The Present Condition and Direction of Citizen History Education as Public History

This paper examines the present condition of civic history education and explores new attempts and directions for civic history education as public history. Upon reviewing history-related activities conducted by public institutions such as museums, libraries, local governments, and networks of historical researchers, it was found that, despite the diversity of topics, lectures and field trips still dominate as the primary methods of delivery.Meanwhile, the National Museum of Korea's “Mind Healing Center” and the reading play “Women Who Became History” have garnered attention as new possibilities for civic history education as public history. These projects are significant in that they were carried out through citizen participation. Through lectures on cultural relics and female independence activists, the expertise of historical researchers was shared with participating students and citizens, and the results of this shared history were reproduced in the form of content and reading plays, which were then disseminated to the audience, the citizens. In other words, this suggests a direction for civic history education as public history by sharing expertise and harmonizing expertise with popular appeal.Just as public history pursues diversity through all history-based activities regardless of whether one is an expert or not, civic history education as public history must also seek diversity not only in topics but also in format, so that history can become history of the citizens, by the citizens, and for the citizens through the sharing of expertise.