Long dismissed as the domain of hobbyists and obsessives, historical reenactmentthe dramatization of past events using costumed actors and historical propshas only in recent years attracted serious attention from scholars. Drawing on examples from around the world,Historical Reenactment offers a fascinating, interdisciplinary exploration of this cultural phenomenon. With particular attention to reenactments social and pedagogical dimensions, it develops a robust definition of what the practice constitutes, considers what methodological approaches are most appropriate, and places it alongside museums and memorial sites as an object of analysis.

Everardo Perez-Manjarrez is a research professor at the National Distance Education University (Spain), and a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, (USA). His recent publications include"Learning History"(The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 2022) (co-authored) andPragmatic, Complacent, Critical-Cynical or Empathetic?: Youth Civic Engagement as Social Appraisal (Teachers College Record, 2021).

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Approaching Historical Reenactments
Mario Carretero, Brady Wagoner, and Everardo Perez-Manjarrez

Part I: New Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

Chapter 1. On Motives for Reenactment: The Kindertransport
William Niven

Chapter 2. Conceptualizing the Period Rush: Ludic Dimensions of Immersive History in Historical Reenactment
Robbert-Jan Addriaansen

Part II: Reenactments as Tools of Cultural and National Identities

Chapter 3. Historical Reenactments in Spain: A Critical Approach to Public Perceptions of the Iron Age and Roman Past
David González- Álvarez, Pablo Alonso-González, and Jesús Rodríguez-Hernández

Chapter 4. Reenacting the Reconquista Myth? Some Reflections onMoros y Cristianos Festivals in Spain
Ignacio Bresco and Floor van Alphen

Part III: Politics of Reenactment: Troubled Pasts, Colonialism, and Democratic Prospects

Chapter 5. Statue Wars and Reenactments: Reinterpreting the Colonial Past in Australia
Stephen Gapp

Chapter 6. From Yogyakarta to Independence: Negotiating Narratives in the Historical Reenactment of Re-colonization in Indonesia
Lise Zurne

Chapter 7. Memory Sites and Reenacting State Terrorism: The Museum at Argentinas Naval Mechanics School
Marisa González de Oleaga

Part IV: Reenactments as Educational Devices in Formal and Informal Contexts

Chapter 8. Reenacting the Past in the School Yard: Its Role in History and Civic Education
Mario Carretero, Everard Perez-Manjarrez, and Maria Rodriguez-Moneo

Chapter 9. Inside Historical Reenactment
Tyson Retz

Epilogue: What Is the Task of Reenactment?
Vanessa Agnew

Index