Things We Know that We Know; Things We Know that We Don't Know; Things We Don't Know that We Don't Know; (... and Things We Don't Know that We Know)

In chapter 4 (Nakayama reading) one of the "histories" explored is the Absent History. In its postmodern manifestation(s) through discipline (borrowing from Foucault), the absence of history, as a form of discipline, cannot be identified with particular institutions or by any specific manifestation. In the attempt of a society to absolve itself, to "explain" (often the indescribable) or affirm its dominance and legitimacy, it does not only remind its subjects (and the world) that constitutionally, institutionally and socially "things are working"; it also makes sure that certain histories must be invented, narrated; and then retold again. It also makes sure that the "absent" ones will remain absent; on a descriptive level through the silent consent - or rather, the consent to silence- of the mass media; and the lack of time -or interest- of the subjects. On a substantive level, through the language and stipulations in legislation (read carefully the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples [UN], where it is clearly stated that, no matter how many "rights" indigenous peoples may be granted, and no matter how many apologies they may receive, they still have no present or future legal claim to their original lands).
In the meantime, except from sporadic mentions in the media, absent histories comfortably hibernate (if their carriers are still alive somewhere), and thread by thread are becoming simulacra, like in Borges' torn shreds of a map where nobody recalls anymore who drew it, and what the territories on that map ever meant; but insist on referring to it so religiously, as only those who suffer from that sense of insufferable nostalgia for something they never really knew can feel; as if the map were a compass; or a valid point of reference.
The absent ones are being disciplined; so are the rest of the subjects. ".... one can speak of the formation of a disciplinary society, from a social quarantine, to an indefinitely generalizable mechanism of panopticism.... because the disciplinary modality has infiltrated  the other modalities, serving as an intermediary among them, linking them together.... and above all making it possible to bring the effects of power to the most elemental and distant parts. It assures an infinitesimal distribution of the power relations (from Panopticism, in Foucault's Discipline and Punish).

Discipline - Wikileaks, or how to persecute with the consent of the ones harmed.

Another version of absent history is the obscenity of ommission (as in the glorification of the concept of the Arab Spring, while Saudi Arabian troops freely entered Bahrain and violently neutralized the overwhelming uprising of the Qatari people; or the proxy war in Syria [conveniently renamed insurgence of the people against the government], while the Al' Awit [Shi'ite Muslims] are receiving help from Iran, and the Shunni Muslems from Saudi Arabia; or, more sadly, while the flowers of the Arab Spring are blossoming in "democracy"[a word defiled], Palestinians are consequently becoming a case study amidst academics, and absent peoples in the "news du jour"; shredded remains on a map that we still look in nostalgic amazement.

1. Black, Black Hills 

2. WikiLeaks - Amy Goodman, Julian Assange & Slavoj Zizek (2 of 9)

3. WikiLeaks - Amy Goodman, Julian Assange & Slavoj Zizek (3 of 9)