Contesting statues of empire and slavery 

The changing shape of cultural activism.

Researchers

• Dr Meghan Tinsley
• Prof Gary Younge
• Dr Chloe Peacock
• Ruth Ramsden-Karelse
• Dr Sadia Habib

Enquiries

• meghan.tinsley@manchester.ac.uk

The global resurgence of Black Lives Matter in 2020 ignited a global debate on the role of memorialising histories of slavery and colonialism, mobilising activists and community alongside academics, policymakers, pundits, and cultural institutions. Viewing statues as sites for legitimising and contesting institutions, public space, and history, our research asked:

• What are the processes by which statues are removed?
• Are certain processes more successful than others?
• How does the process of removing a statue change the dominant discourse on both the statue and the historical figure it represents?

The research team examined political discourse and policy literature and conducted interviews with activists to compare the contestation of statues across fifteen sites in the UK, the US, South Africa, Martinique, and Belgium.

Articles and briefings

• The changing shape of cultural activism: Legislating statues in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement – Five-page briefing paper with The Runnymede Trust on the legislation and removal of statues in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement.
• A meaningful debate about statues is happening – the government just doesn’t seem to be taking part – article in The Conversation.
• Why every single statue should come down – long read in The Guardian.
• Statues, street names, and contested memory – article in Red Pepper.
• White supremacy’s monuments: On the removal of Robert E. Lee - RACE.ED blog on the removal of this infamous Michigan statue.

Academic articles

These are longer articles in academic journals. If you are stopped by a paywall please contact the author for a free version. 

• Toppling statues and making space: prospects for anti-racist cultural activism - Tinsley, M., Peacock, C., Habib, S., Ramsden-Karelse, R. and Younge, G. in Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2024.2344938

Podcasts

• Contesting statues of empire and slavery - Meghan Tinsley, Gary Younge and Chloe Peacock discuss their research in this episode of Surviving Society. Listen on Spotify, SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
• Chloe Peacock and Gary Younge discussing their research on statues with Anushka Asthana on the 'Today in Focus' podcast by The Guardian.

Event recordings

• 'From Bristol to Manchester: History and memory in our cities' Sadia Habib and Rowan Hassan (OSCH) joined the panel for this event comparing how different cities approached the legislation of statues, and OSCH members contributed poetry readings. 5 October 2021, University of Manchester.
• 'Not set in stone: Remembering empire and contesting statues' Gary Younge joined the panel for this event, part of the Alternative Futures and Popular Protest Conference, 9 June 2021. Chaired by Meghan Tinsley.

Whose statues, whose stories? workshops

In this strand of the project, led by Sadia Habib, we ran a series of workshops in collaboration with the 'Our Shared Cultural Heritage' (OSCH) Young Collective and Manchester Museum. Collective members investigated debates around statues in their local areas, proposing their own interventions and producing creative responses.

Read Sadia's blog 'Histories of empire and colonialism: Whose statues? Whose stories?' for more detail on the workshop programme.

Her longer article 'Horrible British histories: Young people in museums interrogating national identity through principles and practices of critical pedagogy' has more information about the role and value of young people's groups such as OSCH.