Silencing the Past

Rating:
Summary: Challenging philosophical look at historical method
Review: Michel-Rolph Trouillot argues that in the writing of history lots of things get lost and what is lost impacts our view of the past.

The first thing which is lost are some sources. For many of us there simply are no sources kept. For others there may have been historical traces but they have gotten lost or destroyed in time.

The next level of such data is that when data is collected and selected for various archives there is another level of things getting lost, sources, which there and existing, are effectively lost since there were not judged worthy of archiving.

Lastly, the individual historian much choose from the archival material what is important in telling the story of history the author is telling. Again in this process of selection events and parts of history get lost and suppressed.

What emerges as the story of history, what we, the readers and consumers of history come to regard as the REAL past, real history, is filtered in ways that we seldom acknowledge or realize.

Trouillot demonstrates this thesis with examples from Haitian history and chooses the clever divice of San Souci. There were three San Soucis. One was a person and two others were buildings. The first, the person was lost at the source. The second was weeded out in the typical archives. The last, while exciting at some level, is still not within the mainstream of most Haitian history. Trouillot books makes us sit back and realize that we have to realize there is no real HISTORY, but only the story that the sources that have survived and have been selected as important allow us to tell.

A delightful read. For a much more systematic and longer review please e-mail me and I'll send it to you.

Rating:
Summary: Public History distorted
Review: Silencing the Past is an excellent account of how mistakes and mis-readings of history can contaminate the perspective an entire society's world view.

Troulliot's book is very applicable to the realm public history. Monuments, museums, displays and the like are all examples of how history influences our every day lives. Altough, without realizing it, we assume the things that we read and see in such places are entirely true. This is a mistake, as Troulliot points out, because, the amount we do know about our history, is only a fragment of what we don't know...and that when historians create public history they can only use the information available, which is most often the product of a white, western mind, published and tagged as 'history-proper'

Another factor in the use of history as a public tool is its tendency to be 'good' history. In that, all too often when history is presented to the public, it has a habit of being watered down, desanctified, and 'positively' presented. Only a curator with integrity and confidence would present a "full story," as more often than not, social taboos and political correctness prevent him from doing so. This is sad, as in the mean time, the historical process is damaged. What such a presenter of public history is doing when they present only favorable aspects of history is educating a public about half the story, which will then become part of a public world view, a world view, that is skewed in a way that will be very hard to correct.

A public mind is hard to change, the more a public wants to believe something, the longer they do. Believing a positive is always easier than the alternative. This is the importance of creating a sound, fair and accurate archive of public historical knowledge.

Troulliot's book serves a great purpose: it infects the reader with a historical vigilante syndrome. It tells the reader to be wary of history, but not to dismiss it. In so doing, he has created a masterpiece that informs, educates and calls the reader to act upon, and in many ways become, a vindicator of history and the historical process.

Rating:
Summary: Public History distorted
Review: Silencing the Past is an excellent account of how mistakes and mis-readings of history can contaminate the perspective an entire society's world view.

Troulliot's book is very applicable to the realm public history. Monuments, museums, displays and the like are all examples of how history influences our every day lives. Altough, without realizing it, we assume the things that we read and see in such places are entirely true. This is a mistake, as Troulliot points out, because, the amount we do know about our history, is only a fragment of what we don't know...and that when historians create public history they can only use the information available, which is most often the product of a white, western mind, published and tagged as 'history-proper'

Another factor in the use of history as a public tool is its tendency to be 'good' history. In that, all too often when history is presented to the public, it has a habit of being watered down, desanctified, and 'positively' presented. Only a curator with integrity and confidence would present a "full story," as more often than not, social taboos and political correctness prevent him from doing so. This is sad, as in the mean time, the historical process is damaged. What such a presenter of public history is doing when they present only favorable aspects of history is educating a public about half the story, which will then become part of a public world view, a world view, that is skewed in a way that will be very hard to correct.

A public mind is hard to change, the more a public wants to believe something, the longer they do. Believing a positive is always easier than the alternative. This is the importance of creating a sound, fair and accurate archive of public historical knowledge.

Troulliot's book serves a great purpose: it infects the reader with a historical vigilante syndrome. It tells the reader to be wary of history, but not to dismiss it. In so doing, he has created a masterpiece that informs, educates and calls the reader to act upon, and in many ways become, a vindicator of history and the historical process.

Rating:
Summary: In-Depth Look at Historical Production
Review: Trouillot sets out to answer the question: How is history produced? And he does a reasonably good job in at least laying a framework for discussing such a complicated issue. He seeks a middle-ground between what he calls positivist historicity and constructivist historicity, arguing, in effect, that past events did indeed happen the way they happened but also that our memories, stories, myths about them greatly influence our understanding of them. Using as case studies the Haitian Revolution, Sans Souci (a Haitian slave turned colonel) and Columbus Day, he then attempts to show how certain aspects of events have been silenced by those in power. Trouillot succeeds in many ways; he explores issues with ample caution, gives a fine critical survey of the snags and hazy areas involved in the topic, and pins down a number of useful conceptual tools (such as the different stages in historical production at which facts might be silenced). Where he falls short, however, is ironically in his inadequate appreciation of the inherent selectivity of history - the reality that silences are necessary, inescapable, and even desirable. (By studying Beethoven's life we thereby, and properly, "silence" the life of some unexceptional contemporary). Trouillot's goal, beyond investigating the nature of historical production, is to demonstrate that those creating Western history have been biased and wrong in silencing the stories he's presently exposing. He backs up this claim with zero evidence; in spending so much time showing what has been silenced he never gets around to offering his view of what SHOULD be silenced. Thus, as purely an exploration into the process of historical production, "Silencing the Past" largely succeeds (although here too a better emphasis would be how and why facts are accepted rather than how and why facts are silenced - same theme, more fruitful orientation). The value judgments Trouillot occasionally slips into, however, are out of place and groundless. All aside, "Silencing the Past" is a challenging read and a quite thoughtful account of historical production.

Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking and essential reading
Review: Troulloit's broad vision of both the past and the process by which we write about the past informs this immensely impressive series of essays. While not for the general reader, students of history and anthropology as well as professional academics will love this succinct, jargon-free approach to the most essential questions of historiography.