PASTS TO REMEMBER

Tarcisius Kabutaulaka

Labeana Village, Longu-Avuavu, Tasimauri, Guadalcanal
Photo: Joseph Foukona

This Tok Stori focuses on something that we engage with daily. It defines our existence. But it is something we often take for granted, or dismiss as irrelevant.

It is histories – the embodied interpretations of what happened in the past.

Our individual and collective histories, as well as that of the living and non-living environments around us is intrinsically intertwined with our present and futures. In fact, it defines and provides the foundation for current and future endeavors.

Sometimes, our pasts can also be haunting because something terrible had happened. But even if that was the case, we can hopefully learn from that experience to inform our futures.

Because we often use the English term ‘history,’ it implies that it is an academic discipline with organized theories, syllabus, etc. that is taught in schools and universities. Consequently, many of us grow up thinking that history belongs to the classroom, or something we engage with in formal education institutions.

The truth is that histories are everywhere. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we encounter histories every day and they influence our individual and collective lives.

Our societies have always had histories. It is not something that came with schools. The fact that we did not (and largely still don’t) have written histories, does not mean that we had no consciousness about or interactions with the past.

Our histories are embodied in stories, sung in songs and chants, and performed in dances. Even many contemporary music embody histories. The lyrics often capture stories, emotions and perceptions from a particular time.

For example, I remember as a youngster and going to school at St. Joseph’s Tenaru, I used to hear a song titled, “American Pool.” It was an actual place on the Tenaru River that we used to go to for weekend swims. Similarly, the well-known song, “Wokabaot long China Taon” is as historical and sociological, as it is musical. It captures Solomon Islanders experiences of urban life at a particular time.

Histories are also “written” on to landscapes. Place names are often not simply identifiers of geographical locations. Rather, they are descriptive and carry stories that remind people about what happened at that location, or the significance of that place to broader histories. It would be a good exercise to figure out the stories behind the names of the various suburbs of Honiara.

Histories are also written onto human bodies. Many of our societies have traditions of tattooing and facial motifs. So, histories are told through the tattoos of our wantoks from Rennell and Bellona, Tikopia, Sikaiana & Ontong Java, etc. They are also carved onto the facial motifs of our friends from Lau Lagoon, Lalangalanga Lagoon, Santa Anna, etc.

Most of us Solomon Islanders could tell where someone is from by looking at their facial motif. We therefore know someone’s histories and connections to particular places through the writings on their face.

We also tell histories through people’s names. Like place names, people’s names often embody stories of something that happened in the past. In the absence of written texts, we remember and tell histories through the living.

There is a tendency for us to talk about our stories as ‘custom/kastom stories’, implying that they are somehow less truthful, or less important than written histories. That is not only wrong, but also disempowering. Our stories need to take an equally important place in our curriculums, just as the written stories.

Academic histories are also gendered. We talk about he/stories, and not her/stories. Also, it tends to feature and privilege men more than women. In telling our stories, we need to be gender conscious, especially in matrilineal societies where lineage is passed through the female line. Here, we trace and value our female lineages more than our male lines. That must be reflected in the ways we remember and tell histories.

There is a need to rethink how we teach histories, especially in schools. We ought to make them come alive and exciting and make kids appreciate and give importance to, not only what is in books, but what is in their communities – their lived experiences and the histories they carry with them. Histories should be alive, contemporary and empowering. It doesn’t have to be trapped in the past.

I hope this Tok Stori makes you think about your individual and community engagements with histories. I hope it makes you celebrate and give importance to our many ways of remembering and talking/dancing/singing/tattooing etc. about the past.

These are pasts to remember.

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