What is history? Reflections from the edge of empires, nation-states, and disciplines

Abstract

Using a comparative, hemispheric perspective on Wayúu history and historicity in the Guajira peninsula, the essay outlines the political aims, projects, and laws of the Wayúu in relation to memory, ritual, ceremony, and territory, as well as empires, nation-states, and disciplines. It questions the primacy of written sources and their interpretation within the discipline of history and asks us to consider what oral traditions teach us about the relation between history, myth, and landscape. It specifies what Wayúu historical narratives tell us concerning aspirations for the future, explains the contexts in which they are mobilized and made public, and discusses the ways that Wayúu historians and intellectuals authorize their representations of the past in relation to kinship and lineage and jurisdiction, as well as how they make use of new technologies in pursuit of political legitimation and cultural preservation.