Activist movements and views on historical agency

Shifting the locus of historical agency allows us to better understand contemporary activist movements such as Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion

By Noa Blane Damelin, Third Year History Student

Agency is the force that drives change in history. To have agency is therefore to have freedom and independence to be able to shift the trajectory of history. Historians have disputed the position of historical agency for nearly as long as they have been writing History. It is commonly recognised that understanding where and why historians have placed agency is essential in order to understand their philosophy or agenda, which in turn is essential to study the historians’ work as holistically and critically as possible. I would further this line of thinking to argue that understanding where political movements and activist groups locate agency in society is also really constructive for better understanding how they see the world and what they are trying to change.

In my opinion, the most interesting debates around the locus of historical agency emerged around the 1970s with the post-structuralist school of thought. Post-structuralist historians identify a problem with historical agency because they tend towards believing that they very premise of historical concepts (such as agency) is polemical and biased.[1] This is deeply interesting to me, because post-structuralist historians therefore effectively ascribe historical agency to the historians. It is us as historians who have autonomy over the trajectory of history through our writing and re-telling of stories. 

Image credit: Life Matters on Pexels

This post-structuralist revelation can be traced to the roots of nihilistic and existentialist philosophy prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s, pioneered by philosophers such as Derrida and Foucault. The increasing influence of philosophy on the study of history also led to a wider phenomenon of increasing interest in inter-disciplinary research across the historical spectrum, in what came to be known as the ‘cultural turn’. 

As a result of the ‘cultural turn’, political and social histories became less ubiquitous while other strands of History became increasingly respected, funded and studied. This included racial, environmental and interdisciplinary narratives. These concerns are all still entrenched in activist movements of today. Understanding the location of historical agency in each of these schools of thought is informative in the effort to better engage with and support activist movements of the same ilk. 

Black historians in the 1970s first identified the social systems of ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness’ as holding historical agency.[2] They argue, therefore, that Black people are systemically disadvantaged on the basis of the colour of their skin. As a result of this they would argue that the way to impart change in society is to interrogate and dismember structural racism. This same ideological belief underlies the Black Lives Matter movement today. The movement states its aim to work towards ‘...A world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.’[3] Understanding how this links to views of historical agency – completely different than traditional political or socialist views of human agency – sheds light on the very core of the BLM agenda. 

Image credit: Chloe S. on Unsplash

The feminist movement(s) of today are similarly shaped by beliefs that emerged from post-structuralist thinking. It was feminist historians who first espoused the view that historical agency may lie in the patriarchy, or in social systems of gender inequality.[4] This belief still underlies major feminist movements today.[5] 

Themes of intersectionality that characterised post-structuralist thinking can also be seen in today’s feminist movement(s). The #MeToo movement, for example, identifies itself as a ‘multi-racial collective’ and exists to ‘amplify the ways in which the movements to end sexual violence and racial violence are reliant upon one another’.[6] This inter-sectional and multi-racial approach is markedly different from the traditional Second Wave Feminist movement of the 1960s, and the reason for its development can be traced in part to post-structuralist perspectives on inter-disciplinary thinking. 

Post-structuralist history removed human agency from history to an unprecedented extent. This opened the door to the field of environmental history, which ascribes historical agency to an intersection between human activity and our environment.[7] Extinction Rebellion protestors today, for example, advocate for ’collective human action’ to protect our planet.[8] Understanding the nuanced way in which XR rebels see the locus of human agency informs our understanding of their seemingly controversial protest tactics and therefore allows us to engage with them on a deeper level. 

Historians and activists alike are surely destined to continue to disagree about the locus of historical agency for as long as people have differing opinions. This dialectic is healthy and important for both the functioning of a democratic society and for the study of History. However, we also need to be able to empathise and understand each other’s views on historical agency. If we can all grapple with one another’s motivating principles then we will become far better equipped for engaging with the activist movements that are shaping our time. 

Image credit: Callum Shaw on Unsplash

[1] K. Jenkins, Re-thinking History (Abingdon: Routledge, 1991) p.20

[2] B. Fields, ‘Ideology and Race in American History’ in Region, Race and Reconstruction ed. M. Koussar and J. McPherson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982) 

[3] ‘Black Lives Matter – About.’ https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ [accessed 9 Sept 2020] 

[4] S. Rowbotham, Hidden from History: 300 Years of Womens Oppression and the Fight Against It (London: Pluto Press, 1973) 

[5] ‘Our Story – Time's Up Now’. https://timesupnow.org/about/our-story/ [accessed 11 September 2020] 

[6] ‘me too.’ https://metoomvmt.org/ [accessed 11 Sept 2020] 

[7] T. Le Cain, ‘Against the Anthropocene’, International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity, Issue 1 (2015), 1-28 

[8] ‘Extinction Rebellion: Tell The Truth Guide - Part 7: Act now... So what do we do? The Urgent Need for Collective Human Action’ https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-truth/the-emergency/part-7/#The-urgent-need-for-collective-action [accessed 11 Sept 2020] 

Cover image credit: Lola de Puma on Flickr