Untimely Time: On History’s Instrumental Narratives
History is frequently at the heart of how people view themselves and others in modern culture. The construction of the self in political, social, religious, and other spheres often exhibits an “instrumental” use of history in Nietzsche’s terms (a category also taken up by others, notably Foucault, Trouillot, and, more recently, implicitly in Priya Satia in Time’s Monster). The past is not simply a narrative of meaning connecting causality, leading from former times to the present, but it is also a means of crafting and molding a particular moment. In other words, the present is in the past. Perceptions of history are finding footing in modern causes and are proving to be instrumental for predetermined ends.