History → Empathy → Innovation (2): Historical Empathy
The Following is a collection of quotes and ideas woven into an explanatory narrative.
“As tempting as it is to equate the two, history and the past are not the same thing.
History is a specific way of experiencing and, one hopes, understanding the past, but it is not equal to it. We construct histories by looking at clues from the past and using them to create a narrative — a story. These stories can take many forms. We encounter them as documentaries, songs, poems, books, chants, websites, articles in newspapers or journals. And these histories in their various forms, if they endure long enough, can themselves become clues that teach us about the past.
When we speak of history and empathy, we most often refer to developing a level of historical awareness which allows us to understand why people in the past acted the way they did. This requires having a fairly detailed knowledge of historical context and chronology, as well as an appreciation of the past as a world that is often very different from our own. We develop historical empathy by understanding that we in the present have a privileged vantage point — we know consequences of people’s actions, we know the story ends. They did not.
While I believe that developing this kind of historical empathy is an important skill, today I want to make a case for an attitude towards history that can help us develop empathy here in the present. When we empathize with others, we identify with them. We vicariously experience their feelings, thoughts and attitudes. Empathy can be expressed in terms of affinity, appreciation, compassion, or insight. Empathy is the antidote to feelings of disdain and indifference towards others. The ability to feel empathy for another person or people is the precursor to understanding and ultimately, to love. Developing empathy for people long dead is actually not particularly difficult. Developing empathy for people who occupy the world with us in the present day is quite another matter. I believe history can help.” (Matt Kester)
Historical Empathy better exemplified by Matthew Kester in his aptly titled speech on “History and Empathy”.
Word origins of History and Story:
** Before I get through the rest of this I wanted to take a brief moment to recognize some of the privileges I’ve had and hope any of you reading this do the same. ***
One way history and culture are passed down is through art and storytelling from one generation to the next. This allows people to relate with and understand how the past shaped the world they experience in the present. We understand the complexities of the world through artistic artifacts and the contextualization of others.
Impacting our social and cultural experiences…
Oral/Cultural storytelling allows communities to pass down their culture and history to build a shared recognition of a shared identity and experience.
Best exemplified from this explanation from former President Obama in this video regarding how to speak up on social injustices:
“Find your voice and be able to articulate your views and your experiences and tell your story and that’s true of any group that’s marginalized and stigmatized
Finding that voice and being able to tell a story so that perceptions that somehow you are different are broken down because people start recognizing their own experiences in you they see your humanity
This is one reason why art is often a powerful tool in social change
because what is does is through art suddenly people see for the first time oh that black person feels like I feel, or that woman is experiencing something that I should be able to understand there’s something we have in common, or that person of what has been an inferior caste turns out they have the same kinds of hopes and dreams that I have right
That moment of recognition*** is the basis around which you begin to build political movements. Once that voice is there hopefully others join you right so now you have networks and organizations and allies, which is important to bring about positive change.”
“But I think we need to consider a fourth part of historical empathy, which I’ll call historical recognition*** — acknowledging historical salience of people whose perspectives are less often taken by members of dominant culture. Without this fourth process, I fear, we can easily train students to be highly empathetic bigots.
Let me put it this way: It’s a good idea to pay attention to which figures from the past get the full walk-around-in-their-shoes treatment in our classes. Do they always somehow turn out to be same sort of person?” (Jonathan W. Wilson)
Historical Empathy fuses history and empathy. It harnesses the power of history and empathy for human experiences to help in our understanding of people’s lived experiences.
Studying history and acts of empathy can be applied in a way that helps in many more contexts than just providing a lens to look at things. Historical empathy can be used in justice, design, and innovation and as a result, changing approaches to many current complex issues we face today.
In justice, expressed by these few people you might know:
“Understanding our history is one of many ways to break the cycle of racial injustice in this country.” (Chadwick Boseman)
“Empathy is the principle and basis we use for understanding and connecting with each other. It’s a caring for others not ourselves. Empathy is one of the principles or the foundations for Justice.
Empathy does not mean “let’s all be nice to each other and give everyone a cookie”. Empathy means doing the hard work of understanding, listening, advocating, and standing up for something that is right.” (Jason Y. Lee)
How to Cure Racism?: “I don’t think any of us have a silver bullet to deal with racism… (but) number one making sure that our kids know our history right that the inequalities that we have today whether it’s in terms of incarceration and arrest rates or the wealth gap or the education gap that exists that these don’t just spring up but are in fact the legacy of hundreds of years of systematic discrimination against African Americans and people of color” (President Obama)
The power of Empathy: “empathy moves us to a place of courage and compassion. Through it, we come to realize that our perspective is not the perspective.” (Brene Brown)
“When you understand the history of everything, you kind of start to understand how you can move forward.” (Asia Jackson)
At a deep level empathy is about connection and understanding. It requires hard and persistent work and action. People make the analogy of putting ourselves in other people’s shoes. It’s a first step to take, but the deeper and powerful idea of empathy is understanding and connecting with the fact and truth that some people may not have shoes in the first place, may have thoughts and perspectives that run counterintuitive to ours, and act in nonlinear ways that may sometimes be hard to comprehend. The last may be extremely hard for us to accept, but with history, we may have information or more importantly a heuristic in the understanding and connecting that’s needed for a deep sense of empathy that allows us to heal and ultimately progress.
Because injustices can be invisible, hidden, or twisted, the truth* of history is so important. “No one can bury the truth” and the past. The concept of “reconciliation” (though tricky) and healing needs the truth and understanding of how true past actions and history played out. Only then do we know how to move forward in the present to better future outcomes.
“For much too long the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness. But just because history is silent, it doesn’t mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing, it erases nothing.
Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they can’t be buried no matter how hard people try. And so it is here, and so it is here only, only with truth can come healing, and justice, and repair, only with truth, facing it. But that isn’t enough.” (President Biden)
“This history was the one thing that they were not able to steal from us. But as thankful as I am to know my history, I understand that history has no firm line to divide it from the present.” (Lauren Usher)
“This is who we still are: compassionate, resilient, decent people whose fortunes are bound up with one another. And it is well past time for our leaders to once again reflect our truth.
So, it is up to us to add our voices and our votes to the course of history, echoing heroes like John Lewis who said, “When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something.” That is the truest form of empathy: not just feeling, but doing; not just for ourselves or our kids, but for everyone, for all our kids.” (Michelle Obama)
“Complex systems have a history.” (Sepkoski)
Theoretically and if you’ve been following along: knowing this we can take the first step to be able to empathize with almost everything, and that can be a catalyst for change.
So to me now empathy doesn’t just mean being able to put myself in another person’s shoes and feel what they feel. Empathy means going beyond that and connecting and understanding the history, truth of the past, and complexities of human experiences. This allows us to put ourselves better in other peoples’ frame of reference to feel with others better.
We are humans, we have a history.
What Does It Mean to Be Human? - Great video on empathy and narratives
Too much of something (good or bad) can go wrong though, empathy included… It’s important not to get stuck up in empathy or systems while we try to make and do things better.
It’s important to not lose sight of what it can do for us.
What else can Historical Empathy help with?
“If you don’t understand history, how can you operate in this world?” (Thomas Siebel)
(If you choose to take one thing away from this^)
Next Part!
(3) Transcending Paradigms
“there’s no real I don’t think there’s a villain in this movie I think you have two sides of the same coin right there’s a Killmonger story and then a T’Challa story” (Chadwick Boseman)
