Past present: The margins of history

Mubarak Ali
http://dawn.com/news/1059718/past-present-the-margins-of-history
Published 2013-12-01 08:49:51
When Aristotle founded his academy at the Lyceum in 335 BC, the term liberal knowledge came
into being. Moving forth with Greek traditions, the Romans contributed to philosophy, law and
rhetoric. Liberal knowledge was however discontinued during the medieval period when theology
became the main source of knowledge.
In the 15th century the Renaissance, after challenging the old system of education, launched a new
school of thought known as humanism. The humanists, as adherents of this philosophy came to be
known, opposed the theological system of education and liberated knowledge by introducing a new
syllabus which included philosophy, mathematics, history, geography, rhetoric and music. The object
of knowledge was no longer to serve and legitimise religious beliefs, but to discover the hidden
aspects of human society and nature.
Once knowledge became free, it unleashed new ideas and concepts which broadened the horizons
of mankind. As knowledge spread, the domain of ideas in social and natural sciences extended.
When European universities were secularised, they introduced a system of departments, each
specialising in separate branches of knowledge such as history, philosophy, politics, archaeology,
sociology, psychology, anthropology, philology, music and literature. With the spread of knowledge,
scholars of each subject specialised in their respective fields of interest and became professional. As
professionals it was essential for each scholar to become equipped with research methodology in
order to be able to analyse and interpret research material.
Natural sciences involved the technique of experimentation, data collection and analysis of the
material. The overall academic status improved and science acquired a prestigious value. This
created the concept of social sciences, history being one of these, although social sciences
remained deprived of humanistic aspects.
The expansion of each subject created professionals who devoted their entire life to intense study
and contributed research which further enriched their subjects. Professional organisations, research
journals and academic conferences emerged where scholars shared and discussed their research
and findings with each other.
In Germany, Leopold von Ranke revolutionised historiography, which was based on official
documents and data. History writing changed with the passage of time and new theories such as
nationalism, socialism, Marxism and feminism emerged with new ideas. In France, the Annales
school opened new venues of thought and turned its attention towards the cultural and social
aspects of society. History writing changed as marginalised people were now included in the domain
of historical narratives. In Pakistan, the condition of social sciences including history is far below the
standard as compared to the Western universities. Although there is a history department in every
university, history teachers are not contributing any original research work. There are no
professional historians, nor professional organisations for them. There is no tradition of regular
history conferences and seminars, no research journals of academic standard, no new books based
on original research.
As a result, Pakistans educational institutions are cut off from the rest of the world. Foreign
historians are not invited to visit Pakistan to deliver lectures, nor are our historians invited by foreign
institutions to participate in their conferences. The only task assigned to history teachers is to teach
according to the outdated, prescribed syllabus without contributing any new ideas or interpretation.
Also they are unaware of the recent developments in historiography.
The ideology of Pakistan and the propaganda of state nationalism have influenced history in a
negative way, creating anti-India feelings as well as hostility towards non-Muslim minorities who are
considered unpatriotic.
The traditional historians of Pakistan give credit to the ulema for being the champions of the two-
nation theory. Their interpretation increased their influence in the society. Since our historians have
projected the role of individuals in the creation of Pakistan, people believe in the misconception that
only a strong man can provide a solution to their issues an undemocratic approach which
encourages military dictators to grab power and become saviours of the nation.
History has lost its role of enlightening the society and creating a healthy consciousness among the
people and society must be liberated from the ideological grip.
In fact it is the task of historians to discover lost and forgotten historical facts and retrieve the
discipline of history in order to create historical consciousness.