The Past is Present: Why challenging traditional narratives about history is necessary

There was a statue that once stood prominently at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. It was called Silent Sam — a monument to the "sacrifices" of Confederate soldiers. It stood there for 105 years, often criticized, sometimes vandalized, but in 2018 it came toppling down as a crowd of mostly younger people stood around it, cheering. 

The toppling of monuments to a racist past isn't new, but the incidents have picked up speed and urgency. It's happening across the world and across borders: pushing back against received narratives about colonial heroes and their "civilizing" missions.

In the 1990s, we were told history had come to an end. Communism was dead, liberal democracy had won, and there weren't really any new political ideas out there — or so the prevailing story went. But the study of history today has taken on a new and urgent vigour, with established narratives being contested from what used to be seen as the "margins."

Shruti Kapila teaches history at the University of Cambridge, U.K., and argues that the shift in focusing on who is telling the stories of our past and which stories matter is a reflection, partly, of the demographic shifts taking place in the wider society — not only at the centres of former empires, but also within the academy itself.

"History as a discipline, at least in its modern incarnation, has been associated with nationalism of the state. And what you see is not just claim making from the erstwhile subjects of empires coming into Europe, but also a dramatic shift in the populations of these erstwhile imperial centres."

Making space for new claims

This "claim-making," as professor Kapila puts it, creates tension for those who see history as a compilation of past events and traumas having been put to rest after finding resolution.

But as empires decline, so too do their stories. Barrington Walker, a professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University, points out this decline is very much the space within which new claims can — and are — being made.

"There was a certain sort of standard establishment way of understanding the history of Europe and European empires and a certain historical trajectory that people took as a given," Walker says. 

"It was reflected in our curricula. It was reflected in popular understandings of history. I think it was reflected in mainstream discourses."

Walker says the relationship between the waning influence of the empires of Europe that has shaped our understanding of the modern world has been declining for some time.

"There has been, kind of, a sense of melancholy on the part of those countries as the folks who used to be considered, you know, the flotsam and jetsam of empire have come back to Europe and have made claims on Europe."

Walker believes in upholding the integrity of history by making sure the past is accurately represented, "as truthfully as we can and to warn against the dangers of crude presentism." Presentism is the introduction of present-day ideas, perspectives or values when interpreting or depicting the past instead of trying to understand past events in the context of their own time. 

"I'm not one of those historians that worries too much about presentism, but I can certainly see how history that is driven primarily and principally by current political considerations can sometimes take us to places where we might not want to be."

Historical accountability

The shifting conversation about the past and its relationship to the present winds its way into debates and discussions about everything from the role of museums to reparations to police brutality, to the study of history itself. And long-suppressed narratives are now coming to the fore as the formerly colonized increasingly want a reckoning. 

Amila Buturović, a professor of humanities at York University, says while the writing and rewriting of history is nothing new, the challenge today is to understand that the discipline of history also serves the larger project of citizenship. As nations become more diverse, the need for a more inclusive narrative becomes a greater priority.

"We need to, of course, remember that history has always been rewritten and it's a kind of Sisyphean labour where you'll go back to the same sources. But it's not just a matter of subject matter, it's also the question of how to open up methodologically to bringing in different sources, bringing in a different awareness and a different relationship to history," Buturović says.

"So what do historical facts really mean to us in the present time and, therefore, what do they mean to not just the discourse of the historians, but also the discourse of all those who participate in the making of the 21st century?

"We are, in fact, talking about a trend towards more historical accountability, towards events that have happened in recent history."

Guests in this episode:

Barrington Walker is a history professor at Wilfrid Laurier University;

Amila Buturović is a professor of humanities at York University.

Shruti Kapila is a history professor at the University of Cambridge.
 

* This episode was produced by Naheed Mustafa.