Reviewed by Bob Corbett June, 1996. While others may recall that the name was extended to the town built around the palace as well. Whether these connecting ladders ranked chunks of humanity on ontological, ethical, political, scientific, cultural, or simply pragmatic grounds, the fact is that all assumed and reasserted that, ultimately, some humans were more so than others” (p.76). Sans Souci is one of the many “concrete reminders that the uneven power of historical production is expressed also through the power to touch, to see, and to feel” (Trouillout 45). In this section, Trouillot writes about the fourth and final step of historical production, that is when retrospective significance itself is produced. Whether it invokes, claims, or rejects The Past, authenticity obtains only in regard to current practices that engage us as witnesses, actors, and commentators- including practices of historical narration. History also has the effect of being “watered down” when given to … He writes how Latin Americans mostly approached Columbus with ambivalence because they did not completely alienate native cultures from their myths of origin. Trouillot then proceeds to criticize the way publications by and for planters could not fully deny resistance but tried to provide reassuring certitudes by trivializing all its manifestations. He argues that by analyzing that power, by making it visible, we can … Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History Audio CD – Unabridged, November 17, 2015 by Michel-Rolp Trouillot (Author), John Pruden (Narrator) 4.4 out of 5 stars 49 ratings As I mentioned at the beginning of class. Later, the author describes how silences are inherent in the chronicle, which he believes is inevitable. On the other hand, since resistance occured, it was dealt with quite severely, within or around the plantations. Trouillot also points at a dilemma the constructivist view of history has. Trouillot examines how the French could not believe in the possibility of a slave revolt. “Names set up a field of power… ‘Discovery’ and analogues terms ensure that by just mentioning the event one enters a predetermined lexical field of cliches and predictable categories that foreclose a redefinition of the political and intellectual stakes. Silencing the Past, Author: Michel-Rolph Trouillot - StudyBlue Flashcards He introduces us significant figures such as Toussant Louverture, who both governed in the name of France, fought in the name of Saint-Domingue and later transformed the slave insurgency to a revolutionary movement. 28, No. After reading Michel- Rolph Trouillot’s piece “Silencing the Past”, I was able to understand more fully the ways in which history is controlled by certain members of our society. First, he mentions how pinning down this event to one specific date, that is October 12, 1492, is a way of creating a historical “fact”, and makes it suitable for consumption. Whether it invokes, claims, or rejects The Past, authenticity obtains only in regard to current practices that engage us as witnesses, actors, and commentators- including practices of historical narration. 483 484 Nicholls,David Silencing the Past: Power and the Production ofHistory by Michel Rolph Trouillot;Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. Silencing the Past: Summary. Throughout these logically unconnected discussions, Trouillot addresses the practice and nature of … ( Log Out /  Columbus both played a role in keeping ties to ‘European origins’ and to ‘Catholic devotion’. He further states that these problems multiply tenfold when we speak about collective past. “Celebrations straddle the two sides of historicity. The more Europeans conquered and enslaved other men, the more European philosophers wrote and talked about Man. I found the rest of Trouillot’s writing to be important for our future. Silencing the past : Power and the production of history. Only in that present can we be true or false to the past we choose to acknowledge” (p.151). At least, it would not have trivialized slavery” (p.148). In this chapter, after having mentioned the power games that lie under the commemoration of Columbus all over the world, Trouillot touches on a different topic. ... 7 thoughts on “Trouillot’s Silencing … The evidence that exists: “the printed record – the pictures and the words left behind by those who saw Sans Souci and the town of Milot … corroborates the crux of the peasant’s story and some of its amazing details.” (Trouillout 35) The palace is historical artifact but it is also a character in a story. Afro-American slavery was one of them. On the other hand, the belief that history is merely another form of fiction is an antique one. Hence, hierarchies of humaneness were created. After reading this line I immediately compared the Sans Souci palace to the plaque that was unveiled in memory of Anthony Crawford. “Historians build their narrative on the shoulders of previous ones” (p.56). SILENCING THE PAST is a philosophy of history, that is, a book about how history is created … Trouillot introduces two families of tropes when it comes to the treatment of the Haitian Revolution in written history, outside Haiti. And when it comes to formulas of banalization, Trouillot presents some structural similarities in global silences. He describes chronicler as dealing with discrete chunks of time united by his record keeping, as describing events only he witnessed, as not knowing the end of the story. 1. He examines the Columbus Day celebrations worldwide and what it means for the place that it is celebrated in, such as Spain, who after struggling to gain political power uses the Columbus identity in reconstructing nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century.