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

Monday, March 19, 2012

Telling Histories: Laurent Dubois, Greg Grandin, Gary Wilder

Today's event, or at least, this early evening's event ....

[ " While Haiti’s complex and “cursed” past was often used by journalists to explain its recent and tragic upheaval, these historical retellings frequently did more to malign and undermine the promising cultural and political forces the country was founded on than to illuminate them. How might historians and other academics responsibly and effectively contribute to a global public discourse?


Join Laurent Dubois (History, Duke University), the author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History and Greg Grandin (History, NYU), the author of, among many other prize-winning books, Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism for a discussion with Gary Wilder(Anthropology, The Graduate Center, CUNY) about the challenges of writing critical histories of nations and empires in the current political climate.

This event is free and open to the public. The Committee on Globalization and Social Change and the Center for Humanities are co-sponsoring this event, which is connected to “Caribbean Epistemologies” and “Law, Justice and Global Political Futures.” For further information on these and other Seminars in the Humanities, see

http://centerforthehumanities.org/seminars " ]

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