Historical Erasure in Literature & Literary Theory

Historical Erasure: Etymology/Term, Meanings and Concept

Historical Erasure:

The term “historical erasure” refers to the deliberate or unintentional process of suppressing, omitting, or neglecting the documentation and acknowledgment of certain historical events, cultures, or contributions, thereby diminishing their significance or even rendering them entirely invisible. This phenomenon can occur due to various factors, including political ideologies, cultural biases, or systemic power imbalances. This erasure is a critical concept in discussions about representation and memory, highlighting the importance of recognizing and preserving diverse narratives to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the past.

Meanings and Concept:

• Selective Amnesia:
  • This erasure involves a form of selective amnesia, where certain events or perspectives are purposefully omitted or marginalized in the construction of historical narratives.
• Cultural Marginalization:
  • It often entails the marginalization of specific cultures, communities, or historical figures, leading to a skewed representation of the past that perpetuates imbalances in power and recognition.
• Political Manipulation:
  • This erasure can be a tool of political manipulation, where those in power selectively shape the historical record to serve their agendas, often downplaying or suppressing inconvenient truths.
• Loss of Identity:
  • Communities subjected to historical erasure may experience a loss of cultural identity, as their contributions and experiences are sidelined or excluded from mainstream historical discourse.
• Impact on Memory and Perception:
  • The concept underscores how this erasure influences collective memory and public perception, shaping societal attitudes and beliefs about the past.
• Reclamation Efforts:
  • Recognizing erasure prompts efforts to reclaim and amplify marginalized histories, fostering a more inclusive understanding of the past through initiatives that highlight overlooked narratives.
• Educational Implications:
  • Within educational contexts, addressing erasure involves revising curricula to incorporate diverse perspectives, challenging Eurocentric biases, and ensuring a more accurate representation of history.
• Intersectionality:
  • Erasure often intersects with issues of race, gender, and other social categories, exacerbating the marginalization of certain groups and reinforcing systemic inequalities.
• Public Awareness and Advocacy:
  • Raising public awareness about erasure is crucial for fostering advocacy, encouraging critical examination of historical narratives, and promoting a more inclusive representation of diverse experiences.

Historical Erasure: Definition of a Theoretical Term

Historical erasure is a theoretical term that denotes the intentional or inadvertent suppression, neglect, or omission of certain historical events, cultures, or contributions, leading to their diminished visibility or even complete exclusion from historical narratives. This process often results from political agendas, cultural biases, or power imbalances, shaping the collective memory and perception of the past. Recognizing and addressing historical erasure is crucial for promoting a more inclusive understanding of history by acknowledging and amplifying marginalized voices and experiences.

Historical Erasure: Theorists, Works and Arguments

1. Michel-Rolph Trouillot:
   • Work: Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History.
   • Argument: Trouillot explores how power dynamics, silences, and omissions in historical narratives contribute to the erasure of certain voices and events, emphasizing the role of political and cultural influences in shaping historical records.
2. Edward Said:
   • Work: Orientalism.
   • Argument: Said’s concept of Orientalism addresses how Western perspectives have historically marginalized and distorted the representation of Eastern cultures, contributing to a form of erasure through biased narratives.
3. Annette Gordon-Reed:
   • Work: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
   • Argument: Gordon-Reed’s exploration of the Hemings family and their connection to Thomas Jefferson challenges erasure by shedding light on the lives of enslaved individuals who have often been overlooked in traditional historical accounts.
4. Eduardo Galeano:
   • Work: Open Veins of Latin America.
   • Argument: Galeano’s work critiques the erasure of Latin American voices in the narrative of global economic exploitation, highlighting the impact of colonization and imperialism on the region.
5. Howard Zinn:
   • Work: A People’s History of the United States.
   • Argument: Zinn argues that mainstream historical narratives often marginalize the experiences of oppressed and marginalized groups, and his work seeks to counteract erasure by presenting a more inclusive account of U.S. history.
6. Frantz Fanon:
   • Work: The Wretched of the Earth.
   • Argument: Fanon’s exploration of colonialism and its psychological effects underscores how erasure is intertwined with the dehumanization of colonized peoples, emphasizing the importance of decolonizing historical narratives.

These theorists and their works contribute to the understanding of erasure by examining the power structures, biases, and cultural influences that lead to the omission or distortion of certain histories. Their arguments encourage a more critical examination of historical records and an acknowledgment of the voices and experiences that have been marginalized or silenced.

Historical Erasure: Key Characteristics

• Selective Omission:
  • Literary Reference: In George Orwell’s 1984, the government selectively omits and alters historical records to control the narrative and erase inconvenient truths, illustrating the concept of erasure.
• Cultural Marginalization:
  • Literary Reference: In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the colonial portrayal of African cultures contributes to their marginalization and distortion, exemplifying how cultural biases perpetuate erasure.
• Political Manipulation:
  • Literary Reference: In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the government’s manipulation of historical narratives serves as a tool for political control, showcasing how erasure can be wielded for ideological purposes.
• Loss of Identity:
  • Literary Reference: Toni Morrison’s Beloved explores the impact of slavery on identity, demonstrating how erasure can lead to the loss of cultural and individual identities through systemic oppression.
• Impact on Memory and Perception:
  • Literary Reference: In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Buendía family experiences the distortion of collective memory, reflecting how erasure influences the perception of reality over generations.
• Reclamation Efforts:
  • Literary Reference: In Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, the characters engage in efforts to reclaim their family’s history, illustrating the importance of actively countering erasure through acknowledgment and documentation.
• Educational Implications:
  • Literary Reference: The protagonist in Malala Yousafzai’s memoir, I Am Malala, highlights the significance of inclusive education to counteract erasure, emphasizing the power of knowledge in challenging dominant narratives.
• Intersectionality:
  • Literary Reference: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah explores how erasure intersects with issues of race, gender, and identity, showcasing the complexity of marginalized experiences within a broader historical context.
• Public Awareness and Advocacy:
  • Literary Reference: In Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, the characters navigate the societal implications of erasure, emphasizing the need for public awareness and advocacy to address the consequences of distorted narratives.
• Perpetuation of Inequality:
  • Literary Reference: In James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain, the narrative reflects how erasure contributes to the perpetuation of inequality, particularly concerning race and religion, within a societal framework.

Historical Erasure: Relevance in Literary Theories

Literary Theory	Relevance to Historical Erasure
Postcolonial Theory	Examines the impact of colonialism on literature and culture, addressing how historical erasure perpetuates the marginalization of colonized voices and narratives.
Feminist Literary Theory	Focuses on gender roles and representation, highlighting how historical erasure often sidelines the contributions and experiences of women in literature and society.
Critical Race Theory	Explores how racial identities and power dynamics influence literature, revealing how erasure contributes to the silencing of certain racial groups and their narratives.
Cultural Studies	Analyzes the production and reception of cultural texts, emphasizing how historical erasure influences the construction of cultural identities and shapes societal perceptions.
Narrative Theory	Examines the structure and function of narratives, revealing how historical erasure impacts the storytelling process by selectively omitting or distorting certain elements.
Deconstruction	Questions binary oppositions and challenges fixed meanings, allowing for an examination of how historical erasure operates within language and discourse.
Historical Criticism	Evaluates the historical context of literary works, acknowledging how historical erasure within the texts reflects broader societal trends and biases.
Queer Theory	Explores how sexuality is represented in literature, addressing how historical erasure may affect the visibility and recognition of queer narratives.
Reader-Response Theory	Considers how readers interpret texts, recognizing that erasure can shape readers’ perceptions and influence their engagement with literature.
New Historicism	Examines the interplay between literature and historical context, revealing how erasure contributes to the shaping of cultural and literary norms.

Historical Erasure: Application in Critiques

1. Beloved by Toni Morrison:
   • Critique: Morrison’s Beloved critiques erasure through the lens of slavery’s impact on identity. The erasure of individual and cultural histories of the characters in the aftermath of slavery underscores how systemic oppression can lead to the loss of identity and the distortion of historical narratives.
2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe:
   • Critique: Achebe’s novel critiques erasure by examining the impact of colonialism on African cultures. The representation of African societies through a colonial lens contributes to the erasure of indigenous perspectives, revealing how biased historical narratives perpetuate cultural marginalization.
3. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy:
   • Critique: Roy’s work critiques erasure within a postcolonial context, exploring the consequences of cultural and social hierarchies. The narrative reveals how historical erasure perpetuates inequality by suppressing certain narratives and reinforcing oppressive structures within the Indian societal framework.
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
   • Critique: Marquez’s novel critiques erasure by portraying the cyclical nature of memory distortion over generations. The Buendía family’s experiences highlight how historical erasure impacts collective memory, leading to the repetition of skewed narratives and a distorted understanding of the past.

Historical Erasure: Relevant Terms

Terms for Historical Erasure	Definition
1. Selective Amnesia	Deliberate forgetting of specific historical facts.
2. Cultural Whitewashing	Minimizing cultural diversity in historical portrayal.
3. Narrative Exclusion	Omission of specific narratives from historical accounts.
4. Memory Distortion	Alteration of historical memory to fit certain narratives.
5. Systemic Silencing	Structural suppression of certain historical voices.
6. Historical Revisionism	Reevaluation or reinterpretation to alter historical narratives.
7. Cultural Amnesia	Societal forgetfulness of cultural heritage.
8. Identity Erosion	Gradual loss of cultural or individual identity due to neglect.
9. Omission Bias	Unconscious exclusion of historical details influenced by biases.
10. Erasure of Indigenous Knowledge	Disregard or suppression of traditional knowledge.

Historical Erasure: Suggested Readings

1. Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press, 2004.
2. Galeano, Eduardo. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. Monthly Review Press, 1997.
3. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage, 2004.
4. Orwell, George. 1984. Signet Classic, 1961.
5. Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 1997.
6. Said, Edward. Orientalism. Vintage, 1979.
7. Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Beacon Press, 2015.
8. Yousafzai, Malala. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Little, Brown and Company, 2013.
9. Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2015.