Trouble with Correcting the Past
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: February 27, 2015 -
Science philosopher Karl Popper once commented that people can interpret history with “an eye to those problems of power politics” and that one can interpret the history of power politics from the point of view of the fight for the open society, for a rule of reason, for justice, freedom and equality.
Popper said although history has no ends, one can impose the ends and also give it a meaning.
A cursory look at some of the engagements by those involved in the enterprise of writing history in a State like Manipur throws up interesting developments.
Some proponents of the “nativist” approach, attempt to set the record straight.
They say that the ‘fabricated history’ of Manipur has misled many and the trend needs to be countered, rectified and corrected.
The political content of their work can be gauged from the stance taken after reviewing the sensitive burning of the Puyas some 285 years ago.
From within the same school of thought, there are those who not only seek the ‘truth’ but also make an attempt to see the ‘truth’ in the light of reason informed by the indigenised “enlightenment project.”
Many have tried to look at the enterprise of writing history through an outdated view that all these activities are part of a revivalist movement.
The rise of the ‘nativist’ history was made possible via the exclusion by the dominant discourse on history.
Certain stance taken while writing or rewriting history has been preceded by “subjective slogans.”
And the engagement that flows from the stance not only questions representation but also gives a hint to the process of knowledge production.
However, there is a hesitation borne out of the intricate relation between current ethno-political situations on one hand and the “ought to be” of history, on the other.
While rejecting the imposed and “fabricated” grand history and trying to write “unique” histories, there has been a failure to ask whether or not one adheres to the established norms of constructing a collective history of the people.
While making an attempt to infuse meanings to history, there has been a strong tendency to recover the “self” often trapped in the whirlpool of confusion that has been projected as stance.
Here, one just needs to invoke the spirit of empirical falsification while distancing from the task of proving the correctness of past events.
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