When entering a home objects such pictures, photographs, memorabilia often reveal ‘traces’ of a person, made up of his or her past. As a reflection of the owner, these objects project not only what has passed but what could have been, bearing on the possibilities of paths chosen or unchosen. If we were to enlarge this house, expand it to a grander scale to mimic that of a nation, we could then perhaps think about how these objects could then be placed into documents, archives and museums to showcase the importance of the past to the present as well as the future of any particular nation. But as many scholars would point out—the case being made most effectively by Haitian historian, Michel R. Trouillot—history is made of several layers, with some being made more apparent and visible than others. History in other words is malleable and therefore can be made to serve certain interests through emphasis or by silencing certain events.2 As such the struggle over the soul of a nation often lies in the tension between revelation and oblivion.
