"The Scholarly benefits of the Columbus Quincentenary
                        Will Reach Far Beyond 1992"
 
                    "The Chronicle of Higher Education"
                           April 12, 1989, p. B3
 
                                    by
                            Jamil S. Zainaldin
 
     We have become accustomed in the United States to national
celebrations that, according to the historian Neil Harris,
emphasize the observance rather than the meaning of the "literal
event being celebrated."  Our Thanksgiving and Fourth of July
festivities immediately come to mind.  Such holidays are
important and vital moments in the life of any community or
nation, but they are rarely the occasion nowadays for thought and
reflection about what is being commemorated.
     An exception, however, is the recent celebration of the
Constitution's bicentennial, which was marked by a distinctly
historical and intellectual tone--a departure from the usual
American way of celebrating.  The proposed commemoration in 1992
of the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage to the New World
promises to continue this departure.
     Columbus's venture was a seminal event for the Western
world, and during the hundred years after 1492 powerful forces
were set in motion that changed life forever on both sides of the
Atlantic.  The quincentenary of his voyage will have different
meanings for different people and nations, but there are signs
that its celebration will have an intellectual breadth uncommon
in modern public events.
     Like the exploration, the quincentenary will set forces in
motion that will affect the course of academic and non-academic
life in the years to come:  New research resources will be
identified; scholars will collaborate across institutions,
disciplines, and national borders; new scholarship will be
produced; and the relationship between the public and the
academic world will be enhanced.
     The effects of this linking of scholarly enterprise with
public commemoration could reach far beyond 1992.  The quincen-
tenary creates an opportunity for scholars to reconsider the way
we present our national past in textbooks, where the story
usually begins with the "Age of Discovery" and then leaps a
century to the early English Colonists.  We can expect a serious
reordering of chronology in American history and a new look at
the consequences to Native Americans of the arrival of the
Europeans in the New World.  An important part of the process
will be the recovery of that lost century that saw the establish-
ment of Spanish territory stretching from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.
     Traditional disciplinary boundaries will be transcended.
The study of disease, for example, will involve scholars in
science, history, and anthropology.  The conduct of research will
broaden, as well.  For example, I.B.M. is sponsoring research in
Spain's Archivo de las Indias on new technologies for the storage
and retrieval of information that will have implications for
libraries and research institutions everywhere.
     One particularly interesting outcome of the preparations for
the quincentenary is that scholars have been drawn into related
initiatives for international development in Latin America and
the Caribbean.  As a result, traditional humanities concerns have
been introduced into development projects (such as the
restoration of Havana's "old quarter" and the architectural
reconstruction of Colonial Quito) involving a range of
disciplines not normally noted for their humanities content.
     An important exchange between scholars and the public is
occurring in state humanities councils--the private non-profit
grant-making bodies supported by the National Endowment for the
Humanities and other sources that finance or conduct humanities
programs in local communities.  The councils serve as creative
catalysts for interdisciplinary collaboration, a striking example
of which is the Maine council's "Land of Norumbega" project,
which is bringing together anthropology, history, cartography,
and art history to produce a new history of the Northeastern
region that includes Maine, (identified on an ancient map as part
of the "Land of Norumbega").  This "revised and enlarged" history
includes the native inhabitants and begins with John Cabot's
exploration in 1497.  It is helping set a new agenda for
humanities scholars and cultural institutions in New England.
     An archaeological dig on Saint Catherines Island, off the
coast of Georgia, is turning up new information about an
important Spanish mission established before English coloniza-
tion, which moves the northern frontier of Spanish settlement
considerably above Saint Augustine.  The Georgia Humanities
Council is helping historians, archaeologists, and anthro-
pologists bring this fascinating chapter of Georgia history and
culture to the public by supporting the publication of guides and
the production of films.
     It is perhaps not too early to make a couple of predictions.
If either comes true, the quincentenary will be historic for
reasons other than history.  In Humanities in America, the recent
N.E.H. report, Lynne V. Cheney points to the existence of a
"parallel school"--consisting of libraries, historical societies,
museums, and the state humanities councils--which promotes
learning outside the classroom.  My first prediction is that the
quincentenary will strengthen that network by bringing about a
closer relationship between scholar and community, in which the
community's need to know and understand our past will become part
of the scholar's quest for new knowledge.
     Second, the actual festivities in 1992 will be a visible
manifestation of the quiet revolution that is taking place in the
way Americans celebrate national events.  The change will repre-
sent a victory for the humanities in making our public celebra-
tions occasions for serious thought and reflection as well as for
pageantry.
 
 
 
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