How do we change the narrative, and what happens when we do?
Anonymous
November 8, 2021
It is very evident that throughout the history of the world, the preceding and current dominant culture has written major aspects of history. This dominant narrative is also known as the “invisible hand,” largely due to the fact that while it may not have been visible on the surface, there was always a large, dominant group that was taking up much of the world’s perspective on a handful of things, like politics, and many explanations of subjects based on that group’s ideologies and interests. The Dominant culture has always gotten the majority of the say in a lot of things, and this is a well known fact. For example, if you look back on The Declaration of Independence, it’s very clear that the line “All men are created equal” had a bunch of flaws. It’s safe to say that this did not include people of color or women, which ties back into the effects that the dominant narrative has on other cultures. History is mainly written through the dominant culture’s lens, and this leaves out many marginalized groups and women. Their stories are barely represented, and so we never get to truly understand what many major events were like for them in the past and what issues they struggled with.
We can all disrupt the dominant narrative by being open and starting to focus on the stories and perspectives of people that are not predominantly in the dominant culture. This doesn’t mean that the opinions and perspectives of people in the dominant culture are not valid. Everyone on this planet has a story that should be listened to. But it is time to understand other voices and how not being a part of the dominant narrative throughout history has affected them, because it has. When this narrative is disrupted, only then, I believe, will we truly make a history written by the people. History is made and written by the people of this world, but that people has not always been every single person. Considering and including others into the history that we are making is the way to progress and a much better future, since only then will we be able to acknowledge ourselves as a society that anyone can be part of.
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