Friends and Family,
A history degree, like most other academic displaces, trains you to see and imagine the world in very specific ways. Historians look at the present and seek to understand what about the past made it so. In a world that seems to increasingly view itself only in the context of the present and the individual, the ability to take a more circumspect historical perspective is seems to be lost for many. The failure to take this perspective is what often prevents us from seeing the broader historical trajectories, that while agonizingly slow, have led us towards progress. This is not to say that we should stand complicit with a deeply unjust stats quo reluctant to take bold action. In President Obama’s remarks after the supreme court ruling for same sex marriage said that: "Progress on this journey often comes in small increments. Sometimes two steps forward, one step back, compelled by the persistent effort of dedicated citizens. And then sometimes there are days like this, when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt”. Historians consider the long arc of progress and dissect it accordingly to show the complexities and nuances so that we can better understand the significance of the modern moment.
Additionally historiography, or the history of history, is something that many fail to consider. Individuals levels of privilege and sociocultural-capital are what in most cases I believe cloud our ability to make sense of history’s history. What I see in a lot of undergraduate history classes is that students fail to look past the names and dates to see what is being said. Some of my favorite professors actually tell their class not to put the dates in the exam but rather use the events to tell a story that says something. (Of course you preform better when you drop a few names and dates to prove that you did the reading). But all of this is to say that it is all to often that we overlook the fact that history is a far more complex and important field than most realize. The more engaged study of historiography reminds us that history is a field that is written. The hard sciences, while certainly out of my comfort zone, rely on natural laws and rules that pose obstacles for scientists, doctors, and engineers to overcome while history and a litany of other social scenes and humanities require a generation and production of new knowledge. But the point that this is field that is written is important because what gets written what gets emphasized is the product of those who hold the necessary power to produce it.
Quite often it is the fact that what is recorded, written about, and engaged with does not adequately represent common realities and experiences. Moreover the reshaping and reinterpretation of history is often the direct result of complex social, political, and economic dynamics that are regularly expressed and manifested in a series of cultural events. Foucault probably describes this process, and the way it works, best in his definition of discourse. He asserts that the discourse, or how a society comes to know what it knows, is a highly regulated system that is responsible for the creation of knowledge on a topic or subject. It should be added that the process of discourse also often shapes public knowledge and belief towards the needs and values of those in power making them the unwitting pawn of the dominant group. As History and the past is remembered and written about, discourse plays a fundamental role, dramatically altering and reconstituting knowledge both at the sociocultural and academic level.
But where does history and its many complexities live? Well the answer is often far simpler than most of realize. It lives all around us! Our daily lives are regularly informed, and highly regulated (to steal Foucault’s language), by histories. And if history lives then Culture is the breath that sustains it. Spending Friday and Saturday in Kyoto, a city with a deep historical and cultural roots, made this abundantly clear. As a class we spent Friday afternoon with a few students from Doshisha University and their Professor at a museum on the history of the Burakumin people. The museum which was in an old Meiji era bank owned by the Burakumin community since they were not allowed to use the national banking system told the story of the Burakumin people in Kyoto highlight the discrimination they faced. What is interesting about the Burakumin people in Japan is that they are not a racial or ethnic minority but can rather should be envisioned as something akin to a caste group. During the Tokugawa period those who worked in trades that involved death or were deemed ‘unclean’ had their identity and social positionally reimagined because of their trades. This subsquently entailed a great deal of social and political discrimination.
While this is a fairly condensed version of Burakumin history what was the most interesting component of the experience that day was the way in which a center aimed at cultural preservation sought to also rewrite history, Inserting a more complex history of the Burakumin people into the historical record while also raising a level of awareness of contemporary issues for the community was interesting and In my eyes very important. I wrote an essay this year in class that looked at the way that cultural events and practices shaped societal discourses and public memory to fulfill the needs of the dominant class so it was interesting and very inspiring to see how cultural and historical spaces were being used by marginalized groups through acts of individual and community agency to rewrite history.
Similar forces and ideas came into play when I spent the day traveling around Kyoto with some of my classmates in a small group on our own. Visiting a collection of shrines, temples, and markets I found myself admiring the living and breathing aspects of culture. And yet if we truly to look at the world as it is and remove ourselves from the complexities and fascinating richness of the spaces that I visited a far more simpler image emerges. One where millions of peoples, compelled by different forces find their way into the same spaces weaving different understandings into one common framework. Here my classmates and I were really able to live the transnational joining a global community of persons in the process.
Today we spent the day in Hiroshima at the peace park and museum. As a class we got to meet individually with Ms. Ogura, a Hibakusha, or survivor of the bombing. While her story was certainly difficult one to listen to one line stuck with me for the remainder of the afternoon. As she was leaving she turned to a group of us and said how grateful she was that we were there today to listen her story. She added that young leaders who understand and know these realities are so important and that she hoped we would take her story with us and share it to do bring about change.
Following our conversation with her we spent some time in the museum. Nothing can quite prepare you for the story that the museum tells. The burnt clothes of children paired with some of their last words truly elicits the deepest visceral emotional reactions. But what should be of note is that the first and most pivotal section of the museum is dedicated entirely to the victims and their experiences. it is only in a less developed later section is the standard American high school history class perspective given. It makes one think that from a pedagogy perspective education in the United States is always to quick to celebrate American triumphalism at every corner. A classmate and I were discussing the fall of the Soviet Union today in the 1990’s and how American triumphalism during that period was one of the major contributing factors to current U.S. Russia relations. Teaching the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the height of American technology and as a slightly problematic but necessary step in ending the war completely ignores the tragedy of and horrific crime that is atomic warfare.
After the museum we had an hour to explore the peace park and memorial and I decided to branch off on my own to find a quiet place to sit and reflect. I found some steps on the bank of the river across from the atomic bomb dome and closed my eyes to sit and breathe. In his spiritual exercises St. Ignatius advocates for daily reflections or what he calls the Examen. A short contemplative experience you simply in the presence of God recount the events of your day paying attention to your emotions praying on specific moments of the day before looking forward to tomorrow. Even though the examen is something that I try to practice daily I found myself stuck and disconnected. As in concluded the exercise and opened my eyes I decided to just sit for a few more minutes to take in my surroundings and the moment. I made it back to the meeting point only to find myself the first one there. All around me hundreds of young children in their school uniforms on field trips and tourists speaking multiple languages immersed me in a cacophony of sound. Seeing all of these people and hearing these sounds reminded me of close friend of mine who asks to share a hug with people when he meets them.
With the ultimate act of compassion, a human embrace, tears finally came and I couldn’t hold them back anymore. It is easy rush of our everyday lives to forget and ignore the finitude of our existence. For the same reasons it is also equally difficult to forget the unshakeable tragedy of past events. But to know them, embrace them, and live their truths is the most important thing we can do. The thought of true, genuine, and unbridled compassion brought me to tears today. It is a powerful emotion, and one that can be easy to get lost in. But its power is in its honesty since true compassion is the most honest and accurate expression of self. Bringing compassion to everything that we do, be it work, school, sports, research, art, or relationships afford us the opportunity to do everything that we do to the fullest while leaving a more connected and peaceful legacy in our wake.
For the remainder of my tip I’ll be in the Tokyo meeting and working with students and scholars here In Japan. I am very much looking forward to seeking the more compassionate worldview in the remainder of my time here.
With love, compassion, and Magis,
Sam