Can History be neutral?
If you want a one-line answer, then “NO” and It can’t be.
Okay, now let me explain the reason behind it.
Who writes Histories?
It’s us Homo Sapiens. It started with the accounting of the daily events on walls and hard surfaces in the form of cave paintings, up to the creation of history literature by professionals.
By reading History for three years continuously as a major in the university, I got to know that it can’t be possible.
Humans are innately biased toward one or another thing. It’s about your upbringing, environment, and influences. I think one can’t do it away. As we don’t grow up in isolation, there is out of the question to be neutral in something.
I agree that History writing should be neutral. However, Idealism hardly works in the real world. Human always tries to put up his/her way of thinking or ideology over others. That’s why one can’t expect histories to be unbiased and without any disruption.
None can go back to see what actually happened in the past. Historians use different sources* to guess what might have happened at that time. It can be based on different theories, interpretations, and ideas. Needless to say, historians keep fighting among themselves to prove their theories and arguments by using facts and evidence accordingly.
(Personal suggestion — Read this book if you want to know more about History and its meaning)
For Instance,
In the 18th century, British historians wrote the history of the Indian subcontinent through the lens of imperialism and Colonialism. They always showed how westerners were great than Asian countries and had despotic, static, and unchangeable states. They used facts and evidence as per their agendas. The so-called ‘White-men Burden’ theory is been the hard work of these historians.
On the other hand, when Indians started taking history writing seriously, they tried to remove the bad image of India left by the Britishers. They showed Ancient India was the golden age of the subcontinent when everything was flourishing by using the same facts and evidence as per their comfortability.
What can we do now?
Historians can try to be as near to neutral as possible if absolute neutrality isn’t possible. That’s how a good and right history can be written and told to others. I know it’s way more difficult than just saying. It’s our wiring like that which forces us to do certain things in certain ways. Still, if there is a silver lining here, it could be to more rationalized and equal. Don’t try to popularize your propaganda or agenda.
Thanks for Reading!
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