THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: History cannot be studied just by visiting museums and libraries. Field work is required for the proper understanding of the socio-cultural scenario that existed in the society, said Shahid Amin, professor, Department of History, University of Delhi. He was taking part in a discussion on ‘Political problems in writing history’ organised by Book Port here on Sunday. Rather than writing history for the academicians, history should reflect the socio-economic conditions of villages in India. Shahid Amin, also the author of ‘Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura 1922-1992’ stressed the need to write history in an interesting manner. According to him, it should not be written the way archival documents are authored. History was not documented well in the period of British rule in India. Britishers documented what they thought was necessary. The information that the Britishers have not revealed must be recovered through field work, asking for detailed description of events from the local people. ‘’In my book, you can see the local dialects and phrases which explain in detail the history of Chauri Chaura movement,’’ he said. He pointed out that he did not believe in archives because they contain the details of people at the helm. ‘’I wrote my book ‘Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura 1922-1992’ by visiting the peasants and interacting with them to know more about the event. I have even used phrases used by peasants as chapter names like ‘Gil mitiya’ for people who have emigrated to foreign countries from India, and ‘Otiere’ for volunteers,’’ he said. Shahid Amin emphasised the need to break the boundaries of conventional writing while dealing with historical figures.
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