The Marketing of Slavery Heritage in the United Kingdom

Summary

This paper examines the promotion of slavery heritage sites in the United Kingdom in the context of an increasing interest in peace and reconciliation studies. With the exception of Hull, an abolitionist center, several sites have been developed within the last four years at slave trade ports. Their evaluation considers the strengths and weaknesses of the displays at Liverpool, Bristol and Lancaster, and comments on the significant omission of a major exhibition in London, an important slave trade port as well as a capital city. In the absence of previous research and theoretical frameworks in this area, the phenomenon of slavery is related to other heritage visitation sites, such as concentration camps, which are potentially embarrassing to the contemporary majority. Finally, the weaknesses of the conventional model of the slave trade are explored and an alternative is presented.

Key Words:

• Slavery
• heritage tourism
• museums
• Britain
• reconciliation