Editing Historical reenactment (section)

== Academic reception ==
[[Image:US Navy 070426-N-1688B-163 John Smith, played by Dennis Farmer, claims the beach for England during a re-enactment ceremony on the 400th anniversary of the First Landing.jpg|right|thumb|An actor playing [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]] reenacts claiming a beach for [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] in the [[New World]]]]
Historians' perspectives on the genre of historical reenactment is mixed. On the one hand, some historians cite reenactment as a way for ordinary people to understand and engage with the narratives about the past in ways that academic history fails to do—namely, that it presents straightforward and entertaining narratives, and allows people to more fully "embody" the past.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Agnew|first=Vanessa|date=2004|title=Introduction: What Is Reenactment?|url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=criticism|journal=Criticism|volume=46|issue=3|pages=327–339|doi=10.1353/crt.2005.0001|via=Wayne State University Press}}</ref> Rather than confining the production of historical narratives to academia, some argue that this "history from below" provides an important public service to educating the public about past events, serving to "enliven history for millions who turn a blind or bored eye on monuments and museums."<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

Other historians critique the anachronisms present in reenactment and cite the impossibility of truly retrieving and reproducing the past from the vantage point of the present; "We are not past but present people, with experience, knowledge, feelings, and aims previously unknown," writes Lowenthal, and however impeccably we attempt to bring back the past, everything is filtered through our modern lens and senses.<ref name=":0" /> Further, others worry that the focus on historical accuracy in the details, such as dress, obscure the broader historical themes that are critical for audiences to understand; this worry is more acute for certain forms of reenactment, such as American Civil War reenactment, that elicit strong feelings and have real impacts in the present-day world.<ref name=":0" /> By focusing on the accuracy of details, some worry, the discussion of the war's causes, such as the end of slavery, are confined to the margins.<ref name=":0" />

Further, under the guise of adhering to the past, some worry, the true, underlying purposes of some reenactments can be obscured; namely, that some reenactors defend not only their prescribed side, but also their side's beliefs: as one reenactor put it, "I do this because I believe in what they believed in{{nbsp}}... The real pure hobby is not just looking right; it's thinking right."<ref name=":0" /> In response to this, some historians call for a more "authentic" approach to presenting the past, wherein the impacts of that representation on present-day society are honestly presented so as not to give an inaccurate picture of the past. "Historical authenticity resides not in fidelity to an alleged past", cautions an anthropologist, but in being honest about how the present represents that past."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Trouillot|first=Michel-Rolph|title=Silencing the Past|publisher=Beacon|year=1997|pages=148}}</ref>