Weaponizing History

History Against the Grain

It’s back to school time for the saucy boys as we spotlight a new school year, pandemic edition. Coronavirus politics seem to infect everything, including the school reopenings in Georgia, where craven meets crazy as admin and parents conspire to keep the masks off and the kids in the crowded classrooms. With infection rates up, it’s all part of the real time biology lab experiment known as Covid-19 American style. When the kids go to school and get infected, well the governing powers of the Georgia school districts say it’s all just hands-on learning. Speaking of power, as one of our HAG patron philosophers Michel Foucault reminds us, the writing of history itself is an act of power, and whether it is a power used to liberate or condemn depends on who is telling the story and for what purpose. Our special guest this week, China scholar and Carnegie Mellon University professor Benno Weiner, discusses communist China’s own machinations with history over the course of its decades long nation-building projects. What does it mean to be Chinese, and will the ethnic minorities who live in the borderlands of China’s vast geographical periphery, ever see themselves as genuine members of a Chinese nation? Do the governing authorities have a legitimate historical claim that they should? Or is it simply a matter to be decided by power? From Dallas, Georgia to Xinjiang, China - the HAG team keeps you socially distanced and globally connected.

This week's music: Jay Reatard, "I'm Watching You"; Run the Jewels, "Talk to Me"; Protomartyr, "Modern Business Hymns"