IngentaConnect People from Different Backgrounds Write Different Histories: An E...

Abstract:

Back in the 1980s, with the publication of the Subaltern Studies series under the editorship of Ranajit Guha, a new way of writing history was proposed to the world of historians. The project, known as subaltern historiography, very quickly took the form of an emerging intellectual movement, conceived and developed in the spirit of the wider movement of Deconstruction. Very quickly, too, it started positioning itself, if not as an alternative to elitist historiography, at least as a serious counterpart to it. Looking back to the period, I must admit that I then saw the new movement as a driving force that was poised to revolutionize the whole concept of historiography. Whether it has succeeded in doing so or not remains to be seen, but I was so favourably impressed at the time that I recently decided to make the present flashback in order to show that it has, if anything, more strongly confirmed the belief that different people will always do things differently, especially in the field of history writing.

Beyond this observation, however, I started feeling the danger that the confrontation between the two schools might result in one-sided histories. Historians are usually intelligent people who can make allowances to avoid problems, but depending on one's background (again) and one's experience in the field, the line can be easily crossed. So I will also be raising the issue whether it would not be salutary to try and find a middle way.

Keywords: HISTORIOGRAPHY; DECONSTRUCTION; SUBALTERN STUDIES; ELITE HISTORY; NON-VIOLENCE

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/156921007X180622

Affiliations: 1: Département d'Etudes Anglophones, Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Lettres, Arts et Communication, Université de Ouagadougou

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People from Different Backgrounds Write Different Histories: An Essay on Historiography (Britain and India)