STSC 088 Who Owns the Past?
Offered:Fall 2008
Kuklick, H W 2-5
Freshman Seminar
Stories told about the past have long been understood as moral lessons. And historical narratives have also inevitably been susceptible to partisan construction--to different readings by opposed parties. But the strength of appeals to the past is not a constant: historical experience has at some times and in some places been seen as irrelevant to selection of courses of practical action. Today, in the United States as well as in many other parts of the world, appeals to historical precedent carry considerable weight, and are made for all manner of purposes. Consider, for example, the dissolution of the nation of Yugoslavia, the most recent manifestation of which was the secession of Kosovo from Serbia; the breakup of Yugoslavia has been explained as the result of centuries-old ethnic tensions, yet when Yugoslavia was created during the Paris Peace Conference that ended World War I, objections to this action were countered with the anthropological judgment that the new nation’s ethnic divisions were not really significant. (One should note that ethnic loyalties are themselves historical products.) Or consider the debate over the ownership of the bones of so-called "Kennewick Man," which pitted Native Americans against scientists; their quarrel was virulent because the question of the identity of early inhabitants of North America has long been seen as having some bearing on the legitimacy of North American nations. To take an example of contested historical generalizations made in biology, consider recent debates over the value of Darwin’s theory, which have taken place in political venues ranging from local school board elections to presidential nomination contests. This course will discuss the uses of history in contemporary and past situations, drawing examples from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
