Cadenhead-Settle Memorial Lecture in History – Haunted by History: Columbus, Montezuma, Elton John, and St. George

Cadenhead-Settle Memorial Lecture in History presents Haunted by History: Columbus, Montezuma, Elton John, and St. George.

Truth and evidence have been upended by postmodernism and the Internet.  Yet we still imagine that historical facts remain set in stone.  The past cannot be changed, right?  But what happens when historical figures or events have afterlives, when they continue to exist, evolve, and mutate like the undead?

In this brand-new lecture, Matthew Restall draws upon two of his recent books and two of his books-in-progress to explore what he calls hauntological history.  He argues that past and present perceptions of historical people and places haunt each other in ways that continually alter those perceptions.  Not only does the past change, but we seem unable to stop it changing.

A Genoese mariner whose fame/infamy rests on what he did 531 years ago (on the day of this lecture); an Aztec emperor misunderstood for five centuries; a Caribbean Sea battle celebrated since it occurred (or did it?) 225 years ago; a still-living veteran pop star.  Come and see how Restall meaningfully mixes these unlikely ingredients.