Democratisation of history
Initially defined as “history outside the classroom”, public history targets non-academic audiences through a multitude of media and sites. It develops participatory practices with the aim of engaging with a variety of partners and fostering collaboration between universities, cultural institutions, decision-makers and various public groups.
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History outside the classroom
Public history targets non-academic audiences through multiple media platform (websites, social media, exhibitions, tours, documentary films, comics, etc.) and sites (museums, libraries, streets and online). Many research projects at the C²DH have incorporated participatory practices with the aim of engaging with a variety of partners and fostering collaboration between universities, cultural institutions, decision-makers and various public groups. Public history initiatives at the centre reflect a democratisation-based approach to historical scholarship that questions authority and explores possibilities for critical engagement with members of the public. Digital technologies provide new opportunities for public participation at all levels, such as the organisation of crowdsourcing activities or the production of historical wikis and digital memory banks.
Our projects
Cutting-edge public history projects are intertwined with outstanding academic research on the contemporary history of Luxembourg and Europe.
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Duration:
1 June 2020 to 31 May 2025
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Funding source:
FNR ATTRACT
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Researchers:
Coordinator: Thomas Cauvin
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Partners:
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Description:
Funded by a 5-year ATTRACT research grant (2020-2025) from the FNR, Public History as the New Citizen Science of the Past (PHACS) develops public history and participatory models for interpreting the past. PHACS is hosted at C²DH. Focusing on the production of history with a public perspective, public history has developed as one of the most dynamic international fields of the historical discipline.
PHACS is inspired by the evolution of digital participatory sciences; PHACS facilitates interactions between academics, cultural institutions, groups, associations, and the general public to contribute to a democratisation not only of access but also of the production of history.
Led by Prof. Thomas Cauvin, the team proposes, develops, constructs, and evaluates innovative participatory frameworks to engage and empower groups, associations, and users in critical debates on the contemporary history of Luxembourg and Europe. In order to make public history the new citizen science of the past, PHACS is working on 5 main areas with multiple partners in Europe.- Public History and Participation in Museums
- Participatory Urban Projects: Public History in Esch-sur-Alzette
- Rethinking Shared Authority and Coproduction in Public History
- A History of Public Historical Practices in Europe
- Developing European Networks of Public History Courses, Programmes, and Training
For more information, contact us at phacs@uni.lu
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Project details (PDF):
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Duration:
1 June 2020 to 31 May 2025
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Funding source:
FNR PSP Flagship
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Researchers:
Coordinator: Joella van Donkersgoed
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Partners:
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Description:
Historesch Gesinn is a 3-year project funded by the Fonds National de la Recherche (FNR) to create a sustainable social hub where C²DH and Luxembourgish cultural institutions can engage with multiple publics about ongoing historical research. Alongside presenting ongoing historical research, the two main goals are to create an online open-access photo-archive through crowdsourcing, and to further develop the multilingual audio tour with oral history of hidden histories.
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Project details (PDF):
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Duration:
1 July 2023 to 30 June 2026
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Funding source:
FNR PSP Flagship
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Researchers:
Coordinator: Dominique Santana
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Partners:
Samsa Film, Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA)
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Description:
‘Radio Luxembourg – The Station that Changed the World’ is a transmedia documentary telling the fascinating stories of one of the world’s most powerful radio stations, broadcast from one of the world’s smallest nations. It explores Radio Luxembourg’s various uses of power and its formative influence on many generations of listeners worldwide.
This transmedia project is supported by the National Research Fund (FNR) in the framework of the PSP Flagship grant.
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Project details (PDF):
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Duration:
1 July 2023 to 30 June 2026
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Funding source:
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Researchers:
Coordinator: Thomas Cauvin
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Partners:
De Gruyter Oldenbourg
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Description:
The book series ‘Public History in European Perspectives’ offers a platform for public history, exploring its potential as an interdisciplinary field and a means of fostering and reflecting upon public engagement, dissemination and participatory practices in areas such as heritage-making, modes of display, and historical storytelling. The series is published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg and edited by Thomas Cauvin and Karin Priem.
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Project details (PDF):
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Duration:
1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025
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Funding source:
Europe Horizon Twinning
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Researchers:
Coordinator: Thomas Cauvin
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Partners:
Vilnius University, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, Germany (ZZF), Centre for European Studies at Lund University in Sweden
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Description:
Public history helps to engage citizens in the co-production and communication of the past while maintaining ethical and methodological standards, strengthening social cohesion, resilience, and democracy in a digital age. The aim of EUROPAST is to enhance the scientific excellence and research capacity of Vilnius University (VU) and strengthen the profile of its staff in the field of public history. To accomplish this aim, the project will establish structured collaboration between scholars from VU and leading researchers on public history from the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, Germany (ZZF), the Centre for European Studies at Lund University in Sweden (LU), and the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History in Luxembourg (C²DH).
More information on the EUROPAST website
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Project details (PDF):
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Duration:
1 December 2022 to 1 December 2026
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Funding source:
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Researchers:
Coordinator: Stefan Krebs
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Partners:
Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ)
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Description:
Since the 1970s, deindustrialisation has fundamentally changed Western societies. This project seeks to explore deindustrialisation in a systematic historical perspective and place it in wider political, economic, social and cultural contexts. Building on regionally focused studies, the project will examine the supraregional significance of deindustrialisation and its legacies in terms of the history of politics, culture and gender. Moving past the history of factory closings, the project aims at a history of deindustrialisation “beyond the ruins”. It will thus contribute to a deeper historical understanding of the era “after the boom”. Sub-projects will amongst other study the entanglement of deindustrialisation with market liberalisation, consumer society, popular culture, gender, adult education and knowledge. The project is led by the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich. The Centre for Contemporary and Digital History is one of nine collaborating institutions.
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Project details (PDF):