As an archaeological ethicist, my work involves considering how archaeologists ‘do’ archaeology, and the ramifications of our professional choices and actions as archaeologists. More specifically, my main area of research is digital archaeology, and the archaeology of immaterial places like video-games, virtual worlds, and internet-based communities. To be an archaeological ethicist studying immaterial places, I […]
In public discussions of history, it is sometimes said that ‘history belongs to everyone’. This is often used to assert someone’s authority to interpret the past, their attempts to understand, talk or write about things which they perceive as having happened. It is also used to reject the (now old-fashioned) idea that professional historians have […]
“Prior to photography, places did not travel well” (Urry and Larsen 2011, 166). If the advent of photography heralded the increased conceptual portability of places, what does the representation of those places in video games mean? What are the ethical implications of engaging with video games as a form of digital tourism, especially when the […]
Games have often lacked nuance, dealing in heavy-handed constructions of black and white morality, heroes and villains. Even when they depict (or try to portray) anti-heroes and good-bad people, it’s rare to find a game that does so unproblematically. The often-triumphalist, teleological narratives and gameplay orientation of many games means that nuanced engagement with ethical […]
From Robert A. Heinlein’s short story ‘–All You Zombies–’ (1959) to films such as Groundhog Day (1993) and Tenet (2020), the literary and audio-visual arts have nurtured and popularised the ethical quandaries that arise when humans alter the fabric of time. Such experiments, though, rarely feature in historical fictions. If they do, the focus is […]
In my post last week, I discussed the role of ethics in historical representation. I argued that, as a narrative pursuit, all history involves subjective decision making. Decisions, some of which, will inevitably be made in alignment with our own ethical criteria and the ideological biases they are entangled with. But how does this relate […]
By Adam Chapman Ethical practice is important to historians. From the earliest days of our history education we are told of the care with which we must treat evidence – that it is our duty to those in the past to ensure we don’t purposely or selectively misrepresent the traces that they leave us. Similarly, […]
As promised in last week’s update, we are now firmly in the terrain of Ethics and Historical Games. You may have seen our call for contributions for the theme, which focuses on the difficult questions developers must face when making games about the past, and the difficult questions players must encounter when playing them. These […]
Our first HGN event, for our Historical Truth theme, took place on 26 May. It was very successful, our speakers were great and the audience provided some great questions and engagement. You can find the video below. This event officially marked the end of our first HGN theme, and so we now move into the […]
How can creatives make history entertaining and accurate? Although we are seeing green shoots pointing to normality, the comforting duh duhnn sound of the Netflix app still offers welcome escape. Recently I was drawn to The King, directed by David Mechod and starring the wonderful Timothee Chalamet. The King tells the story of the lusty […]