Which History? Whose Past Matters?
Before Reading:
Colonialism – the rapid spread of colonies, throughout America but also throughout the world, as demonstrated by England so prevalently. America originally had 13 colonies (which became states) in which the settlers pushed out the Indigenous peoples who were already residing along the East Coast. Currently, we see colonialism throughout the Holy Land as well as settlers have moved back to the area to establish their nation.
Overall, I think that colonialism spawns from a scarcity mindset. When populations grow there is a need for more resources and so leaders and nations determine the need to gather more resources. So, they take what they want, pushing away anyone that might stand in their way. I do think that colonialism was painted with a rose-colored lens when I was in school, but I certainly question what I had been taught. So much of our education is white-washed and made to represent our history as the victim or the hero, but never the oppressor.
I bought a book at the African American History Museum when we were in Washington D.C. Due to February being black history month, I thought that I would read it this week. One quote I want to highlight, “The great evil of American slavery wasn’t involuntary servitude and forced labor. The true evil of American slavery was the narrative we created to justify it… Slavery didn’t end in 1865, it just evolved…the North won the Civil War, but the South won the narrative war.”[1] I look at colonialism from the same perspective. The narrative I have been told about it is not fully accurate.
After the reading:
First, I will address one thing that I learned that was new and how it challenged my understanding of the topic. I had never heard about, or at least it never stuck out to me, the idea of Year Zero. Furedi writes, “Year Zero ideology is driven by twin objectives: both breaking with the past and denouncing the historical memory associated with it.”[2] It makes sense how people are trying to rewrite the past by injecting modern ideas and cultural beliefs into past characters. However, I never had thought about it as a restart of history. This was a new concept, and it stretched my mind a little bit. One thing that Furedi highlights about this ideology is that it is not focused on making things better but rather on rectifying past objections. “Today’s advocates of Year Zero ideology are much more preoccupied with the project of exacting vengeance on the past than with assisting the birth of a new world.”[3]
Now let me address some of the points of contention with Furedi’s book. Whose history matters? Whose history should be retold? Usually, the history that is remembered and documented is the history of the victor, not the loser. For example, we can simply look at the different stories of the American Revolution as told by America or England.
Furedi highlights, “Some historians are intent on recovering experiences of people marginalized in their own times and since, women and peasants, those conquered, enchained or silenced.”[4] His argument is that these historians are re-writing history based on their position in the Culture Wars or based on their identity. Yet might it be that these marginalized people never had a voice to challenge the narrative that was written into past? Had they had a voice might history have been written differently?
He further cites Marie Moran who wrote Identity and Capitalism, “She points out that ‘until the 1950’s or even the 1960’s and 1970’s there was no discussion of sexual identity, ethnic identity, political identity, national identity, corporate identity, brand identity, identity crisis or ‘losing’ or ‘finding’ one’s identity.’”[5] This certainly is not true. One might look at the apostle Paul and his considering his Roman identity when deemed necessary. More recently, in the book by Gates Jr. mentioned above he writes, “The roots of antiblack racism extend much further back beyond the nineteenth century, of course; but it’s fair to say that white supremacist ideology, which evolved to justify the enslavement of black human beings, assumed new forms, and changed in tune and timbre almost as soon as the Civil war.”[6] Gates Jr. supplements these statements with a variety of old artwork depicting very racial undertones based on supposed “scientific” data.[7]
Our political world is full of people trying to rewrite history and who gets to take the moral high ground. While it is important to understand that there are voices from the past who have not had a chance to share their perspective, it is also true that we can’t try to rewrite history based on our new cultural momentums. We must understand George Washington for who he is said to be with our best understanding of the times. We can’t try to judge him with our 2025 lenses. Yet, we also must be honest about the shortcomings he might have had. We can do this without erasing him or cancelling him. This is also true regarding our understanding of Scripture. As we encounter Scripture, we seek to understand who the author was, who he was writing to and the context in which he was writing. This helps give us a better understanding of how that scripture might apply in today’s world.
It is imperative that we seek an honest history, and we use the good and the bad to help our society move forward into the future. I will end with a reminder from Yascha Mounk who wrote, “It is possible to recognize these injustices and fight against them without subscribing to the identity synthesis.”[8]
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[1] Henry Louis Gates Jr, Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow, Reprint edition (New York: Penguin Books, 2020), 1.
[2] Frank Furedi, The War Against the Past: Why the West Must Fight for Its History (Hoboken: Polity, 2024), 62.
[3] Furedi, 64.
[4] Furedi, 113.
[5] Furedi, 124.
[6] Jr, 14.
[7] Jr, 80.
[8] Yascha Mounk, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time (New York NY: Penguin Press, 2023), 11.
About the Author
Adam Cheney
I grew up in California, spent five years living along the beautiful coast of Kenya and now find myself working with refugees in the snow crusted tundra of Minnesota. My wife and I have seven children, four of whom have been adopted. I spend my time drinking lots of coffee, working in my garden, and baking sourdough bread.6 responses to “Which History? Whose Past Matters?”
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Thanks for your blog Adam. How do you think we can strike a balance between giving voice to those previously silenced and ensuring historical figures and events are understood in the context of their time rather than judged solely through contemporary lenses?
Glyn,
I just realized that the question I asked you is in the similar vein to the one you had asked me. Let’s take a modern example and look at George Floyd’s murder and the ensuing riots that took place in Minneapolis. Revisionist history is already underway and has been underway. There is a bit of a memorial that has been erected and is still there. How do we remember that he was a victim of police brutality and that this was wrong. But also that the riots that day destroyed much of Minneapolis and small businesses. This too was wrong. We need to see both sides and we need to be vigilant to not neglect to remember different aspects of the event because they don’t fit into our own agendas.
Adam,
I concur, identity has probably always mattered to people since the nations began to spread out in Genesis 10 and 11. We learn in Genesis 43:32 that Egyptians and Hebrews would not share a table together for it was detestable for them to eat with a Hebrew.
Was there anything from the African American Museum that really jumped out to you as being presented in a way you had never heard or considered before?
Jeff,
There were a few things that I noted about the museum that was good for me to learn. But the thing that comes to my mind first was how the entire slave trade and the dehumanizing aspect imposed on all the West Africans was simply to satisfy some greedy rich men. It was all about making the rich richer so that they could expand their farms and have more labor so that they could sell more goods. It seems that we haven’t come to far as a nation in regards to the rich doing whatever they want so that they could continue to build wealth off of the poorer people. Thankfully, we are not enslaving people in similar fashion as we had done in the past.
Adam, I agree that a scarcity mindset is likely the core of much of colonialism.
Based on your analysis, I’m wondering how leaders today can apply the concept of “honest history” to foster inclusivity and understanding in their groups or organizations?
Adam, that’s a great post! I wonder what your thoughts are about colonialism as it relates to Somalis in their home country and abroad. And does anything about this topic come up for you when you think of the Voddie Bauchsm angle?