Dear Colleagues,
I am organizing a conference on the theme of slavery and public history (12-13 October 2016 at Nottingham Contemporary) that I would like to draw your attention to (details below / poster attached). I very much hope that you can make it - please feel free to circulate this email and the details to anyone who you think would be interested in attending.
Thank you and best wishes,
Kate
Dr Katie Donington
Research Associate, The Antislavery Usable Past
Co-director of the Centre for Research in Race and Rights
Department of American and Canadian Studies
University of Nottingham
http://www.usablepast.ac.uk/usablepast/index.aspx
The Centre for Research in Race and Rights (C3R), the University of Nottingham and the British Academy presents
'Unspeakable Things Unspoken:'
Transatlantic Slavery - A Public Conversation
Nottingham Contemporary, The Space
October 12 (9.30am to 9pm)
October 13 (10:00am to 3:30pm)
Including an evening of performance
It is free to attend. You can register your seat on our Eventbrite page.<http://octoberdialogues2016.eventbrite.co.uk>
Watch the live stream on October 12!
The bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007 opened up a space to consider the place of slavery in the narrative of British history. The commemorations, dubbed by some as ‘Wilberfest’, were not without controversy with some historians and community activists critical of the focus on a self-congratulatory narrative of abolition. Since then there has been a notable shift in focus from Britain as emancipator to the much longer history of participation and profit. In 2013 the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project<https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/> launched its open access database, for the first time drawing attention to the economic processes of slavery compensation and the multiple ways in which the system left its imprint on British society. The following year CARICOM announced its ten point plan for reparations<https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2014/March-2014/CARICOM-nations-unanimously-approve-10-point-plan>, a move that sparked a huge public response in Britain and across Europe. In Britain, activism and academia have combined in the student-led movements that have demanded universities engage in a process of coming to terms with the(ir) imperial past, including links to slavery. Continued public interest in the history of slavery was demonstrated in the viewing figures for the recent BBC documentary Britain’s Forgotten Slave-owners<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b063db18> - 1.6 million people tuned in to watch each episode. Slavery and its legacies remain with us, not least in the persistent forms of racialised thinking that continue to shape the social realities of the present.
This conference will examine the ways in which slavery has figured in public history in Britain. It will consider how academic history has shaped public perceptions of slavery and how public debate has challenged and inspired scholarship. It will give critical attention to the ways in which slavery and colonialism has shaped both our public and academic history institutions. Given the increasing emphasis on ‘impact’ within university research agendas the event will offer new possibilities for building relationships across academic and public history. Public history will be conceived of in its broadest sense and speakers will be invited from among museum and heritage professionals, artists, community historians, activists, academics, poets, performers and educators.
In the evening there will be performance, conversation and music that explores transatlantic slavery and its legacies through the work of renowned Jamaican dub-poet Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and guest artists and musicians. Breeze’s poetry gives voice to a wide range of disenfranchised people as well as personal, social, political and historical issues. Her work has engaged with themes of slavery and colonialism and linking the personal to the political. In conversation with post-colonial literary scholar Abigail Ward, Breeze will consider the tangled relationship between gender, sexuality, class and race, with a particular focus on the experiences of Caribbean women. The evening will also feature performances by local and regional artists Michael Brome, Panya Banjoko and Marcus Joseph.
The conference begins with registration from 9.30am onward and the day's sessions (including an evening performance) will finish at 9pm. We will serve a complimentary lunch and snacks for the evening reception.
The October Dialogues 2016 - About<http://www.octoberdialogues.org/>
www.octoberdialogues.org
The bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007 opened up a space to consider the place of slavery in the narrative of British history.
Book your free ticket here:
October Dialogues 2016: Transatlantic Slavery - A Public Conversation<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/october-dialogues-2016-transatlantic-slavery-a-public-conversation-registration-26658263584>
www.eventbrite.co.uk
The Centre for Research in Race and Rights (C3R) presents 'Unspeakable Things Unspoken:' Transatlantic Slavery - A Public Conversation Nottingham Contemporary, The Space October 12, 9.30am to 9pm (dialogues and performance event) October 13, 10.30am to 2.30pm (Nottingham and East Midlands activist workshop) The bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007 opened up a space to consider the place of slavery in the narrative of British history. The commemorations, dubbed by some as ‘Wilberfest’, were not without controversy with some historians and community activists critical of the focus on a self-congratulatory narrative of abolition. Since then there has been a notable shift in focus from Britain as emancipator to the much longer history of participation and profit. In 2013 the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project launched its open access database, for the first time drawing attention to the economic processes of slavery compensation and the multiple ways in which the syst
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