Fallen Timbers Battlefield Monument, Ohio. According to the National Park Service website: “the culminating event that demonstrated the tenacity of the American people in their quest for western expansion and the struggle for dominance in the Old Northwest Territory.” No mention of the native peoples who paid the price for the new U.S. nation’s genocidal militarism, but only the settler memory of “tenacity” and “quest.” To understand how settler colonialism fuels events in Palestine, it is useful to understand how it shaped early U.S. territorial expansion.
Our History
Having tried and failed (repeatedly) in their anger management counseling, and with league fines no longer an effective deterrent, Josh and Chris decided to give history one more try. And in this holiday season of miracles, what they delivered in shiny holiday packaging is a brand new episode of History Against the Grain. Clio the gift-giving muse has come through once again: their indefinite suspension for repeated instances of unsportsmanlike podcasting is lifted, and both of your favorite HAG hosts are back on the court, in their old school shorts and Converse All Stars, podcasting with the same reckless abandon that has won them so many past championships. Some podcasting pundits and doubting Thomases say those championships are in the past, but HAG fans do not despair, because it is in the past where Josh and Chris do their best work. So join them on a victory lap, as your indefatigable HAG hosts run circles around the perils of nationalism and expose the really messed up stories they inspire.
Want to hear the episode?
Click to hear Episode 66 Constructed Out of Terrible Misfortune
Sources Referenced and Items of Interest
Priya Satia, “The Myths of British Imperial Benevolence and Palestine”
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
Constitution of the United States
Fallen Timbers Battlefield, National Park Service
Writing US history from an Indigenous peoples’ perspective requires rethinking the consensual national narrative. That narrative is wrong or deficient, not in its facts, dates, or details but rather in its essence. Inherent in the myth we’ve been taught is an embrace of settler colonialism and genocide. The myth persists, not for a lack of free speech or poverty of information, but rather for an absence of motivation to ask questions that challenge the core of the scripted narrative of the origin story. How might acknowledging the reality of US history work to transform society?
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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Email: Historyagainstthegrain@gmailcom
History Against the Grain 