LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Friday, February 3, 2012

*A History of the World In 100 Museum Objects*

I love this BBC radio program made in concert a couple of years ago with the British Museum.  When I can't be home to hear it, I can click online for the program.  This is one of those series which really is best imbibed in the small program time doses.


It's being broadcast here at 1 PM. We've just finished today's installment, # 19, the Mold Gold Cape, discovered in the 19th century, in a hill, in North Wales.

There is a Numen, it has always seemed to me, contained in ancient objects that somehow have spun successfully down the spiral of millennia to be handled, thought of, dreamed over, the closest to the key that could allow us to travel back up the millennia spirals, to unlock the past. Each one of these objects is treasure that has become history, as the commentary intones.
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