HIEA115 Medium Post #3
From the stories and excerpts we have encountered from the last few weeks, I have begun critically thinking about what the balance between not sharing enough history and sharing too much history lies. In the cases of the Buraku women, Yoneko, and of the factory girls, their stories were not shared enough in history. The fact that they were left behind the history of the development of Japan during such industrial and changing times further illustrates the bias and lack of perspective that happens too often in history that the nation decides on. The lack of the stories of the forgotten, like these women, paints an incomplete picture of history. From encountering these stories, I believe that it is important to teach future kids and people to think beyond the script and beyond what is plainly put and, instead, to always keep searching and keep questioning for more to broaden their perspectives. In the end, it may seem inevitable that some things are bound to be forgotten in mainstream history, but, that does not mean that we have to limit ourselves to only that information. Like with the work ledgers of Yoneko and her family, it is important to investigate and analyze what they might have meant for the family at different times and in different situations rather than just a list of numbers and names. On the other spectrum, leaving some pieces of records and history is important to humanize the people involved in history. Like the Brand writes, some things are to be left out for those of the past to keep in their own private rights. There are some bits and pieces that are lit for the future generations to observe and learn from, but there are other’s that can only be truly understand and properly comprehended by the authors themselves.
As for our current situation today in the pandemic, historians may paint this time as a horrible time ridden by the airborne COVID-19. In reality, there are many dimensions to this time. There are times we can talk about how medical professionals worked together and came out with the vaccine as quick as they could. From the pandemic, our country was further split apart as the popularity of the pandemic as just a “myth” began to spread amongst some groups. As well as that, asian xenophobia and hate crimes rose as well. I believe centering history on all these events rather than just big overarching ones will overall give people a more complex and complete view of history full of multiple perspectives. In a sense, the people of the past are constantly leaving clues and records just waiting for us to crack and decipher to see the bigger picture. These stories and this course so far has led me to begin critically examining the history written today and to look a step further of whether there are any perspectives or populations left out or whether information has been twisted due to misinterpretation.
