User:LGreg/sandbox/approches to knowledge (LG seminar 2020/21)/Seminar 18/Power in History

Overview of Power in History

Power has been a significant concept since the inception of humanity, with some suggesting that it is the basis of society. In fact, the hierarchical structures seen in nature, such as honeybee colonies, imply that the notion of power is inherent to any structured society. The study of history is intrinsically connected to that of power and, more specifically, shifts of power over the ages. The standard theory of power suggests that “power is the capacity for influence and that influence is based on the control of resources valued or desired by others.” Throughout history, power has been held my many different civilizations and empire, but the discipline of history looks at studying the past, and so power within the discipline is concerned with the power dynamics of studying the past.

Power in Documenting History

Winston Churchill is quoted as having said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” This quote exemplifies the power held by those who document history. Winston Churchill is now hailed as a hero, and even though he undeniably played a fundamental role in the Allied victory of World War II, his more harmful actions are rarely acknowledged. For example, he described British empiricism in Asia as “a lot of jolly little wars against barbarous peoples.” Despite the current debate about presentism – judging past actions by today’s standards - and the fact that this point of view was not uncommon at the time, the fact that Churchill is rarely criticized or questioned for his racist and degrading views demonstrates the idea that in the discipline of history, power rests with those who write the history that others will study.

Power in Reading History

Power in the discipline of history is also held by those studying it. Without people to study it, history would cease to hold any importance or even to exist, and so they bear great power not only in keeping this discipline alive, but also in how history is viewed by the majority. An example of this would be the fringe group of people who deny the Holocaust. Douglas Lawrence argued that those who denied the Holocaust were actually contributing to the genocide and causing further harm to its victims. The real power of Holocaust deniers is their ability to distort the population’s view of history. David Irving, a prominent Holocaust denier, stated that following the rise of social media, he had been seeing an increase in support, particularly from teenagers. Holocaust denial is widely accepted as being a form of antisemitism, and so a rise in Holocaust denial could point to a worrying rise in antisemitism too. This displays the power to influence others, for better or for worse, held by those who study history.