Authority, Gender & Violence

History moves us forward, into the unknown. Whether in hope or in fear we face futures we imagine, either going our way or coming to get us. We cannot foretell the outcome of any encounter, or what else is round the corner. Try as we may to pray or plan, neither petition nor prudence can make life other than a gamble – on the will of God or the wiles of men. ¹ Luo say, with truth, ‘You know where you came from, not where you are going.’ ² Only with the future behind us can we read history with a storied sense of direction. We can remember it backwards, and no longer have to guess. We know what happened next – or what is comforting to believe, or plausible to claim, we caused to happen next. We can all recall self-regarding narratives of the past. They keep us going. ³ And if we cannot pocket one in triumph then we can either keep failure quiet or blame it on some enemy’s foul play.