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Past Imperfect, Or the Pleasures and Perils of the Reenactment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2018

PAUL DURICA
PAUL DURICA*
Affiliation:
Illinois Humanities. Email: paul.durica@ilhumanities.org
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Abstract

From 2010 to 2015, Pocket Guide to Hell, a series of public history projects in Chicago, produced site-specific, participatory historical reenactments with the intention of treating the past as if it were a public space – an inhabitable site where multiple voices can be heard, meanings contested, and alliances forged. This paper narrates the process behind the production of the final Pocket Guide to Hell project, which marked the centennial of the Arts Club of Chicago, in order to reflect upon the origins of creative acts, the challenges of cocreation, and the possibilities and limitations of the reenactment form.

Type
Special Forum: Inhabiting Cultures
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 929 - 942
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and British Association for American Studies 2018 

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References

1 The 1916 mission statement can be found on the Arts Club of Chicago's website, www.artsclubchicago.org/about/our-mission.

2 Pinkerton, Allan, Strikers, Communists, Tramps, and Detectives (New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., 1878)Google Scholar. The chapters that inspired the reenactment are chapter 32, “Communism and Riot in Chicago,” and chapter 33, “The End.” The latter has an engraving of the Battle of the Viaduct referenced in Alana Bailey's poster for the 2010 reenactment.

3 Caroline Picard, “The Bomber Remains Anonymous: Reenacting the Haymarket Riot,” badatsports.com, posted 4 May 2011.