Join us online or in person for a seminar with PhD candidate Olga Prokopis.

How Historical Reputations Are Made

In this seminar I will discuss my research on ‘historical reputations’. Historical reputations are complex social constructions made up of historical representations that become dominant in public memory. I conceptualise this research as an area of historical inquiry that examines cultural influences on the creation of historical reputations. I also examine the epistemological impact of historical reputations on how we understand history. Informational agents such as popular historical writing, historical fiction, the media, and affective communities, all distribute and validate historical representations. I propose that the historiographies of historical persons be broadened to include these sources. In a historical reputation study, I examine why certain representations achieve dominance and reflect on possible identity connections between historical persons and their affective communities, the historical cultures they exist within, and the influence of cultural paradigms on reputations. I also consider the epistemological impact of the frequent dissemination of misinformation and stereotypes in historical reputations, and suggest that historians should actively combat toxic and harmful historical representations.

11am, 31st July 2024

Burwood: C2.05.01
Waurn Ponds: IC2.108
Zoom: Click here

Olga Prokopis is a PhD candidate in history at the Centre of Contemporary Histories, Deakin University, Australia. She lives and works on unceded Brayakaulung country. She researches historical reputation, the social production of history, and how misinformation and stereotypes are disseminated through popular history. Her doctoral research focuses on the resounding impact of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Richard III on King Richard III of England’s historical reputation.