Public History as Graphic History

Abstract

Graphic History – the telling, teaching and understanding of history through comics – has been growing in classrooms and university spaces for more than two decades. However, in the discipline of history the engagement with comics is still rare. The articles in this special section of International Public History all focus on multiple facets of graphic history in public history, ranging from research to applications in classrooms, libraries, museums, archives, and cultural institutions. We are focused on the growth and potential for historical pedagogy and didactics to embrace a framework of critical visual inquiry – elevating analysis of images to a status equal to written text. With ever increasing discussions of misinformation and a need for critical analysis in historical pedagogy, didactics, and historical thinking, we see great potential for Graphic History with its rich legacy of visual narrative and exceptional popular success and appeal to add to Public History. This special section hopes to serve as an inspiration and a call to action, to encourage public historians, and historians in general, to think more critically about their historical pedagogy, research, and teaching. What are we including and what are we leaving out?