He won 2000 soles in a streaming, sold poems at his school, his valuable treasure and more from the YouTube historian

The journalist is supposed to distance himself from the subject of the writer, but there is always a bias that is either avoided or deepened. In any case, the reader needs to know. With Merlín Chambi (Tacna, 1989), historian and winner of the Lights Award 2022 for Best cultural digital program, there are several circumstances that overlap with this editor. I discover in the delivery of his award that we are from the same university, that we live in the same district and in the same neighborhood. Also that we grew up at the same time, with the same political disappointments and, perhaps, with similar brief hopes.

But Merlin is different. He is “blessed”, a colleague would say. With the name of the Arthurian magician and the last name of the illustrious photographer, this 33-year-old academic stands out wherever he goes for one reason or another. The name was given to him by his mother for a nothing arcane matter; the last name, he speculates, links him to a branch of the family that did not want to fight over the rights to the negatives. Even so, in this case the links exist: he also uses a camera to do his thing, which is to broadcast through his YouTube channel “The Merlin Library”.

For him there is no small subject, such as his reports “History of chicken broth”, “Why are there still kings in the world?” or “The nightmare of the Incas: the fearsome chankas”. In each case, he tells the story as we know it, including discrepancies. For each video he relies on books that he cites as a “small monograph”, he specifies. He’s not doing badly, as evidenced by the plaque YouTube gave him for reaching 100,000 subscribers (he now has 146,000), while his videos have been viewed more than 9.2 million times. We talked with him in, where else, his library.

—I read about the strong bond you have with history, which is thanks to your grandfather Cirilo.

My grandfather passed away last year. He was a very educated person, despite the fact that he didn’t even finish primary school, I understand. He was educated the old way: the person who asks, listens, retains and asks again. He told me things related to the War with Chile, to Independence. He told me about General Miller’s campaigns in the small towns on the heights of Mirave [Tacna], things that I found out later in college. He was the best storyteller I have ever met. I was not interested in History from the beginning, at first I wanted to [estudiar] Systems Engineering, I don’t know why.

—Everyone wanted to be a systems engineer.

It was the computer boom. Like all the technologically enthusiastic chibolos. From there I wanted Journalism, I was attracted to Psychology and, later, History itself. The taste was initial, the conclusion was late.

—I notice a link in that you have a YouTube channel with which your grandfather has narrated the story.

Yes. That’s why I trust a lot in the narrator’s ability. An effective storyteller does what 10 history conferences won’t do: he reaches a lot of people and doesn’t just stay in a circle. That was the objective of the channel: to make history something digestible, not a social gathering. On the channel, people tell me “Merlin, I wanted to study history, but due to things in life I ended up in accounting and through these videos I know more or less what to do, what to look for”. Perhaps it has happened to everyone that they want to look for a historical topic and do not know where to start. The videos have that objective, they are like an orientation.

—That is, you are not only “Uncle Merlin” for your followers, but you are the “uncle” who helps them with [la tarea].

Yes, there are people who learn from the videos. There are also people who cross the line, they want me to do their research work for them. It has happened to me several times, but there is everything. If I maybe add up the number of people who did the channel a favor, compared to the number of people who might disagree, I think the difference is overwhelming.

—To be a good historian, one must be a good narrator?

No. In fact—I’m not going to name names—historians who have been my teachers were monsters of knowledge in books, but in class they were very weak when it came to narrating. There is no disqualifying one from the other. The historian finally produces knowledge, the narrator communicates it. So it is not a requirement, but in these times when the wave of fake [news] and post-truth becomes gigantic, it is necessary for academics to have a more accessible language.

“An effective storyteller does what 10 history conferences won’t do: he reaches a lot of people and doesn’t just stay in a circle.”

Merlin Chambi

—The phrase I heard one of your streams stuck with me: “history is gossip made an institution”.

[Risas] Yes, in fact that sentence is not mine, it belongs to my friend Isa Arboleyda, a Mexican historian. The phrase is true, I really don’t know any other historian who doesn’t have that passion, not because of gossip, but because of the curiosity to find out about the past; I myself am very curious. I believe that, like the gossiper, the historian is never satisfied and neither is he who wants to be educated. It is a constant and endless search, which may sound bleak, but it is not so much because every day may not make you more educated, but it does make you less ignorant. I think that this search for the truth generates a critical conscience in you, above all the ability to say “wow, I don’t know, but I can know”. That is something that has been lost today.

—You are a millennial, you have grown up with the internet. At what point do you already take your profession to YouTube, to Spotify?

I was in college in the years when professors predicted that the Internet would be the world’s worst catastrophe and the death of culture. This type of anger is typical of each era in which there is an industrial advance. It is true, it will cause many things to go to critical points, but it is also the opportunity to democratize more things. Spaces such as the internet can be used to disseminate historical knowledge. We live in a country with so much history, but we have very few who tell us about it with a bibliography. History books exist, they are expensive, unfortunately, but they do exist. I’m trying to do that, but new technologies also end up passing me by. First I didn’t quite understand the logic of TikTok and now artificial intelligence (AI).

—Talking with friends from work I described you as the anti-influencer. I say this with respect: the typical influencer sells an image or something instantaneous, you instead promote verifiable information.

When I watched general culture channels —and here I don’t want to be too “sticky” either— I saw that very few mentioned books. I even found some nonsense, especially in History, and I didn’t understand. Perhaps you have heard that literature majors are “easy”, that those who study History and Literature do so as a “hobby”. No. The result of this is to trivialize the dissemination of this type of knowledge, because someone may think that research is googling four things. Each video I make has to be slightly supported with bibliography, references. The channel promotes history, but more than that it provides the importance of research.

—People have emerged who promote readings, who show their books on the internet [booktubers, bookstagrammers]. I have noticed, with a few exceptions, that most say “yes, this book is very nice”, they put a photo and nothing more. We are staying there.

It would depend a lot on the type of diffusion. Once I was contacted by a publisher that promotes youth literature, I said that I will not have time to read [el libro que me proponían]. They answered me “could you just take a photo of the cover and comment something in general”. If I have to recommend something at least I have to know its content. I don’t think it’s just the influencer’s fault, it’s the fault of what the market that finances it asks for.

—The other day I listened to your stream about “cultural haters” and I was surprised by the “yapeos” of your followers. I think they yapeed you like 800 soles.

If I lived for history videos [en YouTube], I don’t get the accounts because what a video monetizes does not cover what a book costs me to make that video. What finally generates the livelihood of the channel are the direct ones in which people ask questions, consult. I try to respond to them and at the same time to be entertaining, to share a bit of my life, which I think people like. It’s nice to see that support that people give you. Some videos have few views, others have many views; it’s random. I said it openly: if I was only interested in your donations, I would only stream.

—How much is the most you have been donated in one of these transmissions?

I think the most was when the YouTube plaque came along, or on my birthday. I did a stream and people, as a celebration, I think we got S/ 2000 that night, I don’t remember. It was crazy, because I had never seen so many donations. I’m thankful for that. And what comes from the channel is to buy more books and generate content with a bibliography.

Chambi, parodying Mr. Beast, the influencer who gives away money. For Merlin, his currency is books and he has repeatedly given them away.

“If I lived from history videos [en YouTube], I don’t get the accounts because what a video monetizes does not cover what a book costs me to make that video. What finally generates the livelihood of the channel are the direct ones in which people ask questions, consult. “

Merlin Chambi

—You are sponsored by a taxi app, other companies too. What do they value from your content?

They like that it has a bibliography, because it makes it more serious. And they like the community. It is a healthy community, because I try a lot to take care that it does not break the harmony. Sometimes one or another undesirable gets in and we try to make things very clear there and the community that is finally formed is cool; supports, generates interaction. It is very nice to know that you have people who support you.

—I remember the anecdote you commented on a stream, from your school days, about writing love letters [para tus compañeros].

I used to read from a very young age. Once my aunt brings me a booklet of stories by Leo Tolstoy; I think that was my first book. I don’t know why I started to get very close to César Vallejo, I continued with Julio Verne. He had a knack for being able to express the things he wanted to say. At school, the time of hormones, someone wanted to enter a girl and he said “who knows how to write poems?”. He was going to do it for free and they told me “I give you a sun”. He did the poems, they liked it, and then if you started a relationship with a poem, you have to keep it going with poems. I had to do, every two or three days, poems for more clients. I even expanded the business, I got my friend Elena to decorate them with little markers and all that.

—Lima is big, and right now we are at one of the extremes. How does living so far from the “downtown area” change a person from Lima?

You know a totally different reality. Sometimes I would see Peruvian movies, like “I’ll tell you tomorrow”, and I would say “but these kids go out, they have a tap nearby, a mini market, they go in dad’s car and we are almost the same age. I have sand here.” I was like “what is this?” “Where I am?” And that is where one begins to acquire a new identity: you are not the middle class or Creole from Lima, you are from Lima with your own code of conduct, aesthetics, dynamics and semiosphere. You realize that you have grown up in another environment, perhaps more rustic, with different rules. Here, like Vargas Llosa at the Leoncio Prado, you have to learn to put yourself on the defensive very quickly, you have to be very cautious, always looking at the sides and learn to relate to everyone. I keep that up to now, I talk with people from the world of culture and with the locals from my neighborhood, sometimes we meet and have a beer. It’s like living together [con ambos mundos]But you already know who you are.