Community

H-Radhist

H-Radhist is an online discussion site dedicated to the discussing “historical, theoretical and political issues that routinely emerge from the study of history from a radical perspective, in which knowledge of the past is informed by the commitment to a radically democratic and egalitarian transformation of the present.”

Over the four year lifespan of the now defunct discussion group, its primary service seems to have been the advertisement of conferences, calls for papers and the posting of articles and humorous material, and other material that might be considered filler. The true discussion side of this group seems to have faded fast. In the first months the discussion board was made up of about half discussion entries and half the aforementioned filler. Over time it seems that ratio tilted heavily in favor of the filler.

The discussions trended heavily in favor of current events and less towards what one might consider to be discussion of historical scholarship. Primarily, the discussions were an exchange of thoughts on various current events such as the conflict in Kosovo and the present and future of radical history.

One notable characteristic of this community is the wide geographical range of its participants. This discussion list draws its users primarily from North America and Europe but a wide range of nationalities from all over the world are represented. The users tended to be academics, a large number of them graduate students, bringing various perspectives on radical history to their discussions. Perhaps one of the most interesting threads were the ones dealing with the question “what is radical history?” because the definitions were so varied.

As for whether or not H-Radhist constitutes, or did constitute, an online community, I’m inclined to say it did in some respects but I believe failed in others. The discussion list did indeed bring together a group of participants with an interest in the subject matter being discussed. By and large the users were academics and may have found occasion to interact with one another outside this discussion group while moving in the various academic circles. However, the geographical separation of the participants makes such an occasion improbable. As such, this discussion group fostered an otherwise unlikely community and for a while produced substantive discussions.

However, it appears that a majority of the postings were made by the list editor on behalf of other contributors. While it is unclear what role the editor played in the posting of these entries, it seems that a true community would be open to unmoderated discussion with the topics and direction of discussion being dictated by the consensus of the participants. Second, the occurrences of postings that can be considered discussion were outnumbered by those that were advertisement for various things. While that may be an important function of the community, it seems to have become its primary function having lost the interaction between users. Had the discussion group really fostered a sense of community among its users it perhaps would not have tapered off into oblivion in the manner it did.