Michel-Rolph Trouillot Quotes

#1. The silencing of the Haitian Revolution is only a chapter within a narrative of global domination. It is part of the history of the West and it is likely to persist, even in attenuated form, as long as the history of the West is not retold in ways that bring forward the perspective of the world.

Michel-Rolph Trouillot

#2. Facts are not created equal: the production of traces is always also the creation of silences.

Michel-Rolph Trouillot

#3. But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands.

Michel-Rolph Trouillot

#4. History is the fruit of power, but power itself is never so transparent that its analysis becomes superfluous. The ultimate mark of power may be its invisibility; the ultimate challenge, the exposition of its roots.

Michel-Rolph Trouillot

#5. Any historical narrative is a bundle of silences.

Michel-Rolph Trouillot