Scholars on the hot seat, or ‘how does each one write History?’: the clash between academic and non-academic historians in Brazil in the light of the debates on Public History

Abstract

Different indicators suggest an increasing demand for history by the lay audience in the recent years, a demand that has been supplied by authors without formal academic training. The objectives of this paper are to think the concept of public history and its applicability in Brazil, and to analyze the contributions of three lay authors who have become best sellers as writers of history in Brazil. Our argument is that the mass dissemination of these works has implications both from a technical and ethical standpoint, and that it is a task of university-trained historians to have a position in regard to them.