Shannon never took history for granted. She's the daughter who always was asking questions about missing people and parts in the stories she heard.
What if one of the wise men was actually a woman? Couldn't Minnehaha have carried Hiawatha across the creek instead of the other way around? Those are just a few of the questions I remember her asking as she was growing up.
I was thinking of Shannon's questions the other day during a discussion about
teaching history. One model is based is based on the idea that history is the
story of wars. According to this view, history is a series of great big guys
who win battles and topple civilizations. That's certainly one view.
But it's not the only one. The author of the Chalice and the Blade suggests an alternative view. She suggests building a history based on peace. Rianne Eisler says that if one really looks carefully at past history, there are plenty of examples of societies living peacefully.
Further, she says the war-dominated model excludes many people and groups. A peace-based model of history is more egalitarian and includes many of the stories left out of the other model.
I have a friend who would say that Eisler is a great example of what he called "pinata-busters." Jose Burciaga came up with this phrase to describe people who break down the walls of old ideas. They take the risks so all of us can see better.
Perhaps that's one of the things we're supposed to be learning in social work -- how to ourselves be pinata-busters. Perhaps we are here to practice breaking down those walls which can divide us.
History is a good place to start. The way we describe our past plays a big role in the way we imagine our future. If we take a bigger, wider view of our past, Eisler says we will see that it was more peaceful and more inclusive than we have been taught in the recent past. That's not only good news for now, but also a great source of hope for a better future
With a broader view of history, questions like those Shannon asked would be answered differently. We would be able to say: Why, yes, of course, there were wise women. Let me tell you some of their stories.
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9 comments:
In reading both the article and the post on history and looking at it in terms of peace instead of in terms of war is interesting. Learning history in grade school and high school I had a teacher that used to say that history is written by the winner. As I read more on my own I wanted to learn more and more about the missing pieces of history and real story and something that I feel has been white washed for years. To me I want to ensure that children that come after know the truth. I want my niece to see that women have had just as much impact on the world as men, and I want my nephew to see that the faces that shaped the world were not all white.
In applying social work to history the more I learn about women like Jane Addams, Mary Richmond and the others that were shaping their world and fighting justice before women even had the right vote inspires me to want to take my place in history.
Your comments made me think of two things:
1. Malcolm X wrote about the "bleaching of history." Only white male heroes remained after that "bleaching."
2. Jane Addams was quite aware of the fact that women weren't in the pages of history books. So she and Ellen Gates Starr started a women's history club for girls called Libuse.
I think that without history we wouldn't know what we know today.
I think that history plays a big part in what we know today and what we have. Also asking questions about certain things helps us better understand the facts and other things that we may not learn about in school.
Many student in high school do not understand the importance of our history today. As a native american i see that our children care less and less about themselves and knowing their ancestory. We lose our culture everyday until we actually make a stand. That is what i do believe this person did. Make a stand to know other things about our history and to see of things were differnt.
It has been said that history is only as accurate as the vision of the person whom held the pen. This may ring very true when it comes to battles or wars. It would be nice to base history on peaceful times but when it comes right down to it, war and battles is what shapes and reshapes countries and civilizations. The only other aspect that can be given for history being based on war and violence is bad news has always traveled faster then good news.
Cyndi S
I love the idea of breaking down the walls. I want to see better! Most importantly, I hope to be one of the many who help to tear down the many walls society has.
Lonnie
I agree with pretty much what everyone had said about this passage. I to beleive we need to break down these walls. We also need to begin to take a stand and bring back in our cultures and remember our ancestors; instead of forgetting about what our people had done for us.
Yet again, I agree with the article, I believe that our past history is a guide to which we should often look to in regards to the future. Our past will help guide us in some of our decision making about our own future. I also believe that if we can break down more walls (getting past certain barriers) we as a society can grow together.
Written by: Cassandra LS
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