National Council on Public History

HOLLY GENOVESE, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Proposal Type

Structured Conversation or Roundtable

Seeking

• Seeking Additional Presenters
• Seeking Specific Expertise
• Seeking General Feedback and Interest

Related Topics

• Digital
• Public Engagement

Abstract

Who is writing for the public for? And who gets to do it? How does public history engage with academics writing for magazines, blogs, etc about history? What does “public history” writing look like? What are best practices and ethics of this?

Description

With the relative ease of starting a blog, writing for an established one, or even breaking into Magazine writing in the last few years, more and more historians, academics, and public intellectuals have taken to writing for the “public.” In this roundtable, I want to interrogate assumptions about “public” writing and explore the ways in which the best practices for public history can be applied to blogging, magazine journalism, and even personal blogs. How *should* public historians engage with writing for blogs, magazines, and the internet? Is all public writing about history public history? How can public historians engage scholars writing for the “public?” How can public historians integrate writing into their projects and pedagogy? And who “gets” to write history for the public? In this roundtable, I hope to explore these questions as well as discuss the NCPH blog History@Work as well as other recent verticles and publications like Contingent Magazine, Made by History at the Washington Post, and the Smithsonian blog. My discussion of the public, and public engagement, is informed by Michael Warner’s Publics and Counterpublics.

• Best practices for public historians writing for the public
• The ethics of engagement
• Academic historians and “public writing”
• What is public history in this context?
• The role of journalistic ethics
• Are we scabs and other labor issues?

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Holly Genovese, [email protected]

All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2019. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.

Discussion