Tiktokzação: ensaios sobre a forma da história como mercadoria nas redes

Abstract

Throughout the development of capitalist society, it is possible to observe the various cultural transformations triggered by technologies. As these mechanisms become more popularized, the next changes and mutations occur more rapidly. Recognizing this means that, beyond an economic, social, or political process, technologies — especially communication technologies — also represent an experience of time. Pointing to this aspect, it becomes necessary to question not only how we deal with these other temporalities, but also how these other dynamics of time affect historiographical production. While the interest in occupying digital spaces, especially TikTok, with discussions and narratives about the past is significant, there is a lack of debate on the limits of these social networks and their influences on the historian and their production. Little attention is given to the practice of historiographical production as a labor that involves, beyond other aspects, work time, dedication, and the psychological and physical wear and tear of the historian. In this preamble, the conjecture that guides this work aims to inquire how the production of history is impacted by the current reality of social networks, particularly TikTok. The choice of platform profiles as a source was made not only because of their popularity, but also because their format has become a production and consumption trend. Can we affirm that its operational model mobilizes new ways of producing the past? If such specificities exist, how are they materialized? My hypothesis is that the dynamics of social networks have altered — but not completely transformed — certain aspects of historiographical production, which are now subject to a logic of individual and algorithmic consumption, determined both by the spectacularized market logic and by increasingly accelerated and individualized time factors. These dynamics are permeated by a time that directly inserts and interferes with the process of production, circulation, and consumption of these videos on the platform. Content about history on social networks begins to function as a product/result aimed at entertainment, especially with high digital circulation. Beyond questioning TikTok profiles, the intention is to shed light not only on the ways in which the past is narrated but also to reflect on the material and real conditions of producing history in the present time.