Kaabu & Fulaadu: Polyphonic histories and plural pasts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56247/qua.369Keywords:
Casamance (Senegal, Africa), oral history, archaeology, multiple memory, participatory methodologiesAbstract
In this paper I consider some of the issues that arise from using multiple and diverse sources to study the past through a musical metaphor. I explore three possible relationships between sources in increasing level of conceptual difficulty (unison, consonance, dissonance) and argue that dissonances should not be ignored or side lined. Instead, a focus on dissonance can often reveal flaws in our conceptual tools and highlight multidimensional processes and historical tensions that lead to more accurate, complex, and richer understandings of the past, as well as a better appreciation of how it is used in the present.
Finally, I argue that it is important to be aware of our privileges as ‘writers of history’ with capacity to choose what voices are given greater prominence in this process, and which are silenced or sidelined; and I suggest a series of measures to mitigate this imbalance.
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