New Year’s has evolved to become the time of fresh starts and new beginnings, of blank pages and next chapters. The change of the time table from December 31 of one year to January 1 of the next one has come to mark a cut between the past and the future. This invisible barrier set up by individuals, families, and even whole communities to separate two distinct time frames from one another developed to be a symbol of the tempting and promising possibilities of the future. Nevertheless, New Year’s and all the future prospects surrounding it, do not only provide a valuable opportunity to look forward but also to look back and contemplate the past, for there is hardly any promise to the future without simultaneously taking the prospects of the past to consideration. After all, the future, the present and the past are inextricably connected through a special bond, a bond called history.

Despite being an integral part of societal discourse, history is a term which’s meaning often gets mistaken for being synonymous to the past or equating the pure dating of past events. While there is certainly more to history than the mere enlisting of a sequence of happenings, history can unquestionably neither replicate the past as an entity of bygone moments experienced from several but limited points of view. As the term itself is already suggesting, “history” is nothing more and nothing less than the conjunction of many single stories and narratives of a time before the present to a bigger picture that intends to be an approximation of how it must have been like to live in a pre-present period of time. Consequently, the core goal of historiography, thus the academical field concerned with the writing of and on history, is to undertake the effort to make the past understandable and prolific for a present public to provide guidance to shape the future. In this manner, as a linking element between the times history is rather a crucial concept of societal development and progression than a mere dusty science. Therefore, a closer look at the substance of approaches to history is of great use.

The most essential realization about the nature of history is that there is no such thing as an objective record of events. Every historical account, as unimportant or significant it might be, is after all based on evidence that requires interpretation from a human being that then again creates a story or even whole narrative from its very own point of view. The fact that historiography requires a noteworthy amount of interpretation and endowing dates and events with meaning and sense leads to the conclusion that just like there is no one truth, there is no one history. As time passes, values evolve, new perspectives get heard, and societal paradigms shift, history gets revised and reinterpreted. That is to say, historical revisionism lies in the nature of the subject when historiography is regarded. Although it might be tough to acknowledge that all the historical facts thought of as set in stone are actually changing and shifting just like time does, it is in fact rather logical on closer inspection. Just considering the new possibilities of finding and evaluating historical evidence with the upcoming of new technology and methodology, it becomes clear how every history must be revisionist history on the most basic level. On a more abstract level historical revisionism comes from all the small and big differences in the perspectives and focuses of the individual people writing it on the one hand, and the growing range of social groups that eventually gain hearing and can bring their arguments to the table on the other hand. Consequently, historical revisionism is not so much a product of ideology as it is often misunderstood for but rather a measure against the ideological doctrine of a singular truth. When there is space for open deliberation about history and acceptance for a multi-faceted reality, we come close to the ideal of an open society where the approximation to the truth through free exchange of arguments is fostered.

In the end it all depends on how we all, as individuals, communities, and societies decide to deal with history and the knowledge about it. So, it lies in our very own hands to shape the culture of history. It makes a real difference if we just adopt nostalgic romanticizations and glorifications of past times or if we open up to overheard or even suppressed perspectives to allow the picture of history to grow and broaden. It lies in our very own hands to initiate private deliberations and create public spaces for exchange about history in order to provide the necessary plurality of arguments to sustain a constructive discourse. It lies in our hands to seize the spirit of the season and take a look back to the past to see how history can provide guidance for this new year.

Sophia Abegg

Sources:

https://essentials.neh.gov/article/all-history-revisionist-history

https://academia-lab.com/enciclopedia/revisionismo-historico/