Memory and Oblivion. Testimonies and Depictions

If everything is history, then, in his work, the historian acknowledges both memory and oblivion when creating those depictions that constitute his never-ending commitment, and hence assumes the responsibility of creating and preserving new sources for a new history. Recovering memory and combating oblivion signify a challenge to ceaselessly denounce injustices. One endeavors to write a history that recovers and preserves different versions of the facts, seen from the most diverse viewpoints and in the light of all manner of interests, and this implies carrying out a task that precedes that of deconstruction, so as to subsequently embark on the heroic feat of splitting hairs, while taking into account different opinions and viewpoints that express the events themselves in many ways. In short, the historian is both a witness of -and a protagonist in- his times. Si todo es historia, el oficio de historiar reconoce tanto la memoria como el olvido en la construcción de representaciones que se signifiquen como compromiso permanente del historiador. En consecuencia, asume la responsabilidad de generar y salvaguardar nuevas fuentes para una nueva historia. Recuperar la memoria y luchar en contra del olvido presuponen un desafío que se significa como denuncia permanente. Se intenta una historia que recupere y salvaguarde las diferentes versiones de los hechos, desde las ópticas e intereses más diversos. Ello conlleva una tarea previa de deconstrucción, para luego dar paso a la haza a de hilar fino, atendiendo a voces y miradas diversas que expresan en formas múltiples el propio acontecer. A fin de cuentas, el historiador como testigo y protagonista de su tiempo.