Jottings from the Granite Studio

The professor of the class for which I am a TA this quarter, ended his lectures yesterday by quoting the Columbia University historian Carol Gluck who once said, “In the future, not learning about Japan will not be an option.” Given that Professor Gluck is a historian of Japan, one can understand her enthusiasm, more so even when my professor revealed that she said this in the 1980s at the height of the “Japan that can say no”-mania. I suppose today–given my own academic interests–I might add China to that list. Whether you’re a pessimist or an optimist as regards the Middle Kingdom’s immediate future, I think most would agree that knowing something about China is crucial to understanding where the world is going in the next few decades.

Of course, you could say that about a lot of places. As the world grows increasingly interconnected what happens in one part of the world seems to affect those on the other side in spans of time measured in minutes rather than eras. It’s something we take for granted.

Which brings me to history. I know that a large part of my future career (and ability to repay my student loans) depend on a demand for students to learn history. I might be biased, but I don’t think so. To understand a people today, you need to know from whence they came. This doesn’t mean that understanding the Ming dynasty can lead to any kind of mystical understanding of the Chinese “mind.” (Anymore than it means that a modern Chinese person is inherently better able to grasp the mentality of a subject of the Ming dynasty than a French guy.) The past is, after all, a foreign country to all of us.

What it does mean however, is that countries, empires, cities, and peoples are as much products of the past as they are of the present. Nobody can entertain the current Chinese fixation on national sovereignty and territorial rights without an appreciation for the shenanigans of the European imperial powers in the 19th century. The current flap with the Vatican over the appointment of bishops looks less bizarre when seen in light of the Kangxi Emperor’s decision to expel the Jesuits over the issue of…wait for it…the supremacy of papal decisions over Chinese Catholics. Doesn’t make the current situation “justified” but it does help us understand “why.” To paraphrase Chris Rock, “I’m not saying it’s right….but I understand.”

There are so many calls to redress historical wrongs and present-day disputes drag in the memories of events past and sometimes dimly remembered…history has never been more important a subject not just of serious academic inquiry, but as a basic part of the education of all citizens of any country. And not just the rote memorization of dates and trivia and the knowledge that so-and-so stormed such-and-such hill at the Battle of Toomuchhistorychannelcanoo…I mean the ability to look at the patterns of the past and think critically about how we remember what we do and what it means when we drag History kicking and screaming into the court of public opinion to settle the disputes of today.

Not learning about history is not an option. It never has been. But never has it been more important than now.