Public and Popular History Cambridge University
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- History
What happens when history narratives are produced not for library bookshelves but for a mass audience? Does popularisation of history automatically mean dumbing down? Who are the people who make history for the public sphere, and what are their motivations and priorities? The Public & Popular History seminar series brings them together, film makers, journalists, professional historians and museum curators. Through talks, multi-media presentations, panel discussions, and debates the seminar explores the practices and characteristics of public and popular history in the contemporary world.
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- video
Liberty and Coercion: Writing the History of the American State
Inaugural Lecture, Gary Gerstle, Paul Mellon Professor of American History
Thursday 12 November, 17:00, Cripps Auditorium, Magdalene College, Chesterton Road, University of Cambridge -
Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future
J. Willgoose Esquire talks about the use and abuse of historical archives for creative work and its untapped potential. Last year J.'s band Public Service Broadcasting released an acclaimed and successful album, 'Inform-Educate-Entertain', that utilised propaganda and public information films to 'teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future'.
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Moulding history for a video game story
Talk by Charles Cecil MBE, video game designer (Broken Sword series) & Director of Revolution Software, at the Public and Popular History Seminar.
Charles Cecil, video game industry legend and creator of the Broken Sword series discusses the uses of historical narratives in video games, and the link to different media like film. In fact, the video game industry has been a bigger industry than film for some years now, and millions of users have their most intensive encounters with representations of the past in front of a computer screen. Just what this means when historical narratives have to be moulded to fit the entertainment objectives of the video game producer is the subject of this multi-media talk by one of the most successful designers in the industry. -
Near and Distant Neighbours 1917–1989
Jonathan Haslam, Professor of the History of International Relations
The history of Russia’s Secret Services from the Revolution to the Fall of the Wall: the Military Intelligence, the codes and ciphers and the KGB. -
The Uses of History in Politics
Panel discussion with
Chris Skidmore (MP, Cons) &
Gregg McClymont (MP, Lab) -
The Elephant Will Never Forget? Film archiving, archaeology and historiography
Talk by
Patrick Russell (Senior Curator, British Film Institute)