Now Reading: Achebe’s Warning About Who Gets to Write History
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Achebe’s Warning About Who Gets to Write History
Chinua Achebe’s line, “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter,” argues that power shapes the historical record. The Nigerian novelist’s metaphor contrasts…
The Story in Brief
Chinua Achebe’s line, “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter,” argues that power shapes the historical record. The Nigerian novelist’s metaphor contrasts the hunter’s celebrated courage with the unheard experience of the hunted. It asks readers to examine whose voices are preserved and whose accounts are left out. Achebe, who died in 2013, explored colonialism, identity and culture in works including Things Fall Apart, his 1958 novel that challenged colonial portrayals of Africa by presenting African experiences and voices.
The Indian Opinion
The lazy reading is that every established account is false, or that giving the unheard a voice automatically produces the complete truth. Neither follows. Records still need evidence, context and comparison, while silence can reflect exclusion rather than proof. Achebe’s point is a useful test for textbooks, archives and public memorials: who is missing, and what changes when their testimony is included?
Source: deccanherald.com
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