Re: End of the past?
Merci beaucoup, Monsieur!
Exactly. History should be about equipping ourselves with the knowledge of the past to understand our present. Understanding the linkages between past and present is absolutely basic for a good understanding of the condition of being human, changes in our societies and our surroundings. It is essentially a study in human and societal development. We need History to become a professional field of academia in Pakistan, a specialised field of research with allocated funds and access to sources. Only then we would be able to enrich our the intellectual experience of our Historical studies with objective analysis, evidence based interpretations, intellectually simulating theories, concepts and ideas to put the past in a proper context. For that, let’s start off by formally periodising Pakistan’s history. That’s one big and easy solution to the problem.
I mean this whole childish nonsense of using History subject to ‘glorify’ and ‘glamourise’ personalities either on the basis religious or racial contempt for sake of it? This is not academic history. I can’t believe how pathetically cringe-worthy this view is. Imagine saying all that in front of a panel full of professional practicing historians? They’ll just politely tell you to get out of the room. It is nothing but a benighted dogma, boorish anti intellectualism with veneer of racial bigotry and xenophobia.