Read on Twitter
These two tweets have got me thinking about history today or rather how most people like to think about history or the past. https://twitter.com/CareyTourism/status/1350783214143631360
Here's the second one, so we are all on the same page before beginning this thread. https://twitter.com/DavidOlusoga/status/1350761035381297152
When I worked in a historical museum I had a saying that I "hated people who loved history" - a seemingly contradictory maxim, considering my job was to interpret history exhibitions and develop arts programming & exhibitions to dialogue with them.
What I mean by this is that there are people who claim to love history who treat the past as a fantasy, a place where they can pretend life was simple and uncomplicated. Who treat the past as a refuge from the present.
This is a terribly dangerous fantasy that not only denies the complex realities of the past, but allows people in power to use these fantasies as a cornerstone to build political power upon. I'm sure you can think of 3 recent examples of this. Prob. more, sadly.
Anyhow, as the saying go, these fantasy histories tell us more about the people who have them then they do about actual history.
The people who decry "woke history" or resist a truthful and holistic accounting of the past aren't actually interested in the past at all! Shocking!
The people who decry "woke history" or resist a truthful and holistic accounting of the past aren't actually interested in the past at all! Shocking!
They are only interested in preserving an imaginary past that justifies their present advantages and allows them to retreat from the responsibility to confront how they ended up in this advantage position. And to be clear,
advantage doesn't always mean you're well to do. Many citizens of colonial powers hold advantage: land, personal security, access to justice, other benefits, derived from trafficking and exploiting human beings, natural resources and oppression of Indigenous ppl.
Anyway, if you don't want your history to include these stories, idk what to tell you other than you don't actually love history. You hate it to its core.
If you loved it you'd share ppl like @corinne_fowler & @DavidOlusoga & @profdanhicks & @glasgow_sugar (a few of many)'s ...
If you loved it you'd share ppl like @corinne_fowler & @DavidOlusoga & @profdanhicks & @glasgow_sugar (a few of many)'s ...
enthusiasm and zeal for learning and educating and knowledge. You would *want* to know that our pasts as Canadians (me), Britons, Scots, etc. are far from bucolic rather they are a nasty business built on the harsh & complex realities described above.
and if that's not what you want to hear, again, you are no lover history. It is YOU who want to sanitise the past to serve your intellectual laziness. The ability to be empowered and allowed to go on living in a fantasy world, of course being the ultimate expression of privilege.
To summarise:
- Rewriting the past is okay
(that's what historians do on the daily)
- Learning is awesome
- Erasing the past is wrong (Everyone agrees!)
- Kick over the statues
- Rename everything
- Black/Indigenous/LGBTQ+ Lives Matter
- Rewriting the past is okay
(that's what historians do on the daily)
- Learning is awesome
- Erasing the past is wrong (Everyone agrees!)
- Kick over the statues
- Rename everything
- Black/Indigenous/LGBTQ+ Lives Matter
