Embracing Uncertainty: Utilizing the Narrated Past to Move toward a Polyvocal Inclusive History

The reality of the past is complex in its many facets and perspectives; however, dominant historical narratives have overtaken the representation of the past through a simplified version from a single perspective. Academics are complicit in this process, not only by emphasizing some types of (historic) source material over others but also by claiming authority over the past. Sharing the authority to narrate the past is therefore a crucial step to allow uncertainty back into the historical narrative. This article briefly discusses how this “objectified past” and the narrated past can coexist alongside each other when we construct history as a polyvocal plural narrative that is aware of its contemporary agenda and public. To exemplify how these mechanisms work in both a European and an Asian context, I will discuss case studies related to my research on the Banda Islands in Indonesia as well as my recent work in the postindustrial city Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg.