Breaking the Dead Silence: Engaging with the Legacies of Empire and Slave-Ownership in Bath and Bristol’s Memoryscapes

This book explores the recent interventions on an official heritage narrative in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and the toppling of a statue commemorating Edward Colston. It brings together diverse perspectives from academics, artists, activists, heritage professionals, and tourist guides to break the "dead silence" and explore strategies for enabling silenced voices to be heard and engage in conversations about how the past is represented.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 424 pages
Publication date: 28 June 2024
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

The tragic murder of George Floyd in 2020, the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the subsequent removal of a statue honoring slave trader-turned-philanthropist Edward Colston in Bristol have sparked urgent discussions on memorialization, white privilege, social justice, and repair. These debates have spilled from the scholarly realm into the public discourse, prompting a need for comprehensive approaches to addressing the legacies of colonialism and empire in Britain. In the immediate aftermath of the statue's toppling, this book emerges as a unique, distinctive, and timely contribution to these ongoing discussions. It presents a series of voices and experiences as critical commentaries and accounts of recent interventions on an official heritage narrative. The book aims to break the deafening silence by bringing together diverse perspectives from academics, artists, activists, heritage professionals, and tourist guides. By drawing from a range of sources, including work focused on the impacts and legacies of colonization primarily in Bath and Bristol, augmented with comparative contributions from Lancaster and Mexico, the book offers fresh insights and significant resonances. Various strategies are explored to enable silenced voices to be heard and engage in conversations about how the past is represented. These strategies include co-creation, innovative museum practices, creative approaches, and somatic practices, all aimed at fostering deeper understanding and meaningful dialogue.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802075885