Olivia Casagrande

Page range: 93-104

More Download PDF

Abstract

The exhibition MapsUrbe: The invisible City (December 2018 – January 2019) staged the creations of young Mapuche artists and activists addressing the politics and history of the indigenous diaspora in Santiago (Chile). Engaging with urban space materiality and the trajectories shaped by displacement and endurance within the city, the exhibition explored subversive aesthetics and political imaginations, crafting alternative spatialities and temporalities. Building on two years of collaborative work with Mapuche artists and activists, and moving from an initial act of generative refusal, this paper explores a redefinition of curatorial practices within collective artistic projects that aim at opposing dominant historical narratives. By reflecting on an experience of collective co-curation, it shows how these practices challenge established and institutionalized narratives embedded in public spaces, resulting in creative appropriations and powerful counter-narratives ‘on our own terms.’

Open Access December 9, 2022

Dark Academia: Curating Affective History in a COVID-Era Internet Aesthetic

Robbert-Jan Adriaansen

Page range: 105-114

More Download PDF

Abstract

Dark academia is an ‘internet aesthetic,’ an aesthetic style used in posts on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Tumblr that resonates the atmosphere of life in boarding schools, prep schools, and (Ivy League) colleges from the last decades of the nineteenth century up until the 1940s. It expresses a fascination with (neo-)gothic architecture; with tweed, lace, wool, and leather; with literature and art, and Romantic longing. Having been a main trend on social media platforms throughout the coronavirus pandemic, dark academia captures and facilitates cultural engagement in times of social isolation and closed college campuses. This article studies the dark academia aesthetic as a mnemonic curatorial practice with tendencies to counter hegemonic norms and narratives. Focusing on the affective dimensions of dark academia, this article argues that the aim of this internet aesthetic is to annul historical distance by capturing a mood and atmosphere associated with early twentieth-century campuses through the means of curated social media representations. This de-historicization allows for the renegotiation of values, like inscribing queerness – associated with secret queer romantics at gender-divided schools – into its representational language, without having to reassert historical gender binaries.

December 19, 2022

‘Fluid’ Identity in Text-Building: A Study of the Revitalization of Origin Tales in West Hunan, China

Lijing Peng

Page range: 115-126

Abstract

My research looks into the revitalization of Miao origin myths in the West Hunan minority ethnic autonomous prefecture in China. Based on two years of fieldwork and archival studies, I propose that West Hunan people’s active perception and interpretation of origin myths and folklore of the Miao people comprise and emphasize curational practices of restructuring historical narratives with a special focus on counter-narrativization. I argue that these efforts challenge lineal historical narration by providing counter-curational perspectives. Interpretations of myths and folklore over the issue of Miao identity reveal curations and counter-curations carried out by different institutions and individuals out of various political and social concerns. Overall, the recent revitalization of origin stories about the Heavenly Kings and the various presentations of Miao origin myths demonstrate the fluidity of minority ethnic identity, which combines the construction of linear history (military/political expansion and Sinicization, when non-Han societies came under the influences of Han culture, language, and ethnic identity) and the construction of mythic history (conveying principles and morality). My case studies illustrates counter-curational practices carried out by individuals and local cultural institutions, which lead to restructuring of historical narratives and counter-curational interpretations of minority ethnic cultures.

Additional Article

December 20, 2022

Performing History in China: Cultural Memory in the Present

Na Li

Page range: 127-141

Abstract

Performing history has become immensely popular in China since the dawn of the twenty-first century. What is exactly the cultural impulse behind the massive craze for performing history in China? Premised on history being one of many modes of representation of the past, and performance being one of them, this article argues that performing history through reenactment, an expression of cultural memory mediated and remediated in the present, is a new form of public history in China. The democratic impulse enacted by such a performance can nurture serious discussions on historical issues, cultivate a shared interpretive authority, and shape historical consciousness of the ordinary Chinese.

PH in Russia

Publicly Available December 26, 2022

Public History in Russia: The Past, the Present, and (Thoughts About) the Future

Andrei Zavadski, Vera Dubina, Egor Isaev, Alexandra Kolesnik, Julia Lajus, Katerina Suverina

Page range: 143-156

More Download PDF

Abstract

This discussion’s participants – all public historians working on Russia, albeit from different disciplinary backgrounds and with different areas of expertise – speak about the past and the present of (public) history in the country, and touch upon possible futures. Beginning with an acknowledgment of the immense interest in historical knowledge that characterized the 1990s, the conversation goes on to examine the rise of the official historical politics in Putin’s Russia and their impact on historical science, memory work, and public engagement with the past more broadly. These developments contextualize the establishment of the first public history programs at Russian universities in the early 2010s, discussed here both in their specificities and compared to other countries. At the heart of the conversation is the war of aggression that Russia launched against Ukraine in February 2022. The participants of the discussion see it as a caesura, while at the same highlighting continuities in the regime’s historical politics before and after the invasion. Issues of postcolonialism and decolonization are also raised, as well as the question of (public) historians’ responsibility for the ongoing tragedy.

Book Reviews

December 30, 2022

Thorsten Logge, Eva Schöck-Quinteros, and Nils Steffen: Review of Geschichte im Rampenlicht: Inszenierungen historischer Quellen im Theater

Joerg Esleben

Page range: 157-158

December 19, 2022

Serge Noiret, Mark Tebeau, and Gerben Zaagsma: Handbook of Digital Public History

Petros Apostolopoulos

Page range: 159-161

Volume 5 (2022)

Volume 4 (2021)

Volume 3 (2020)

Volume 2 (2019)

Volume 1 (2018)

Cite Score	0.1
Journal Citation Indicator	0.40
SCImago Journal Rank	0.109
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.228

Submit

The Editors welcome your submission to International Public History at iph@lmu.de.

Submitted manuscripts should use American English orthography and follow the conventions of the Chicago Manual of Style.

IPH features a mix of theoretical, empirical, research based and practice-oriented scholarly articles, conversations, interviews, and reviews. Topics range from description and analysis of public history projects to debating theories, methods, approaches and issues undertaking public history and engaging different publics. Readers will encounter discussions about the public and political uses of history, oral history, public archaeology, heritage, digital public history, history and memory, exhibiting and curating, collecting and preservation, access and open access, sharing and shared authority, teaching public history, performance, and many more subjects, occasionally brought into sharp focus through special thematic issues. There will also be regular review sections discussing new museums and exhibitions, films, websites, apps and performances from around the world. We encourage comparative perspectives and global co-authorship.

Our acceptance of content for publication is based on double-blind peer review.

Manuscripts submitted to International Public History should use American English orthography and follow the conventions of the Chicago Manual of Style (see the Style Sheet) and should not exceed 60,000 characters. The inclusion of multimedia elements (photos, films, sound) is strongly encouraged.

Although IPH is published in English, submissions in all other languages are welcome. In such cases the editors will send your submission out for preliminary assessment and if the report is favorable we will then send it out for peer review. To assist us in this process we request that all submissions in languages other than English be accompanied by an abstract (ca. 300 words) in English. If a decision is made to publish your work, we will then ask you to provide an English translation [not via Google Translate or a similar service] for publication in the journal. At the moment, IPH does not have funding for translations. You will have the option to also upload the original language version onto our website.

Editorial

Editors

Andreas Etges (LMU Munich, Germany)
David Dean (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada)

Editorial Board

Tanya Evans (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) [2018-2022]
Radhika Hettiarachchi (Community Memorialisation Project, Sri Lanka) [2018-2021]
Catalina Muñoz (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Columbia) [2021-2023]

International Advisory Board

Heba Ali Abd Elsalam (American School of Oriental Research, Alexandra, Virginia, USA)
Marko Demantowsky (FHNW School of Education, Basel, Switzerland)
Natasha Erlank (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
Kathleen Franz (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA)
Alexandra Kolesnik (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia)
Paweł Machcewicz (The Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)
Jiang Meng (Renmin University of China, Beijing, China)
Michihiro Okamoto (Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan)
Isabelle Veyrat-Masson (National Center for Scientific Research, Paris, France)

Editorial Assistant

Nicole O'Connell (University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts, USA)

Editorial address

International Public History
Dr. Andreas Etges
Amerika-Institut
LMU München
Schellingstr. 3 VG
80799 München
Germany

iph@lmu.de

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 2567-1111
Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
First published: June 20, 2018
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year
Keywords: History and memory; digital public history; archiving; libraries; exhibiting; curation; preservation; heritage; communication and media; policy; private and commercial sectors