TY - GEN N1 - 25 cm N2 - This paper looks at the phenomenon of historical re-enactment from the perspective of contemporaneity (postmodernity sensu Bauman 1996; 2000 or late modernity sensu Giddens 2002). I believe that in order to capture the unique nature of historical re-enactment and the motivations behind people’s engagement in the re-creation and experience of the past, historical re-enactment should be examined in a broader, cultural and social framework. The changes in the contemporary people’s attitude to the past and the transformations in the forms of transmitting knowledge about the past provide the context for my study. From this perspective, this paper proposes exploring the phenomenon of historical re-enactment using selected descriptive categories of post-modernity: (1) as an expression of the search for community and the construction of individual and group identity; (2) as an expression of the change in people‘s attitude towards the past, including, (a) the manifestation of the democratisation of the past, a form of alternative history; (b) a strive for personal, sensual and unmediated contact with the past and its interpretations, and (c) the commercialisation of the past; (3) as a phenomenon suspended between the search for authenticity and the inevitable existence in the world of simulacra; (4) as a formula of modern education about the past; (5) as a hobby/play; (6) as a formula of the new spirituality. In the conclusions, I argue that historical re-enactment is a characteristic element of contemporary historical culture and one of the forms of collective memory of present-day society L1 - http://www.rcin.org.pl/Content/67480/PDF/WA308_87758_P244_Historical-re-enactm_I.pdf M3 - Text J2 - Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 70 (2018) PY - 2018 EP - 29 KW - historical re-enactment KW - the postmodern attitude to the past KW - alternative histories KW - sensous contact with the past KW - commercialisation of the past A1 - Pawleta, Michał PB - Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk VL - 70 CY - Kraków SP - 9 T1 - Historical re-enactment as a new form of contemporary people’s relation to the past UR - http://www.rcin.org.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/67480 ER -