Memorialisation and Trauma: Britain and the Slave Trade

Abstract

In 2007, heritage agencies in the United Kingdom commemorated the bicentenary of the abolition of the British transatlantic slave trade. How, and in what ways, did the commemorations take place? Who were the audiences and what were the stories? To what extent and in what way did they ensure multicultural inclusivity? This paper argues that the commemorations were hampered by lack of expertise, confusion in objectives, and failure to acknowledge contestation. However, the fact that it took place at all broke a barrier, and the issue of European involvement in the slave trade is now on the public agenda as a consequence. I will suggest that issues of government support and funding proved central to how the story was told and whose stories were told. On this basis I will suggest that the 2007 commemorations are instructive as we develop the means of interpreting historical trauma within a multicultural society.

Notes

1.  The category listed ‘BME’ (‘black and mixed ethnicity’), but anecdotal reports confirm that respondents were almost entirely of African‐Caribbean descent.