Browsing by Author "Sundman, Cecilie"

The purpose of the thesis was to explore the opinions about authenticity in the attire of Living Historists that is to say, People, who have Historical Reenactment as a hobby. Living history is a popular hobby, and brings a lot of knowledge about textile, wood, and metal craft, as the attire often are home-made. Due to this, an important part of the research consisted of what craft techniques are being used, and what kind of research goes into making a “kit” for reenacting. Earlier research about re-enacting attire, in particular is rather scarce, so new perspectives were a goal at the start. The gathering of material was done by questionnaire, spread in suitable groups on Facebook during the spring of 2018. There were 182 people answering, of different ages and re-enacting background. The questionnaire consisted of both qualitative and quantitative questions, so the analysis was done with Mixed-Method, combining the data from both groups only at the last minute. Living history was found to be a multiform hobby, where authenticity has its own place. It does not, however, define the scene, but provides opportunity for personal or group-wide development within the re-enactment scene. Historical handicrafts are a large part of the hobby and could also be considered their own scene within the whole of living history.