Popular representations of history are taking on new forms and reaching wider audiences. The search for usable pasts is branching out into active appropriations of history such as historical theme parks, housing developments, and live-action role play. Drawing on themed environments across the continents, the articles in this volume focus on how these appropriations bypass, are different from, or even contradict traditional as well as scientific modes of disseminating historical knowledge. Bringing together theorists and practitioners, they provide the basis for an interdisciplinary as well as a transcultural theory of how pasts are staged in various social contexts.

Judith Schlehe (Prof. Dr.) is head of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Freiburg/Brsg., Germany. Michiko UikeBormann (Anthropology) is a member of a research group on History in Popular Cultures at the University of Freiburg (Germany). Carolyn Oesterle is a member of a research group on History in Popular Cultures at the University of Freiburg (Germany). Wolfgang Hochbruck (North American Studies) is a member of a research group on History in Popular Cultures at the University of Freiburg (Germany).