The importance of controlling the narrative Part I

BY DESMOND BOLLERS

History is commonly defined as the chronological record of events (as affecting a nation or people) and usually presenting an explanation of their causes.

Controlling the narrative enables one group to exercise mind control over another group by influencing the way they see the world around them and the way they perceive their place in the world. The profound importance of a people being in control of the narrative regarding their history was understood by the character Winston Smith in George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” when he came to the realization that “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past.”

It is clear that this realization is at the forefront of the thinking of the governors of the two most populous southern states in the USA who are working diligently to rewrite the history of race relations in the USA with particular reference to slavery, Jim Crow and race riots including ‘La Matanza’. In this regard, the Roman Catholic Church was ahead of the game by trying to rewrite the history of the church’s involvement in slavery.

In the movie “Trumbo,” which was about Martin Dies Jr. of the House of Representatives who was that chamber’s equivalent of McCarthy in the Senate, targeting and persecuting movie makers in Hollywood as being “Communists” and “Un-American” one of the colleagues of Chairman Dies commented, “It’s just a movie.” Dies’ response was “A movie isn’t just a movie. It’s about perception.” This is a really profound statement that deserves to be discussed fully, because the same can be said of books and all other media, which influence not only how others see us but also how we see ourselves. Children in the developed world grow up on stories of their heroic ancestors and this shapes their perception of whom they are. We owe it to the children of the Caribbean to also shape their self – perception by introducing them to the heroism of their ancestors.

In the late 1970s to early 1980s there was an effort in the Caribbean to publish adventure novels based on actual events in Caribbean history targeting the 11-14 age group. By the 1990s, this effort had petered out and books such as “The Young Warriors” and “Sixty-five” both written by V.S. Reid had disappeared from the shelves of bookstores in the Caribbean. I can personally attest to this, because in the 1990s, I visited the main bookstores in the capitals of: The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad trying to purchase these two books for my son. I inquired of each store owner/manager why they were not carrying these books, and, in every instance, they explained that they used to carry the books, but eventually stopped because nobody would buy them.

We in the Caribbean need to understand and appreciate the importance of introducing our children to their history so that they can grow up with an awareness of our heroic ancestors. Adventure novels based on actual events and the lives of real people are an excellent way to do this. In Caribbean history, there is a superabundance of individuals and events that provide suitable material for adventure novels. Be it the valiant struggles of the Tainos and Kalinago to retain possession of, and to survive on the lands of their ancestors, the determined efforts of the maroons to maintain their hard-won freedom, or the courageous uprisings of the enslaved Africans seeking to end their servitude.