Shahid Amin

               

Shahid Amin's reading ties in very well with our discussion in the last class of Trouillot’s text and Chandara’s Death. In the last session we dealt with the different levels at which silencing happens, beginning with source creation itself. Shahid Amin's essay is a perfect demonstration of the power dynamic involved in the very "facts" that we deal with, and how those very facts are in themselves “constructions” – reinforcing the point that facts/sources do not simply exist, but are indeed created.

Amin’s essay is also important because it reveals that even when the subaltern is speaking in these sources, even when he explicitly uses the “I” to affirm his agency, he is in fact being silenced, and it is in fact the prosecutor’s view of the past that is being reinforced. The judicial discourse creates certain possibilities/limitations about what in fact can be spoken about, and in what mode. It also determines what facts amount to legal truths and untruths. In this way, it structures the subaltern’s testimony, and displaces his rebel consciousness. Indeed, just as in Chandara’s death, the motivations of her family did not matter, similarly Shikari simply speaks within the confines of action/identification – the broader political context does not matter.

I found it particularly interesting that the judicial discourse attempted to create the pre-history of the event. According to Amin, the event had to have a pre-history in order to be charged with the crime of conspiracy. The need to create a pre-history of the event, and the acknowledgment that organization/meetings were indeed held prior to the moment of riot however moves counter to the colonial representation of these riots/insurgencies as merely spontaneous. The peasant/rebel had to be afforded some agency by the colonial law, however his action could not be referred to as political but merely criminal.

Lastly, I think that this reading is actually of contemporary relevance. It forces us to question the way in which we read, understand, construct and relay testimonies. The fact that these testimonies are made in service of a judgment makes them somewhat unique historical sources.