- Title
- Life in the 'past lane': an exploration of the motives and metahistorical understanding of family history researchers
- Creator
- Shaw, Emma
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy
- Description
- This study explores how history is manifested, understood, and produced in public pedagogic spaces, with little oversight from formal institutions of learning. Considering the family history community as large producers of alternate historical knowledge, the project is inspired by a contradiction: The family history phenomenon is a multi-billion dollar industry with millions of participants worldwide, yet is widely touted within international scholarship as under-researched and under-theorised. Drawing on the work of Peter Lee (1983), the study takes the position that the history discipline is comprised of both substantive and procedural history, and that an individual should display an understanding and mastery of both to be considered ‘historian’. With previous studies in this field focussing on the substantive elements of the history discipline only, this study, as a point of difference, pays attention to both substantive and procedural disciplinary understanding of family history researchers to add to the discourse in a new way. The research is distinctive in its exploration of how family history researchers think historically. As a multiphase qualitative study, this research project has three primary aims. It seeks to add an Australian voice to the existing international discourse to explore why countless individuals are engaging with the past through the act of family history research. It also investigates how family history researchers engage in, and demonstrate, metahistorical thinking, and the subsequent impact(s) of this on their historical consciousness. The first Phase is an online survey (n=1406) which establishes an overview of respondent demographics and research practices. Phase 2 is a series of semi-structured interviews (n=11) which provide a robust exploration of the metahistorical awareness and historical thinking of participants, and Phase 3 is the development of two case studies. The study embraces a sociocultural perspective of education dominant in the discourse of public pedagogy, and adopts a philosophical hermeneutic epistemological position which allows for the interpretation and reinterpretation of the data collected throughout the three phases. Two established frameworks (Jorn Rüsen’s disciplinary matrix, and Peter Seixas’ historical thinking skills) were drawn upon for the development of some survey and interview questions, and as heuristic tools in the analysis of data. Learning to do family history research is a pedagogical practice, yet the study found historical research skills needed for successful family history research were rarely learned in a formal institution of learning, and so the act of family history research can be considered one of public pedagogy. The data showed many family history researchers to be highly skilled at historical research, and many exhibiting metahistorical thinking to varying degrees. The study reports interview and case study participants demonstrate clear metahistorical awareness, and a model of stages of accomplished family history research is developed to conceptualise these research findings. The data present family history research as an important contributor to social and public history, and the study concludes that some self-taught family history researchers can be considered to be working as historians. The study also finds that family history research is ultimately transformative in nature, and can be a conduit for increased historical consciousness and historical understanding in public spaces. The scholarly contribution from this study speaks to the fields of history, history education, education, and public pedagogy.
- Subject
- history; public pedagogy; historical thinking; family history; education
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1355807
- Identifier
- uon:31538
- Rights
- Copyright 2017 Emma Shaw
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 204 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |