Today was my presentation about Gilberto Freye and his ideas about 'Racial Democracy'. It's a complicated mess of ideas about race and who Brazilians are. It went fairly well, but I always forget words when I present in Portuguese.
Vanessa tied up what I was talking about by moving it from its application in Brazil to its application amid other theories of racial "superiority" that resulted in the clash of cultures and race during World War II. She is really good at showing how history doesn't happen in a vacuum.
I have come to see history as less of looking at the past, but how you look at the present and understanding how it came to be. The popular metaphor is that "He who doesn't learn history will repeat it" may not be completely correct, but there are definite cycles and patterns that seem to happen over and over. While history may not predict the future, it can certainly give us a possible view of what could be. History never "just happens" but is a long and interconnected web that always connects.
Take the American Revolution for example.
Why did it start? English colonists in North America had
differences with the English government.
Why? Over taxation and lack of representation in Parliament
Why did England do that? To pay for the 7 Years War and the
costs of fighting France and Spain and the costs of maintaining the Empire.
Why did England fight Spain and France? Over differences in
territory and control around the world, but especially in the Americas.
What differences did they have? England was a Protestant country
while France and Spain were predominantly Catholic and..........
Did that help make my point? You can just keep going on and
on.
History to me is like looking at a giant mural. To
understand a mural at a first glance is usually difficult because so many
objects compete for your attention. You need to look at each individual object
and then put them together to understand the mural. History is not one set
piece, but many pieces connected by common themes.
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