Dear all

This is a reminder about the Remembering Slave Trade Abolitions: The Bicentenary of the Slave Trade in International Perspective Conference, in Newcastle from 23-24 November.

The conference will consder the UK's commemorative events in international perspective, including papers about Jamaica, Barbados and Ghana.  On the Friday evening there will be a reception hosted by the Laing Art Gallery, with a private viewing of Romuald Hazoume's artwork, La Bouche du Roi.  Full programme information is below.

For registration information, please see the website:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/niassh/Slave_Trade/

Please register soon if you plan to come!

Best wishes

Diana Paton


Remembering Slave Trade Abolitions:
Commemorations of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in International Perspective

Newcastle University and the Laing Art Gallery
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
23-24 November 2007


Conference Programme

Friday 23 November
Newcastle University, Research Beehive

9.00    Registration and coffee

9.45    Welcome

10.00-12.00 Art, Museums, and the Bicentenary
Chair: Diana Paton

Alan Rice, University of Central Lancashire, "Revealing Histories, Dialogising Collections: English Art Institutions and Galleries Respond to Commemorating the Abolition of the Slave Trade"

Jacqueline Francis, University of Michigan, "The Brooks Slave Ship Plan: A Universal Icon?"

Jane Webster, Newcastle University, "Abolitionist Memorabilia and Museum Display"

12.00-1.00 Lunch

1.00-3.00       The Bicentenary: British and Caribbean Perspectives
Chair: Gemma Robinson

Annie Paul, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, "Do you Remember the Days of Slav'ry?"

Karl Watson, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados "Barbados and the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade"

Hakim Adi, Middlesex University, "The Bicentenary: Celebration, Commemoration, or 'Wilberfest'?"

2.30-3.00 Break

3.30-5.30 Africa and the Bicentenary
Chair: Kate Manzo

Benjamin Kanpeyeng, University of Ghana and British Academy Research Fellow, Newcastle University, "The Slave Trade in Northern Ghana:  Landmarks, Legacies and Connections"

Cheryl Finley, Cornell University, "Of Golden Anniversaries and Bicentennials: the Convergence of Memory, Tourism and National History in Ghana in 2007"

Steven Pierce, University of Manchester, Unseemly Habits: Statuses of Slavery, Abolition, and Memory in Northern Nigerian Hausaland

5.45-7.00       Reception and private view of Romuald Hazoumé's La Bouche du Roi, The Laing Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

7.30  Conference Dinner: Paradiso Café Bar, 1 Market Lane (off Pilgrim Street), Newcastle Upon Tyne

Saturday 24 November
The Laing Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

9.00-11.00      Bicentennial Politics and Media
Chair: Sheree Mack

Dorothea Hodge, ex Special Adviser to the House of Lords, and lead special adviser on the Bicentenary, "The Bicentenary: A UK Government Perspective"

Robert Beckford, Oxford Brookes University, "Bicentennial Dub: From Absolution to Redemption"

Helen Weinstein, University of York, "The Making of the 1807 Bicentenary in the Media: Commissioning, Production, and Content"

Diana Paton, Newcastle University, "Interpreting the Bicentenary in Britain"

11.00   Break

11.30-1.30      Regional Perspectives
Chair: Jane Webster

Madge Dresser, University of the West of England, "Remembering Slavery in Bristol"

Hazel Edwards, Tyne and Wear Museums, "Marking the Bicentenary in North-East England"

Sheree Mack, Newcastle University and Identity on Tyne, "Black Voices and Absences in the North-East Commemorations of Abolition"

Vanessa Salter, Keeper of Social History, Wilberforce House, Hull, "The Redevelopment of Wilberforce House, Hull: Objectives and Challenges"

1.30-2.30       Lunch

2.30-4.00       Final Reflections and Discussion with introductory comment by Catherine Hall, University College London
Chair: Diana Paton

4.00            Conference closes

Supported by: The British Academy; The Association of Commonwealth Universities; Newcastle University Americas Research Group; Newcastle University Postcolonial Research Group; Newcastle Institute for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Tyne and Wear Museums Remembering Slavery 2007 Project