Anthony F. C. Wallace Asks: When is Now?

...I think it's important to always bear in mind that life occurs in historical time. Everyone in every culture lives in some sort of historical time, though it might not be perceived in the same way an outside observer sees it. It's an interesting question, "When is Now?" "Now" can be drawn from some point like this hour, this day, this month, this lifetime, or this generation. "Now" can also have occurred centuries ago; things like unfair treaties, the Trail of Tears, and the Black Hawk War, for instance, remain part of the "Now" from which many Native Americans view their place in time today. Human beings respond today to people and events that actually occurred hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

Ethnohistorians have played a major role in showing how Now is a social concept of time, and that time is part of all social life. I can only hope that their work will further the understanding that the study of social life is a study of change over time.

Anthony F. C. Wallace. 1998. In An Interview with Anthony F. C. Wallace, by Robert S. Grumet. Ethnohistory 45(1):127. Thanks to Bill Green for this suggestion.