Evidence

Paul Pickering*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The idea of evidence intersects with the physical reenactment both before and after the performance itself. The theoretical pivot point for a consideration of what constitutes evidence and what are the conditions and the manner in which it is produced in relationship to reenactment, is the work of philosopher and archaeologist, R. G. Collingwood. Fictional detectives and actual criminal investigators alike resort to reenactment to produce evidence. Based on the concept of context-dependent memory, reenactments have long been firmly established in the field of crime detection. Exponential advances in computer-generated imagery used to recreate scenarios in three-dimensional virtual reality mean that the production of evidence by living history is migrating to hyper-reality. However, the process is the same: generating evidence by reenacting past events. A capacious definition was stultified early in the 19th century when Leopold von Ranke’s assertion that mining the archive for sources would shackle evidence to empirical data and present it as historical truth.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Routledge Handbook of Reenactment Studies
    Subtitle of host publicationKey Terms in the Field
    PublisherTaylor and Francis
    Pages57-62
    Number of pages6
    ISBN (Electronic)9780429819292
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2019

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