Can we research the experience of colonial clerical workers using performative methods?

What is it about?

In this paper I explore the possibilities for historians of using historical re-enactment as a means of researching the experience of colonial clerical workers. I suggest that there are several problems that arise when using re-enactment in this context. Historical researchers should (I argue) first consider other ways in which the past is reproduced in the present (through perpetuated social, cultural or political conditions) before trying to insert themselves in the 'shoes' of historical actors.

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Why is it important?

Creative historical methods, and re-enactment are increasingly important tools in contemporary historical research. These methods have ethical and political consequences, however, that are not always full considered. Exploring how these methods might (or might not) be appropriate for a white British female historian to 'recreate' the experience of a black Zambian male clerical worker, is an occasion to confront these ethical and political questions head on.