| Popis: |
Many of the history books and articles that address a broader readership tend to focus on 'great men'. Popular history publications often offer a form of history that is problematic in its gendering, and that often bears no relation to cutting-edge historical research and/or the historical canon. In view of this, it behoves the writers of popular history to be more aware of their choice of perspective and to adopt a more robust approach to source criticism. Designating the issue outlined here as a type of 'methodological gender-blindness' points to the fact that it is one aspect of a wider structural problem. Since historians have in the past been at the forefront of the development and dissemination of gender theories, it is argued here that it is of the greatest importance for the continued social relevance of the discipline as a whole that historians engage the public by means of popular history. Academic historians should face the challenge of writing works of popular history and of bringing their critical skills to bear on popular history products. |
