Wispy Selves: Identity and Identification on History's Edge

History as leisure allows for the creation of identity and identification among those who care about the past and treasure the memories that knowledge provides. Through a multiyear ethnography of American Civil War enthusiasts, I propose the concept of “Wispy Selves.” These selves are embedded in awareness of an historical past but are wispy in that their presentation is limited to particular times and places where they are described and enacted with the support of a like-minded community. Through lectures, tours, and other gatherings, leisure participants imagine themselves linked to consequential figures in the American past through their voluntary commitments. A sense of “selves in time” extends Kathy Charmaz’s illness identities by recognizing that meaningful personas are not only linked to trauma, but to communal pleasure as well.