Participatory historical geographies: Introduction

Over the past two decades, historical geographers have increasingly questioned who produces historical knowledge, whose voices are heard or excluded, and how participatory approaches might reshape geographical scholarship. In response, participatory methods have emerged as powerful tools for unsettling dominant historical narratives and expanding the practice of doing historical geography with communities, rather than about them. This Special Section brings together a diverse range of articles that provide examples of doing and theorising participatory historical geography. Each article is drawn from discussions or paper presentations that took place at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference in 2023 during a double session entitled ‘Participatory Historical Geographies’. Together, the papers showcase a range of methodologies, case studies, and critical reflections from academic researchers and history and heritage practitioners. In bringing these different perspectives together, this special section seeks to distinguish participatory historical geography as a valuable subdiscipline and presents a range of perspectives from both academics and history/heritage practitioners which can be drawn upon to support and inspire researchers seeking productive methods for collaborating with contemporary communities to undertake historical research.