2018 marks the beginning of a new chapter for Rethinking History. At the end of 2017 Alun Munslow, the driving force behind the journal’s creation in the mid-1990s, stepped down from direct editorial responsibilities and assumed the role – alongside Robert Rosenstone – of Founding Editor. Alun’s contribution over many decades to the journal, to the discipline and to the wider interdisciplinary endeavour of interrogating the uses and representation of the past has been immense, and, in due course, we will publish some reflections upon his achievement. For now, suffice it to say that we two are acutely aware that as we step into his shoes – to stand beside James Goodman, who remains as US Editor – we face a formidable but exhilarating challenge.
This is the first issue for which we have had formal editorial responsibility and there will inevitably be some delay before any impact of the change in editorial regime can become apparent. Later in this volume, we will publish a detailed statement about our intentions for the journal, outlining the concerns and preoccupations that we will bring to bear and pursue. Let us simply state at this point that we are committed to preserving the key qualities and traditions that have made the journal such a success: its relentlessly questioning attitude, its openness to intellectual innovation and experimentation and its enthusiasm for thinking otherwise about the past. We also plan to continue to work closely and intensively with authors in developing their pieces for publication; uncommon generosity in this respect was one of the hallmarks of Alun’s distinctive approach to journal editing, and we intend to honour that admirable legacy.
That said, a changing of the editorial guard offers a suitable opportunity for stock-taking, and for refocusing and renewal. Any journal which has agenda-setting at the heart of its mission must adapt to changing times and the shifting intellectual and political landscape. In addition to offering extended thoughts on what this will entail in terms of content and emphasis later in this volume, our agenda will become manifest through a number of impending calls for papers for future theme issues. It will undoubtedly also continue to unfold and evolve along the way. In the meantime, we have already made some practical and operational changes. During the course of 2017 we adopted the publisher’s online content management system for handling submissions, peer review and correspondence with authors; this should enable the new editorial team to collaborate more effectively. In addition, we intend to enhance the journal’s social media profile, to which end we have appointed a Social Media Editor, Laura Guillaume. We have also begun to refresh the membership of the editorial board, and are exploring the possibilities for publishing more research in non-traditional and non-textual digital formats.
These measures will, we hope, help generate submissions of the highest standards of originality and academic rigour. We want to engage the interest of an enlarged interdisciplinary community of scholars, and encourage anyone who wishes to be involved with the journal in any way – as an author, a referee, a book reviewer, or as the guest editor of a special issue – to get in touch with us. We are thankful for the opportunity to take the journal forward, and relish the prospect of working with you all in the future.
The pieces in this issue tackle topics that are very much within the established tradition of Rethinking History in directly addressing the nature of our relations to the past and the changing role of history in society. They also demonstrate pleasing thematic diversity, ranging from interrogation of the feasibility of private historical experience to the future prospects of all humanity. At the same time, they frame new challenges for discussions of key issues such as the place of nationalism within a changing network of global relations, the potential for innovation in museum practices and other (para)historical representations, and the underlying commitments and philosophical affinities of ‘narrativism’. Thus they contribute not only to the rethinking of many current concerns in the field but also to the ongoing evolution of the agenda of our journal.
Turku University, Finland
[email protected] http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3361-5840Patrick Finney
University of Aberystwyth, UK
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2103-478X