Why shouldn’t the toppling of statues disturb the historians? Time, anachronism and disputes for the past

Abstract

In recent years, numerous iconoclastic actions have chosen as targets statues and monuments that pay tribute to individuals and events related to sensitive memories of traumatic pasts, those that seem not to pass, and that mobilize multiple senses and affections in the present. These are moments in which organized groups demand the removal of a certain memorial order, seen as a perpetuator of inequalities and oppressions, through direct interventions in the public space. These actions also provoked strong controversies that mobilized the community of professional historians. In these discussions, one of the most used themes was that of anachronism. After all, would the toppling of the statues be an anachronistic initiative? Starting from this question, this article will seek to present some reflections on time, memory and anachronism, relating them to the most sensitive debates subsequent to the initiatives of questioning the representations contained in statues and monuments that inhabit our present.