Storia della Storiograia, 65 · 1/2014 Retroactive Ancestral Constitution, New Animism and Alter-Native Modernities Ewa Domanska 1 Abstract In the article “What is a Historical System?”, Hayden White writes about choosing an ideal ancestry that allows societies to create a collective identity by establishing connections to a desired past, peopled by divine or human heroes. He calls this process “retroactive ancestral constitution”. I will put this idea in the framework of ecological humanities and recent dis- cussions about treating indigenous ways of knowing as complementary to Western episte- mologies. I will refer to “new animism” as discussed by Philippe Descola, Graham Harvey and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, and relate it to radical thinking and ideas of altermodernity (as conceptualized by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri). In this context, I will ask, what would happen if a certain group were to choose animal (or other non-human entities such as plants or things) as ancestors rather than human ones ? What kind of future could follow from such a choice ? I will argue that in the present times of challenges posed by increasing poverty, new mass killings and migrations, as well as ecological destruction, climate change and rapid biotechnological progress, the idea of the choice of a non-human ancestry opens up the possibility of eco-utopias that might contribute to a sustainable future. I will conclude the article with preliminary thoughts about a theory of prospective non-human ancestral constitution. I n the article “What is a Historical System?”, Hayden White writes about estab- lishing an ideal ancestry that allows societies to create a collective identity by con- structing connections to a desired past peopled by divine or human heroes. He calls this “a process of ancestral substitution” or “retroactive ancestral constitution”. Even if one of the purposes of White’s text was to stress diferences between biological and historical systems, connecting them is possible too. In the context of recent in- terest in the biohumanities and in transcending the opposition between culture and nature, White’s speciic way of inventing tradition might be related to the evolution- ary notion of adaptation to a changing social, political and environmental setting. A conscious choice (an idea so dear to his thinking) of constituting a suitable ancestry in times of change (especially critical times like revolutions or reformations) might be seen as a strategy of adaptation and might be related to a drive for survival. Thus choosing a proper ancestry is strategic for the future of the community – and this is why I ind the topic of particular importance, not only as an issue for historical theory and an interesting motif in White’s work but as a strategy for times marked by increasing violence, poverty, and ecological degradation. In the article, White writes as follows : 1 This article was written as part of the “Rescue History” project, Master’s Program, Foundation for Polish Science, and constitutes a chapter in a book : Airmative Humanities and Non-Anthropocentric Knowl- edges of the Past (work in progress.)