In oduc ion
Dennis Die ks*
In oduc ion: Unde s anding Di e se Uses o
Pain ul Pas s. A Plea o Conscious No ma i i y
h ps://doi.o g/10.1515/iph-2022-2030
Keywo ds: di icul pas s, sha ed au ho i y, sha ing au-
ho i y, ci izen science, conscious no ma i i y
The h ee case s udies o his special sec ion add ess an
issue ha isundoub edlya heco eo hee hicso Public
His o y: he ques o democ a ize his o y. They app oach
a p oblem ha has conce ned Public His o y om i s e y
beginnings in he 1970s when, inspi ed by social and
poli ical ac i ism such as he ci il igh s mo emen o he
s uden p o es s o he 1960s in he Uni ed S a es, public
his o ians s a ed o e hink he way his o ical knowledge
is c ea ed.
1
This c i ical eflec ion e e ed o h ee cen al
poin s ha a e s ill ele an oday.
Fi s , he ole his o iog aphy and o he modes o e-
memb ance played in ep oducing he g and na a i es o
Wes e n supe io i y, ace, gende , and bou geois eli ism
was c i ically ques ioned, o hese na a ions sys ema i-
cally excluded and de alued he his o ical expe iences o
la ge popula ion g oups all a ound he wo ld. This chal-
lenged he discipline which a he ime was s ill unde he
spell o nine een h-cen u y models o elling his o y as he
endea o o he no o ious g ea whi e men. Black Li es
Ma e and he ongoing c i ical eassessmen o Eu opean
colonial his o y show ha his p ocess is a om being
concluded.
The second conce n is he place o academic his o y
in socie y and he way p o essional his o ians commu-
nica ed wi h he b oade public. And inally, hi dly,
he e is he ques ion o how his o ical knowledge is
p oduced and ep oduced. This p ocess has ne e been
comple ely monopolized by academic schola s o s a e-
d i en ins i u ions and –especially wi h ega d o he
implemen a ion o poli ics o ememb ance in e e yday
li e –has always elied on nego ia ion wi h local audi-
ences. Howe e , he p i ileged ole o academic his o-
ians canno be o e s a ed. They ac ed (and s ill ac ) as
expe s, defining he ules o knowledge p oduc ion and
deciding whom o coop in hei communi y o expe s.
This p i ilege was now and is s ill being ques ioned by
Public His o y.
This las poin ouches upon he undamen al issue o
how knowledge is gene a ed and sha ed in a socie y. The
dimensions o his p oblem become mo e appa en when
we ake a s ep back and in eg a e in o he a gumen e-
lec ions om he sociology o knowledge. Since he la e
nine een h cen u y, when sociological sel - e lec ion on
he condi ions o mode ni y began, mode n socie ies ha e
been desc ibed as being cha ac e ized by a g owing unc-
ional di e en ia ion. This unc ional di e en ia ion has
been he esponse o an inc easingly complex wo ld in
whichin o medac ionisonlypossibleon hebasiso
p o essionaliza ion and expe ise. Science, as he Ge man
sociologis Niklas Luhmann desc ibes i in his amous
‘Sys em Theo y,’has become one o hese unc ional
sys ems.
2
I is his unc ional sys em and he habi us
3
and
u h egimes
4
i ep oduces o which Public His o y
usually e e s as he i o y owe om which academic
his o ians should descend.
Such conside a ions om he ield o he sociology o
knowledge migh help us o unde s and how challenging
he ques o democ a izing his o y is. In a complex socie y,
unc ional di e en ia ion canno simply be unmade, as i is
based on in ellec ual expe iences ha , a bes , can only be
*Co esponding au ho : Dennis Die ks, Depa men o His o y,
Uni e si y o Jena, Jena, Ge many, E-mail: dennis.die [email protected]
1Fo a his o iciza ion o Public His o y bo h as a mo emen and an
academic discipline, see Thomas Cau in, Public His o y: A Tex book o
P ac ice (New Yo k: Rou ledge, 2016), 2–9.
2Niklas Luhmann, The Di e en ia iono Socie y, ans.S ephenHolmes
and Cha les La mo e (New Yo k: Columbia Uni e si y P ess, 1982);
Niklas Luhmann, Social Sys ems, ans. John Bedna z, J . (S an o d, CA:
S an o d Uni e si y P ess, 1995); Niklas Luhmann and Ke s in Behnke,
“The Mode ni y o Science,”New Ge man C i ique 61, no. 1 (Special Issue
on Niklas Luhmann, 1994): 9–23.
3Fo he analy ical concep o habi us, see Pie e Bou dieu, Dis inc-
ion: A Social C i ique o he Judgemen o Tas e (Camb idge, M.A.:
Ha a d Uni e si y P ess, 1984).
4Michel Foucaul , Discipline and Punish: The Bi h o he P ison,
ans. Alan She idan (New Yo k: Vin age Books, 1977).
In e na ional Public His o y. 2021; 4(2): 85–88
Open Access. © 2022 Dennis Die ks, published by De G uy e . This wo k is licensed unde he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional
License.
pa ly sha ed wi h non-expe s, bu ne e ully ep oduced
by hem. This asymme ic powe s uc u e be ween expe s
and non-expe s canno be comple ely o e come, unless
he asymme y o expe ience is o e come. Tha is, unless
non-expe s become expe s hemsel es. On he o he
hand, he p oblems associa ed wi h he p ocess o unc-
ional di e en ia ion h ough p o essionaliza ion a e
ob ious: as hey do no con o m o he equi emen s o
being an expe , people who a e iden i ied as non-expe s
a e excluded om he p ocess o academic knowledge
p oduc ion.
Besides ha , mode n socie ies a e knowledge socie ies,
which means ha knowledge p oduced by expe s shapes he
e e yday li e o he much b oade g oup o non-expe s –
o en in a undamen al way, as he cu en COVID-19
pandemic d as ically shows. A he same ime, epis emolog-
ical cons uc i ism has adically challenged he no ion o
objec i i y in which scien ific au ho i y and he au ho i y o
expe s ha e adi ionally been based. Resea ch, as Thomas
S. Kuhn has al eady a gued in his seminal 1962 s udy “The
S uc u e o Scien ificRe olu ions,” elies on pa adigms, on
modeshow osol ep oblems ha a eexposed o empo al
change.
5
Wha is mo e, explo a ions in o he sociology o
knowledge ha a e inspi ed by Da id Bloo ’s g oundb eaking
in e en ion “Knowledge and Social Image y”ha e demon-
s a ed ha scien ific a gumen a ion is always loca ion-
bound.
6
Tha is, i depends – o a ian deg ees –on indi-
idual biog aphical expe iences, no ma i e wo ld iews, and
ex a-scien ific goals pu sued by academics when pa ici-
pa ing in scien ific discou se. This also has been eloquen ly
shown o he case o academic his o y.
7
All hese a e sensible easons o ques ion he monop-
oly o expe s in he ield o knowledge p oduc ion and o
emind hem o hei social esponsibili y owa d he g oup
o non-expe s. Wi h ega d o his o y, he e is s ill ano he
impo an a gumen : schola s e lec ing on he an h opo-
logical dimensions o his o ical hinking ha e a gued ha
he ques o his o ical o ien a ion is no limi ed o hose
dealing p o essionally wi h he pas . They helped o c ea e
an awa eness ha all people a e his o ical beings c ea ing
“a meaning ul ela ion wi h he pas ”
8
and looking o
o ien a ion in ime. This is echoed by Je ome de G oo ’s
assessmen ha e e y pe son has a mo e o less de eloped
unde s anding o wha he pas means o him o he , which
his o y is o shall be, which esul s in di e en o ms o
indi idual and collec i e engagemen wi h his o y as well
as he exis ence o ma ke s on which di e se imaginings o
he pas a e aded and consumed.
9
While sound easons can be gi en as o why, in a
democ a ic and sel - e lec ing socie y, expe s should be
awa e o hei ci ic esponsibili ies and show espec o
he needs, expe iences, and compe ences o non-expe s,
explo ing ields o collabo a ion be ween expe s and non-
expe s s ill ep esen s a majo challenge. In science his
has been discussed unde he label o ci izen science.
10
Wi hin he concep ual body o Public His o y, pa icipa o y
app oaches a e usually add essed as sha ing o sha ed
au ho i y, which bo h eflec s he concep s o academic
ci izens (i.e. academic p o essionals dedica ed o commu-
ni y engagemen ) and ci izen scien is s (i.e. people om
he gene al public engaging in scien ific wo k, o en
collabo a ing wi h academic scien is s).
11
Tex books on
Public His o y poin o he po en ial o he in ol emen o
pa icipan s om ou side he academy, as “mul iple oices
enhance he di e si y in his o ical na a i es,”
12
bu a he
same ime emphasize ha he gene ally accep ed s anda ds
o scien ific knowledge p oduc ion mus also apply in such
cons ella ions. This is desc ibed as he pa icula challenge
o p oducing his o ical knowledge by sha ing au ho i y.
13
The con ibu ions o his special sec ion aim a un-
de s anding hese challenges om an empi ical poin o
iew. Wi h he memo y o pain ul expe iences o he pas ,
hey ocus on an issue whe e app oaches associa ed wi h
sha ed au ho i y a e o pa icula impo ance since hey
can empowe ic ims o speak o hemsel es and gi e
5Thomas S. Kuhn, The S uc u e o Scien ific Re olu ions (Chicago:
Uni e si y o Chicago P ess, 1962).
6Da id Bloo , Knowledge and Social Image y (London: Rou ledge &
Paul, 1976).
7Ch is Lo enz, “His o ical Knowledge and His o ical Reali y: A Plea
o ‘In e nal Realism’,”His o y and Theo y 33, no. 3 (1994): 297–327.
8Jö n Rüsen, E idence and Meaning: A Theo y o His o ical S udies
(New Yo k: Be ghahn Books, 2017), 13.
9Je ome de G oo , Consuming His o y: His o ians and He i age in
Con empo a y Popula Cul u e (London: Rou ledge, 2009).
10 Fo heongoingdiscussionon hisapp oachsee hejou nal
Ci izen Science: Theo y and P ac ice ha has been published by he
Ci izen Science Associa ion since 2016; o a concep ualiza ion o
Public His o y as ci izen science, see Co d A endes, “His o ike als
‘Mi le zwischen den Wel en’? P oduk ion, Ve mi lung und
Rezep ion his o ischen Wissens im Zeichen on Ci izen Science und
Open Science,”Heidelbe ge Jah büche Online 2 (2017): 19–58.
doi: 10.17885/heiup.hdjbo.2017.23691.
11 See he defini ions o “ci izen science”and “ci izen scien is ”in he
Ox o d English Dic iona y, h ps://www.oed.com/, accessed No embe
23, 2021.
12 Cau in, Public His o y, 216.
13 Cau in, Public His o y, 216–29; Da id Dean, “In oduc ion,”in A
Companion o Public His o y, ed. Da id Dean (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
Blackwell, 2018), 1–11; Che s in M. Lyon, Elizabe h M. Nix, and
Rebecca K. Sh um, In oduc ion o Public His o y: In e p e ing he Pas ,
Engaging Audiences (Lanham: Rowman and Li lefield, 2017), 1–19.
86 D. Die ks
silenced memo ies new oice. Beyond ha , dealing wi h
he li ing memo ies o iolence and wa equi es a p o-
ound sensi i i y, which can only be de eloped in empa-
he ic con e sa ion wi h he ic ims hemsel es.
Fi s d a s o he con ibu ions we e p esen ed a a
con e ence
14
o ganized by he Jean Monne Ne wo k o
Applied Eu opean Con empo a y His o y. A cen al goal
o his ne wo k p ojec , which was unded by he Eu o-
pean Union, was o app ecia e and unde s and he di-
e si y o Public His o y p ac ices wi hin Eu opean
socie ies aced wi h add essing pain ul pas s.
15
The
ques ion o how his o ical knowledge is p oduced was a
he cen e o i s conside a ions. Wi h i s openness o bo h
in e disciplina y and ansna ional app oaches, he
ne wo k b ough oge he p ac i ione s and schola s om
Bosnia-He zego ina,Belgium,Ge many,Poland,Se bia
and o he pa s o Eu ope and he wo ld wi h back-
g ounds in his o y, poli ical science, cul u al s udies, as
well as social and cul u al an h opology.
16
The ne wo k’s in e disciplina y app oach is also e-
lec ed in his special sec ion. I s con ibu ions ackle he
ques ion o democ a izing his o y om di e en angles by
analyzing examples in ecen his o y and he p esen .
Focusing on he wo k o he commi ee o inqui y se up by
he Belgian Pa liamen o in es iga e he in ol emen
o Belgian poli ics in he mu de o Pa ice Lumumba
(1925–61), Geo gi Ve beeck’s case s udy is conce ned wi h
he complex in e play be ween social expec a ions, he
poli ics o he pas , and academic his o iog aphy. Ve -
beeck shows how engaged his o iog aphy and he public
deba e i p o oked c ea ed a social clima e in which
callswe emade o ac i ical eapp aisalo Belgium’s
long-supp essed iolen colonial pas . The change o
go e nmen in 1999 gene a ed he condi ions o hese
demands o be aken up by he new cen e -le majo i y.
E en hough he newly es ablished commission o his o-
ians demons a ed Belgium’s p oblema ic ole in he
Congo, due o a lack o w i en e idence i e ained om
naming pe pe a o s wi hin he poli ical eli e and he
Belgian oyal amily. Howe e , his was p ecisely wha
la ge pa s o he public expec ed he commission o do.
These di e ging expec a ions a es o, Ve beeck a gues,
“ he p eca ious ole o he his o ian as media o be ween
academic schola ship and he wide public.”
P esen ing a local his o y s udy, Soňa Mikulo á’s
con ibu ion shows how memo y ac i ism coming om
ou side impac ed WWII ememb ance in a Ba a ian illage.
Mi enwald, whe e a monumen al memo ial o WWI and
WWII was e ec ed in 1957, became he home o an annual
commemo a ion o allen soldie s o he Moun ain T oops
du ing which e e ans o he Second Wo ld Wa , membe s
o he Ge man a med o ces, ep esen a i es o he Ba a ian
go e nmen , and local poli icians ook pa . In 2002, ac i -
is s launched a campaign o d aw a en ion o he silenced
wa c imes he Moun ain T oops had commi ed in I aly and
Sou heas e n Eu ope du ing WWII. Thei ac i ism was me
wi h conside able esis ance wi hin he local communi y.
A e mo e han se en yea s o campaigning, he ac i is s
succeeded in ge ing he communi y o ag ee ha a me-
mo ial o he ic ims, which he ac i is s had e ec ed and
which had been emo ed, would be e-e ec ed. Howe e ,
his success was only due o p essu e om ou side, when
Ge man and in e na ional media began o epo on he
case. Despi e he ob ious success o his g ass oo s mo e-
men , Mikulo á wonde s whe he i can be desc ibed as a
democ a iza ion o commemo a i e p ac ices in he sense o
sha ed au ho i y.
The s a ing poin o Kamila Ba aniecka-Olszewska’s
con ibu ion a e Ga iel Rosen eld’s e lec ions on he
no maliza ion o he ememb ance o Nazism. Wi h Rose-
n eld, she sees no maliza ion as a shi o mo al assess-
men s, which ul ima ely leads o banaliza ion, indi e ence,
and social obli ion. Ba aniecka-Olszewska unde s ands his
no maliza ion as esul ing om a plu aliza ion o ac o s in
ememb ance cul u e. She in es iga es he consequences o
his democ a iza ion p ocess o a highly ambiguous
example: eenac men s o WWII ba les in Poland du ing
which Polish eenac o s adop he ole o Weh mach sol-
die s and membe s o he Wa en-SS. He con ibu ion
shows ha he eenac o s no only see hemsel es as p o-
mo e s o expe knowledge gene a ed by he expe ience o
eenac men (especially wi h ega d o echnical aspec s o
wa ), bu ha hey also belie e hemsel es o be aising
awa eness o he wa ’s o en igno ed indi idual human
14 “Public and Applied His o y on he Ba lefield o Eu ope. Dealing
wi h Pain ul Pas s in he 20 h Cen u y. Fi s con e ence o he Jean
Monne Ne wo k ‘Applied Eu opean Con empo a y His o y’,”H-Soz-
Kul , accessed No embe 17, 2021, www.hsozkul .de/e en /id/e en -
84166. I would like o hank Juliane Tomann, he co-o ganize o his
con e ence, and all he o he ne wo k membe s who con ibu ed o he
success o his e en : Jö g Ganzenmülle and Željana Tunić om he
Uni e si y o Jena as well as Dami A senije ić, Judi h B and, Rado an
Cukić, Gi a Denecke e, Jelena Ðo đe ić, Chan al Kes eloo , Dominik
K e schmann, Judi h Maye , MilošNičić, Ljubinka Pe o ić-Zieme ,
Ada Vlajić, Jochen Voi , and Joanna Wojdon.
15 The ne wo k was unded by a g an om he Eu opean Union’s
Educa ion, Audio isual and Cul u e Execu i e Agency (EACEA) and
pa o he Jean Monne Ac i i ies (G an decision no. 2016-2422,
p ojec numbe 575165-EPP-1-2016-1-DE-EPPJMO-NETWORK).
16 Fo a documen a ion o he ne wo k ac i i ies and i s app oach,
see i s webpage: “Applied Eu opean Con empo a y His o y,”Applied
Eu opean Con empo a y His o y, accessed No embe 17, 2021,
h ps://aec-his o y.uni-jena.de.
A Plea o Conscious No ma i i y 87
expe iences. This belie is oo ed in he ex ensi e bio-
g aphical esea ch ypically pe o med by eenac o s be o e
embodying he ole o Ge man soldie s, a p ac ice which
o en leads hem o unde s and Weh mach pe sonnel as
“no mal people”who we e o ced o go o wa . Howe e ,
wha migh sound like an a emp o con ibu e o a di e -
en ia ed unde s anding o iolence and wa is called in o
ques ion by he beha io o he eenac o s hemsel es as
some show a dis u bing ascina ion wi h na ional socialis
aes he ics, which gi es ise o se ious doub s abou hei
poli ical a i ude and hei eal mo i es when aking pa in
hese eenac men s.
The compa a i e analysis o he cons ella ions
examined in he con ibu ions allows some conclusions
beyond he opical ho izon o he case s udies, which
once again a es s o he po en ial o compa a i e ap-
p oaches when analyzing Public His o y p ac ices.
17
While in all case s udies he democ a iza ion o his o y
mani es s as a plu aliza ion o ac o s in ol ed in he
p ocess o p oducing, dissemina ing, and ep esen ing
his o ical knowledge, he ci cums ances and esul s o
his p ocess di e . Compa ing he esul s o he case
s udies used by Geo gi Ve beeck and SoňaMikulo á
shows ha in he nego ia ion p ocesses hey in es iga e,
ansna ional en anglemen s only played a mino ole.
This is su p ising since in bo h cases (Belgium’s colonial
pas and he wa a oci ies o he Weh mach ), such
ansna ional dimensions do exis in mani old ways.
Howe e , in he Belgian case, i was he delibe a e de-
cision o he new go e nmen o ocus exclusi ely on
hei coun y’s in ol emen in he mu de o Pa ice
Lumumba and o igno e o he dimensions. In Mikulo á’s
case s udy, his is due o he way he ac i is s decided o
communica e wi h he local audience. Despi e he ac
ha su i o s om he coun ies occupied du ing WWII
we e able o sha e s o ies abou he a oci ies hey
expe ienced hanks o he mobiliza ion e o s o he
ac i is s, Mi enwald’s communi y membe s op ed no o
hea hese s o ies, emphasizing he humilia ion esul -
ing om he campaigns agains he memo ializa ion o
Moun ain T oops. In bo h cases, his led o a ocus on he
domes ic dimensions o he conflic on ememb ance,
which significan ly limi ed he plu ali y and di e si y o
he oices ha we e hea d in he espec i e dispu es.
Di e gen emo ional disposi ions played a c ucial ole in
his con ex . They we e an impo an eason o whe he
his o ical expe iences we e aken se iously by he o he side
o pe cei ed a all, as Mikulo á shows in he con ibu ion.
A second, pe haps e en mo e essen ial poin con-
ce ns he ole o no ma i e assessmen s, which is
pa icula ly e iden in he case s udies done by Mikulo á
and Ba aniecka-Olszewska. In Mikulo á’scase, he
no ma i e claim o he ac i is s o implemen in he
public wha hey conside ed o be he co ec in e p e-
a ion o he pas de e mined he limi s o hei willing-
ness o communica e. The local o ms o ememb ance
in he Mi enwald communi y we e pe cei ed as scan-
dalous, and he local p o agonis s’abili y o make a
posi i e change was iewed skep ically. A dialogue wi h
he local popula ion should only ake place on he e ms
o he ac i is s. The memo y ac i is s, Mikulo á con-
cludes, “sha ed au ho i y, bu only wi h hose wi h whom
hey el solida i y.”No ma i e conside a ions also play
a ole in he e alua ion o he eenac men s analyzed
by Ba aniecka-Olszewska. To wha ex en can a socie y
bea plu alizing pe spec i es on he pas ? And when does
he ci ic esponsibili y o public his o ians u ge hem
o in e ene? Reflec ing on hese ques ions is impe a-
i e when i comes o dealing wi h pain ul his o ical
expe iences. He e, i is no only impo an o espec
he eelings o ic im g oups and hei descendan s;
ques ions also a ise ega ding he ex en o which
in e p e a ions o he pas can be ole a ed when hese
ouch upon he no ma i e ounda ions o a democ a ic so-
cie y. The ela i iza ion o he Ge man guil o he iolen
c imes o WWII, as i seems o be sugges ed by a leas some
o he eenac o s in es iga ed by Ba aniecka-Olszewska,
is clea ly unbea able.
As he empi ical indings o he case s udies p esen ed
he e show, he e lec ion on he no ma i e dimensions o
his o ical judgmen is o c ucial impo ance o Public His-
o y. An in-dep h discussion, especially a ansna ional
dialogue like he one his special sec ion aims o s imula e,
would be highly compa ible wi h ecen deba es in he social
sciences, whe e his ques ion is discussed as conscious
no ma i i y.
18
17 As a plea o compa a i e app oaches, see Se ge Noi e and
Thomas Cau in, “In e na ionalizing Public His o y,”in The Ox o d
Handbook o Public His o y, eds. Paula Hamil on and James B. Ga dne
(New Yo k: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2017), 25–43; Paul Ash on and
Alex T apeznik, eds., Wha is Public His o y Globally? Wo king wi h he
Pas in he P esen (London: Bloomsbu y Academic, 2019).
18 Rubén Flo es and Ryan Bu g, “A Case o Conscious No ma i i y:
O How E hics Li e acy Can Benefi Sociology S uden s and Thei
Teache s,”Ci ic Sociology 2, no. 1 (Feb ua y 2021). doi: 10.1525/cs.2021.
18219.
88 D. Die ks
