Books by Thomas Cauvin
Some thoughts on how inter-national public history has become in the last few decades. Chapter of... more Some thoughts on how inter-national public history has become in the last few decades. Chapter of the book: Public History. A Textbook of Practice (2022)
Public History: A Textbook of Practice is a guide to the many challenges historians face while te... more Public History: A Textbook of Practice is a guide to the many challenges historians face while teaching, learning, and practicing public history. Historians can play a dynamic and essential role in contributing to public understanding of the past, and those who work in historic preservation, in museums and archives, in government agencies, as consultants, as oral historians, or who manage crowdsourcing projects need very specific skills. This book links theory and practice and provides students and practitioners with the tools to do public history in a wide range of settings. The text engages throughout with key issues such as public participation, digital tools and media, and the internationalization of public history.
Forthcoming Publications by Thomas Cauvin
What Is Public History Globally?, 2019
Although public history has developed all around the world since the 1970s, the United States sti... more Although public history has developed all around the world since the 1970s, the United States still possess the strongest networks of public history practitioners. This chapter explores the different steps and evolution in the construction of a public history field in the United States. In comparison with other countries, public history there differs by the strength of its institutionalization and its connection with universities. Public history in the United States is highly related to academic training and teaching practice. Besides, the chapter presents the changing definitions and approaches to the field since the 1970s and how public history has moved from public policy and applied history focus to a more recent emphasis on cultural diversity, civic engagement, and social activism. Lastly, the chapter discusses the future of public history in the United States and how its success in academic circles may impact the whole history profession.
Published Articles (available online) by Thomas Cauvin
Public Humanities, 2025
In this article, I explore how public participation affects the research and production of histor... more In this article, I explore how public participation affects the research and production of history. As a way of making history more accessible, more participatory, and more connected to present-day public engagement with the past, public history fully belongs to the public humanities. In public participation as decentralization of the history-making process: the HistorEsch project in Luxembourg, I discuss the collaboration among historians, artists, and local residents to co-construct new public historical narratives of the town of Esch-sur-Alzette, in Luxembourg. As a paradigm, public history questions and reinvents the role of professional historians who share authority with other actors in the history-making process.
Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2024, 2024
In this paper, we relate participatory design (PD) scholarship with public history (PH) research,... more In this paper, we relate participatory design (PD) scholarship with public history (PH) research, deepening the understanding of the relationship of PD with history, focusing on 'history with PD'. The latter refers to when history itself is explicitly the object of participation, and we discuss it by presenting a secondary analysis of a PH project, HistorEsch, conducted through the conceptual lens of infrastructuring. In this way, we show how PD and PH practices consider the past of a place and how they relate to public formation, intermediation, and proliferation. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Interaction design; Interaction design process and methods; Participatory design.
International Public History, 2024
Decolonization is the subject of an abundant literature, both as a historical event and as a cont... more Decolonization is the subject of an abundant literature, both as a historical event and as a contemporary process. In relations with the past, debates have risen about issues such as colonial monuments, museum collections, and repatriation. Rather than dealing with a specific type of space, institution, or material, this special issue in International Public History offers a discussion on the many links between decolonization and public history. The articles explore if and to what extent public history practices can contribute to decolonizing the history production process (through decolonized sources, decolonized interpretation processes, and decolonized space of communication of history). The articles discuss what 'public' in 'public history' means: who is doing history, for whom, with whom, and for what? The selfreflective approach of public history also questions the colonial bias and processes at stake in institutions such as archives, museums, and universities. The special issue includes contributions from various countries (South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Canada, and Japan) to foster discussions on the plurality of links between public history and decolonization in an international context that goes beyond the too-often Western oriented public history frameworks.
La Revue, 2024
Wissenschaft muss keine ausschlieBlich akademische Aufgabe sein: Citizen Science bezieht die bre... more Wissenschaft muss keine ausschlieBlich akademische Aufgabe sein: Citizen Science bezieht die breite Offentlichkeit aktiv in Projekte mit ein. Die Aktivitaten konnen unterhaltsame, anregende, lehrreiche und partizipative Wege aufzeigen, um gemeinsam zu forschen
international public history, 2024
Decolonization is the subject of an abundant literature, both as a historical event and as a cont... more Decolonization is the subject of an abundant literature, both as a historical event and as a contemporary process. In relations with the past, debates have risen about issues such as colonial monuments, museum collections, and repatriation. Rather than dealing with a specific type of space, institution, or material, this special issue in International Public History offers a discussion on the many links between decolonization and public history. The articles explore if and to what extent public history practices can contribute to decolonizing the history production process (through decolonized sources, decolonized interpretation processes, and decolonized space of communication of history). The articles discuss what 'public' in 'public history' means: who is doing history, for whom, with whom, and for what? The selfreflective approach of public history also questions the colonial bias and processes at stake in institutions such as archives, museums, and universities. The special issue includes contributions from various countries (South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Canada, and Japan) to foster discussions on the plurality of links between public history and decolonization in an international context that goes beyond the too-often Western oriented public history frameworks.
Universities create new Public History Master’s programs every year. While they initially flouris... more Universities create new Public History Master’s programs every year. While they initially flourished in the United States, Public History Master’s programs are now present throughout the world (See the IFPH’s map of public history programs) and the number of programs keeps growing. At the same time, creating a new program can still be overwhelming and challenging. Indeed, while Public History belongs to the overall historical discipline, it bears some crucial specificity regarding its practices and training.
Public History Review, 2023
Proposed in the United States of America in the 1970s, the term “public history” is now used in v... more Proposed in the United States of America in the 1970s, the term “public history” is now used in various parts of the world. The internationalization of the field of public history raises various questions about its definition, its practices, and its theories. Based on sometimes long-established practices, public history reflects new approaches to audiences, collaboration and authority in history production. The article distinguishes and analyses the different phases of internationalization in the 1970s, 1990s, and 2010s and argues for a new international public history. Instead of a spread of public history, the new internationalization lies upon multicultural approaches and understandings of the field. Symbolized by the rise of public history in Italy, the glocal process of defining and practicing public history – where the local practices and theories relate and influence global definitions – provides more nuanced and richer understandings of the field. The new internationalization has concrete consequences on the public history structures, resources, languages, and projects.
Narratives in History Museums – Reflections and Perspectives, 2022
The way in which cultural institu- tions preserve, create and commu- nicate history has greatly c... more The way in which cultural institu- tions preserve, create and commu- nicate history has greatly changed in the past decades. The revolution in communications – especially through digital technologies – has affected not only how museums display but also how they research, collect and in- terpret history. The role, functioning and practices of museums have been changing and have become more participatory. While participatory practices and projects are now widely developed, questions remain on how they impact how history is done and displayed in museums.
As a process, public history fundamentally relies on developing public access, public communicati... more As a process, public history fundamentally relies on developing public access, public communication, and public participation. In order to do so, it is crucial to learn, propose and practice specific skills and practices. Public history training therefore develops solid historical methodology, knowledge of historiography, but also specific skills to communicate and make history more “public”. Many public history university training programs have been offering internships as ways to learn and practice public history outside universities.
Public and coproduced history of the city of Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg) with 25 family object.
Entre-temps, 2022
C’est un fait : l’histoire publique peine à émerger en France. Cette discipline est pourtant en p... more C’est un fait : l’histoire publique peine à émerger en France. Cette discipline est pourtant en plein essor dans de nombreux pays du monde, et ses formes variées fédérées par des réseaux très actifs, au premier rang desquelles la Fédération Internationale pour l’Histoire Publique (FIHP). La discipline est pourtant pratiquée en France : certaines initiatives tiennent en vérité d’une histoire publique qui ne dit pas son nom. C’est pourquoi Entre-Temps a proposé à Thomas Cauvin, maître de conférences en histoire publique à l’université du Luxembourg, auteur d’un manuel d’histoire publique et ancien président de la FIHP, de produire une introduction à la discipline et à ses enjeux, dans un article en deux temps. Entre-Temps en publie ici la première partie.
Studies on National Movements, 2023
Recent controversies over monuments question not only who should be represented and commemorated ... more Recent controversies over monuments question not only who should be represented and commemorated in the public space but also who can decide whether to remove or not the monuments. In doing so, those controversies relate to the constant making, interpretation, and use of history in the public space. This article discusses how public history-whose aim is to make history production more public by focusing on accessibility, engagement and participation-can play a role in public debates about contested monuments. Public history can set the ground for more informed decisions on the preservation, removal or destruction of monuments. Those decisions are all the more important as they relate to demands for inclusive reinterpretation and decolonisation of national pasts. The article looks at several projects (Europe, in the Americas, and in South Africa) to remove monuments and their impact on the historical understanding of the past in the public space. In addition to historicising spaces and monuments, public history can play a major role in developing collaborative practices and fostering a more inclusive approach to history production.
Rethinking History, 2023
Histories of events can be told from multiple perspectives, and there is rarely just one linear n... more Histories of events can be told from multiple perspectives, and there is rarely just one linear narrative or a single interpretation of the past. This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to explain how the concept of shared authority in public history can be applied to transmedia storytelling, in the context of media studies, to address conflicting narratives on historical events. Transmedia narratives allow for more opportunities to target different audiences and offer alternatives, and perhaps conflicting interpretations, to official mainstream interpretations of historical events. This is achieved through three primary methods of public participation in the development of conflicting narratives which can be presented through a variety of different media. The theoretical challenges in sharing authority of transmedia narrative creation with different publics ranges from strong to little control (i.e. radical trust). Thus, we discuss a series of methodologies that can be strategically used in future research projects that wish to share authority with different publics in the development of historical transmedia narratives with conflicting interpretations. This approach can be particularly relevant in contexts of segregation, discrimination, identity, political changes or cultural wars.
Although public history is becoming increasingly international, the field remains difficult to de... more Although public history is becoming increasingly international, the field remains difficult to define and subject to some criticism. Based on sometimes longestablished public practices, public history displays new approaches to audiences, collaboration and authority in history production. This article provides an overview of public history, its various definitions and historiography, and discusses some of the main criticisms of the field. Public history is compared to a tree of knowledge whose parts (roots, trunk, branches and leaves) represent the many collaborative and interconnected stages in the field. Defining public history as a systemic process (tree) demonstrates the need for collaboration between the different actors-may they be trained historians or not-and aim to focus on the role they play in the overall process. The future of international public history will involve balancing practice-based approaches with more theoretical discussions on the role of trained historians, audiences and different uses of the past.
Revista NUPEM, 2019
Resumo: Este artigo explora o nascimento e o desenvolvimento da História Pública e apresenta os d... more Resumo: Este artigo explora o nascimento e o desenvolvimento da História Pública e apresenta os diferentes critérios que levaram à sua internacionalização dos anos 70 à recente criação da Federação Internacional de História Pública. Considerando mormente a América do Norte e a Europa, a perspectiva internacional situa o desenvolvimento da História Pública dos Estados Unidos em um contexto mais amplo de debate acerca da mudança de papel do historiador. Enquanto que nos anos 80 a História Pública era mais percebida como a aplicação da história a questões do presente, por meio de consultorias, a mais recente internacionalização se faz de uma variedade de abordagens nacionais e locais ao campo de estudos. Palavras-chave: Tesauro: internacional, universidade, historiador, História Pública. Abstract: This article explores the birth and development of public history and presents the different criteria of its internationalization from the 1970s to the more recent creation of the International Federation of Public History. Based mostly on North America and Europe, the international perspective sets the development of public history in the United States into a broader context of debates about the changing role of historians. While public history was mostly perceived in the 1980s as the application-through consulting-of history to present-day issues, the more recent internationalization is made of a variety of local and national approaches to the field.
Hispania Nova, 2020
Aunque la historia pública se está haciendo cada vez más internacional, el campo sigue siendo dif... more Aunque la historia pública se está haciendo cada vez más internacional, el campo sigue siendo difícil de definir y permanece sujeto a un cierto grado de crítica. Sobre la base de prácticas públicas -en algunas ocasiones establecidas desde hace mucho tiempo- la historia pública refleja nuevos enfoques acerca de las audiencias, la colaboración y la autoridad en la producción de la historia. Este artículo ofrece una visión general de la historia pública, sus diversas definiciones, su historiografía, y aborda algunas de las críticas principales que ha recibido. La historia pública se compara con un árbol del conocimiento cuyas partes (raíces, tronco, ramas y hojas) representan las muchas etapas colaborativas e interconectadas que configuran este campo. La definición de la historia como un proceso sistémico (el árbol) plantea la necesidad de que colaboren los distintos actores -sean historiadores cualificados (formados en la universidad) o no- y se centra en la función desempeñada dentro del proceso en su totalidad. El futuro de la historia pública internacional requerirá un equilibrio entre unos enfoques basados en la práctica y unos debates más teóricos sobre el papel de los historiadores formados en la universidad, los públicos y los variados usos del pasado.
Journal of American History , 2018
(By Thomas Cauvin Joan Cummins David Dean Andreas Etges) Inspired by a reenactment at a Young ... more (By Thomas Cauvin Joan Cummins David Dean Andreas Etges) Inspired by a reenactment at a Young Men's Christian Association camp in Ohio in the mid-1990s, staff at the living history museum Conner Prairie, just north of Indianapolis, developed their own Underground Railroad program. Since 1998 more than ninety thousand people, many of them students, have taken part in “Follow the North Star.” For about ninety minutes, visitors become a group of fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad in central Indiana in 1836, heading North to freedom in Canada.
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Books by Thomas Cauvin
Forthcoming Publications by Thomas Cauvin
Published Articles (available online) by Thomas Cauvin
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If schools could destroy a culture, schools can rebuild it. The documentary follows Theo, a young teacher, and his students in their choice to learn, speak, and save French in Louisiana. Theo is very much the symbol of this language that does not want to die. Thanks to school programs of immersion in which children learn essentially in French, it may now be possible to save the long heritage of Cajuns, Creoles, and other French-speaking groups. If Americanization almost killed French in Louisiana, international groups of francophone could revive the flame. In addition to Theo, hundreds of teachers coming from France, Quebec, Belgium, Senegal and others French horizons have, since the 1970s, helped to teach and preserve French in Louisiana. Those encounters between children, parents, teachers, and activists from different worlds make French education in Louisiana a real laboratory for mind-opening and what could bi-lingual America be.
However, the documentary also shows how French immersion programs are still fragile and depend tremendously on local politics. In a state where the public-school system obtains some of the worst results in the United States, the permanence of French education is more than ever under scrutiny. Teachers like Theo, students, parents and other defenders of the Louisiana French heritage will not save French without popular and political choices to make French not only a language from the past, a heritage, but also an economic and cultural platform for a francophone world.