The I(game) of impossible invisibility: Between proximity and distance in the history of the present time

Abstract

Although the development of the history of the present time since the 1980s has encouraged historians to reveal themselves, both their own person and their profession, a certain shyness persists. This reflective work nevertheless constitutes a scientific added value, especially when interactions with witnesses take place. During these interactions, the researcher cannot be invisible. The researcher has to deal with the context, the conditions of the research and its dissemination, the witnesses, but also their own personal characteristics. The researcher can therefore play with these different factors to a certain extent in order to be both close to and distant from the respondents and their research object. Through a reflexive return on the course of two surveys, conducted at different times and tracing the monographs of Polish folklore groups in order to study the “Polishness” of their members, this margin for maneuver, sometimes unconscious, is brought to light.