Public History and traumatic memory places. An analysis from the experience of United Kingdom museums

Abstract

In the seventies, at the same time that currents of thought such as the New Museology, the New Anthropology or the New Geography appeared, a “new history” emerged in the USA, Public History. Like the rest of the “new” paradigms, their objective was to generate participatory and transversal processes that involved different agents and the society in the construction and application of the historical narratives.

Its evolution to this day has made museums one of these agents involved; heritage protectors and direct interlocutors with the public and with the communities. Due to its characteristics, Public History has had a singular relevance in the construction of the historical narratives of the conflicts of the 20th century and in the museographical proposals of the memory and heritage derived from them. This article presents and analyzes the mechanisms used by museums in the United Kingdom dedicated to presenting a traumatic memory to construct a story within the parameters of Public History, allowing the inclusion of individual and collective memory, as well as the consideration of History as commons within institutionalized historical narratives.