When It’s Gone, It’s Gone

posted by angel

The history of Western nations, and therefore the world, is written down in paper.

The signing of a document simultaneously births and kills it; it comes into being in the world at the moment it ceases to transform. In this sense, there is an intrinsic quality of physical essence prescribed to Western knowledge. It is what distinguishes written contracts from spoken agreements, bodies from spirits, original documents from replicas, and recorded knowledge from lived experience. There’s an obscurity to this essence; at times, it ignores fundamental nature in favor of substantive truth; at the same time, it carries the strength of objectivity. Static origins, presence, and state grants the advantage of an objective identity. That which is, is, and that which is not, is not. Over time, these lines remain rigid, and therefore maintain recognition. Western documents are final, exclusive, and authoritative on merit of authentic originality, while non-Western societies often practice alternative methods of recognizing authenticity. For example, Western paintings are authenticated by the signature; they signal the undeniable essence of the master’s hand and the end of creation. No matter how much the painting is transferred over time and space, its essence is forever tied to its origin; the only thing a buyer can hope to obtain is ownership. Any alteration in its form is considered destructive to this essence. In contrast, Chinese seals indicate a continuation of the creative process. As a painting passes through hands, owners add stamps and calligraphic inscriptions, expanding and transforming the painting from its original state. The process of formmaking never ends, therefore there is never a single point at which a form becomes or ceases to be an original.

In a similar vein, American Indian oral traditions commonly depend on the strength of memory and the intergenerational passing down of knowledge. Recognition is renewed through the continual reproduction of thought, which is ever-evolving and subject to transformation over time. What may be interpreted as unreliability of substantive form is in turn what enables the authenticity of spirit. However, it is this same mechanism that has led to much of indigenous knowledge being lost over time due to the devastating effects of settler colonialism. Objects outlive ideas, especially when such ideas are systematically subject to repression and destruction. The effects of colonialism in America especially sought to replace not only physical ways of being, but also the spiritual and metaphysical existence of indigenous ideas. Davi Kopenawa mourned not only the loss of land and autonomy, but also the loss of language, and therefore an entire infrastructure for which to communicate with, process, and understand the world. When the people themselves are gone, all that remains in the archive of history are written words by those powerful to preserve their records, who were never themselves inside the heads of those they write about.