Contested Boundaries

Technorati Tags: Military History Carnival, Horrible history, Historian

Gavin Robinson is hosting the next Military History Carnival and has set the theme of contested boundaries. He has challenged the blogshere to post on the subject so here goes...

 

I am a historian.

I would consider myself a professional historian. I have a post graduate degree in Military History. I have carried out original research that has furthered an historical debate.

I have obtained research skills, sat in dusty libraries and read obscure books. I can spot a Marxist historian from twenty paces.

But I don't publish.

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But I do publish.

On the other hand I am a writer and researcher. I write children's history. It requires no original resource. I regurgitate other people's work. I devour the knowledge and then reform it in a way that the younger generation can read. I do this for money. Don't get me wrong I love the subject, but ultimately I do it for money.

But there's more...

For years I have worked as a researcher for Terry Deary. I have helped write the ultimate in popularist history - the Horrible Histories series.

Am I a historian?

Comments

[Gavin Robinson]

Thanks for taking up the challenge. This is an excellent response.

I'm starting to think that maybe identifying anyone as a historian is wrong because history is something we do, not something we are. Sex is no different: reproductive organs and chromosomes are things you have, not things you are. You can apply this to pretty much an kind of identity.

There was someone whose name I can't remember who wanted to banish the word "is" from the English language because it's so misleading.

I can vaguely remember hearing that in some languages a descriptive statement would literally translate as "the ball has red" not "the ball is red". Although I might have imagined this bit.