‘A different way of thinking about the past’
Dr Radhika Natarajan’s new children’s book, Hear Our Voices, is a powerful history of the British empire told from the perspectives of 20 people who lived through it, from poets to freedom fighters. Natarajan, associate professor of history and humanities at Reed College, Oregon spoke to the Runnymede Trust’s Dr Lesley Nelson-Addy about the importance of giving voice to people whose views and experiences of colonialism have been overlooked or ignored. Article by Arveen Kaur.
What did you learn about the power of empire through writing Hear Our Voices?
I learned, not only about the power of empire, but also about how we think we’re supposed to tell history to children. I realised how many of our histories have been collapsed into this idea of heroes. I learned a lot about the gap between popular histories, which are so often organised around heroes, and academic history, which is trying to explain larger phenomena.
I was really influenced by [scholars who argue that] stories for children are often presented around individuals and around triumphs or victories, and so they erase collective action. Also by presenting these victories, these successes, they make it seem as though racism has been taken care of, and that it’s not a matter in the present day.
I think that was really important because we weren’t choosing people because we felt that they were heroes. We chose people because their stories told us something about the British empire or about their experiences of colonialism.
When we’re countering the individualist narrative, it was really important for me to say that, for example, Gandhi learned from the women's suffrage movement in Britain, and that he was inspired by Éamon de Valera and the Irish freedom struggle. These histories are linked and none of these people did anything by themselves.
Another [work] that was important to me in thinking about how to write these histories for children was Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Debbie Reese and Kathleen T. Horning’s 'Much Ado about A Fine Dessert'. They argue that children's literature, especially for children of colour, needs to be both healing and affirming, while also not turning away from the violence of the past. Because if we don’t account for violent phenomena, then we're not giving them an honest account.
A really important point that struck me when I was reading their scholarship was that the violence of the present demands that we help children understand the truth of these historical moments, in a way that doesn't reproduce harm. People from the past can give so much to us now. Their stories help us understand so much about the present and help us feel maybe a little less alone.
‘The British empire is the connective tissue that brings so many of our stories and our histories together’
Illustrations play a significant role in Hear Our Voices – can you tell us about them?
I think the illustrations are so important. To me some of the most amazing images in the book are the ones for moments we have no record of. The illustration can show the truth of the story and of a historical moment in a way that I can’t in all the words that I have.
I think of the illustration of Saadat Hassan Manto, a Muslim Indian writer who left India after partition because he felt like he couldn't make a life for himself there as a Muslim. When he says goodbye to his friend at Bombay Harbour, the image is so powerful in the way that [illustrator] Alexander [Mostov] presents his personal moment to help us understand this one experience of partition.
What do you hope young people will gain from the book?
I hope that children reading the book will see some of the histories that they might be familiar with, either because of their families or communities, or because of the particular nation state they live in. I hope that they will see connections across them, to people who might live in a very different place than them but yet, are also shaped by this shared history.
I think it is an unusual book, because so many books for children are written around the idea of identity. Instead, I hope it gives them a different way of thinking about the past and the way that the past matters to them. I also hope it does make them think that everyone's story matters, and that their story, or the story that they write, matters too.
When I was writing the book I was hoping that it would open them up to ask more questions. For better or worse, the British empire is the connective tissue that brings so many of our stories and our histories together. Without understanding that in an honest way, I think we don’t really understand how this world came to be the way it is.
Co-authored by Dr Radhika Natarajan and Chao Tayiana and illustrated by Alexander Mostov, Hear Our Voices: A Powerful Retelling of the British Empire through 20 True Stories is out now.
Dr Lesley Nelson-Addy is the Runnymede Trust’s education manager.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Runnymede Trust.
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