Introductory description

This final-year Advanced Option module examines the place of memory and memorialisation in relation to slavery and its aftermath in the Atlantic world. The commemorative events surrounding the two hundredth anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade in 2007, along with the demands made for Western governments and other institutions – including universities – to apologise for past involvement in slavery and to pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved people, have shown the continuing significance of the memory of slavery. However, this module will not only explore the construction of public memory about slavery (as well as forms of forgetting) as a twentieth and twenty-first century phenomenon, but consider how memory and memorialisation and have operated in the past. Throughout, individual and collective memories are examined through their expression in texts, sites and performances. Across the module, memory is considered as a means through which identities are understood and expressed, and as a contested realm of social and political struggle. The primary focus of the module is on the Caribbean, and how slavery in and slave-trading to the region are remembered in Europe, but it will also consider USA, Brazil and West Africa. The module uses historical work on memory and also attends to debates in related fields, such as sociology, cultural geography and the interdisciplinary field of ‘memory studies’.

This module include a day-long fieldtrip to the Museum of London Docklands and the National Maritime Museum in London.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module starts with the 2007 commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade before reviewing the histories of Atlantic slavery and key concepts that can be used to study memory. It then examines some of the historical ways in which memory and slavery have been intertwined, before turning to contemporary manifestations, including film and the ‘neo-slave narrative’ literary genre. Early in term 2, we will focus on the commemoration of Atlantic slavery, its consequences, ending and legacies in museums, which will include a fieldtrip. The module ends by considering some recent issues such as ‘slavery tourism’ and demands that have been made for apologies and reparations.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Effectively communicate ideas, and make informed, coherent and persuasive arguments, relating to the history of slavery, memory, and memorialisation
• Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of key themes and case studies relating to the memorialisation of slavery in Europe, Africa and the Americas
• Critically analyse and evaluate a broad range of past and present efforts to memorialise slavery in Britain, and other circum-Atlantic contexts, including through comparative approaches
• Take responsibility to identify, design, and produce a coherent project on memory and slavery by creating content for a non-academic audience
• Critically review and consolidate theoretical, methodological, and historiographical ideas relating to the study of (social and cultural) memory

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.