Abstract:
Recent times have seen an explosion of interest in history. Ashton and Hamilton (2007, p. 21) argue that “most people regard film and television, whether fiction or documentary, as a major source of [their] historical knowledge”, and Rosenstone (2006) concurs, asserting that “visual media is the chief conveyer of public history in our culture” (p. 12). For Lorenz (1994) “television and film have replaced the book as the most important media of information” (p. 27). It is in this context that the family history television program Who Do You Think You Are? – initially airing in 2004 and now in its ninth season – had by 2007 become the second most popular non-fiction programme ever shown on British television, its emotional and psychological resonances far exceeding producer expectations (Cannell, 2011). Using a celebrity avatar to ‘stand in’ for the audience, the programme cleverly contextualises family histories within broader social history narratives (De Groot, 2009; Kramer, 2011), supporting through an act of public pedagogy, the avatar and audience to “make sense of their own lives and their connection to the lives of others” (van Dijck, 2004, p. 262). Situated within a growing educational interest in public history and historical consciousness (Seixas, 2004; Straub, 2005), this paper examines what educators can learn from the process of reception involved in the celebrity’s pedagogical encounter with rival, challenging, or unexpected histories.
References:
Cannell, Fenella. (2011). English ancestors: the moral possibilities of popular genealogy. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 17, 462-480.
De Groot, Jerome. (2009). Consuming history Historians and heritage in popular culture. Oxon: Routledge.
Kramer, Anne-Marie. (2011). Mediatizing memory: History, affect and identity in Who Do You Think You Are? European Journal of Cultural Studies, 14(428), 428-445.
Lorenz, Chris. (1994). Historical knowledge and historical reality: A plea for "internal realism". History and Theory, 33(3), 297-327.
Lorenz, Chris. (2004). Towards a theoretical framework for comparing historiographies: Some preliminary considerations. In P. Seixas (Ed.), Theorizing historical consciousness (pp. 25-48). Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Rosenstone, Robert A. (2006). History on film/Film on history. London: Longman.
Seixas, Peter (Ed.). (2004). Theorizing historical consciousness. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Straub, Jurgen (Ed.). (2005). Narration, identity, and historical consciousness. New York: Berghahn Books.
van Dijck, Jose. (2004). Mediated memories: personal cultural memory as object of cultural analysis. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 18(2), 261-277.
References:
Cannell, Fenella. (2011). English ancestors: the moral possibilities of popular genealogy. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 17, 462-480.
De Groot, Jerome. (2009). Consuming history Historians and heritage in popular culture. Oxon: Routledge.
Kramer, Anne-Marie. (2011). Mediatizing memory: History, affect and identity in Who Do You Think You Are? European Journal of Cultural Studies, 14(428), 428-445.
Lorenz, Chris. (1994). Historical knowledge and historical reality: A plea for "internal realism". History and Theory, 33(3), 297-327.
Lorenz, Chris. (2004). Towards a theoretical framework for comparing historiographies: Some preliminary considerations. In P. Seixas (Ed.), Theorizing historical consciousness (pp. 25-48). Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Rosenstone, Robert A. (2006). History on film/Film on history. London: Longman.
Seixas, Peter (Ed.). (2004). Theorizing historical consciousness. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Straub, Jurgen (Ed.). (2005). Narration, identity, and historical consciousness. New York: Berghahn Books.
van Dijck, Jose. (2004). Mediated memories: personal cultural memory as object of cultural analysis. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 18(2), 261-277.