Re-interpreting convict transportation: Decolonising the convict transportation exhibition at the National Justice Museum, Nottingham

该项目借鉴了非殖民理论和实践，重新想象了博物馆对罪犯运输的诠释。它探讨了与罪犯运输和罪犯安置有关的历史遗迹如何更好地将土著居民流离失所和从属的故事与当代流亡，驱逐和监禁的叙述联系起来。国家司法博物馆（NJM）是一个刑事司法收藏、遗产和教育提供者，占据了诺丁汉县法院、监狱和警察总部的遗址。它的重点是不平等、正义和人权。它是国家级认可的博物馆和慈善信托。国家司法博物馆的罪犯运输展览于2010年开放，提供了一种身临其境的体验，以18世纪从英国到澳大利亚的罪犯船为模型。该展览借鉴了该遗址作为殖民地的监狱和出发点的历史。因此，它为比较分析英国各地监狱博物馆中现存的交通叙事提供了起点，并通过非殖民化的理论框架来探索这些叙事。此次研究将为重新开发国立司法博物馆罪犯运输展奠定基础。它的研究结果将被用来为画廊的重建筹集资金，并为展览策略、解释内容、包括物品和档案材料提供信息。指示性初步研究问题：-访客和利益相关者目前对罪犯运输的看法是什么？-口译如何与建筑遗产相关的特定历史联系起来，同时将其与更广泛的跨国罪犯运输故事及其遗产联系起来？-土著居民的故事如何以交通叙事为中心，他们的土地上建立了流放地？-专注于非殖民化的创造性实践在博物馆内外可以发挥什么作用？-在讲述与罪犯运输、强迫劳动和监禁有关的痛苦和抹去的故事时，解释性做法如何确保语言和意象具有包容性和敏感性？除了学术论文之外，研究员还将负责与博物馆利益相关者和社区成员进行一系列的“创意”会议。这些资料将为制定一项政策文件和非殖民工具包提供信息，这些文件和工具包专门针对关注犯罪和惩罚历史的博物馆。研究人员还将有机会设计一个新的“暂停和反思”空间，毗邻目前的罪犯运输展览。该项目是真正的跨学科，我们邀请来自各种背景的候选人，包括（但不限于）历史，博物馆和遗产研究，犯罪学，社会学，文化研究，后殖民和批判种族研究。我们希望研究人员发展自己的重点和方法，但预计使用以下方法：a.在英国的博物馆和遗产遗址进行实地考察民族志。档案和收集研究-国家司法博物馆拥有重要的档案资源，包括关于儿童运输的材料。值得注意的是1840年至1845年米尔班克监狱的登记簿和雷纳基金会的材料。可以把这些故事与澳大利亚和加拿大的土著儿童从家庭中被带走的故事联系起来。口述历史和焦点小组工作与社区和倡导团体。发展参与活动和向非专业观众展示调查结果的创造性实践。

This project draws on decolonial theory and praxis to re-imagine museum interpretation around convict transportation. It explores how historic sites linked to convict transportation and penal settlement can better incorporate stories of displacement and subordination of indigenous populations linking these to contemporary narratives of exile, deportation, and confinement.The National Justice Museum (NJM) is a criminal justice collection, heritage site and education provider that occupies the site of Nottingham County courts, gaol and police headquarters. Its focus is inequality, justice and human rights. It is a nationally styled accredited museum and a charitable trust. Opened in 2010, the convict transportation exhibition at the National Justice Museum offers an immersive experience modelled on an eighteenth-century convict ship travelling from England to Australia. The exhibition draws on the site's history as holding prison and point of departure for the colonies. As such it provides the starting point for a comparative analysis of existing narratives of transportation told in prison museums across the UK, exploring these via a decolonial theoretical framework. The research will lay the groundwork for the redevelopment of National Justice Museum's convict transportation exhibition. Its findings will be used to leverage funding for the gallery redevelopment and shape and inform shape and inform the exhibition strategy, interpretation content, inclusion of objects and archive material.Indicative preliminary research questions:- What current perceptions do visitors and stakeholders hold around convict transportation? - How can interpretation engage with specific histories linked to built heritage while connecting these to wider, transnational stories of convict transportation and its legacies?- How can stories of indigenous populations upon whose land penal colonies were created be centred within transportation narratives?- What role can creative practices focused on decoloniality play within and beyond the museum?- How can interpretive practices ensure inclusive and sensitive language and imagery when telling stories of suffering and erasure associated with convict transportation, forced labour and imprisonment?In addition to the academic thesis, the researcher will be responsible for running a series of 'ideation' sessions with museum stakeholders and community members. These will inform the creation of a policy document and decolonial toolkit aimed specifically at museums focused on the history of crime and punishment. The researcher will also have the opportunity to design a new 'pause and reflect' space adjacent to the current convict transportation exhibition. The project is truly interdisciplinary and we invite candidates from a range of backgrounds including (but not limited to) history, museum and heritage studies, criminology, sociology, cultural studies, postcolonial and critical race studies. We expect the researcher to develop their own focus and approach but anticipate the use of the following methods: a. Fieldwork ethnography at museums and heritage sites in the UK.b. Archival and collection research - National Justice Museum hold important archival resources including material on child transportation. Notable is a register for Millbank Prison 1840-1845 and material from the Rainer Foundation. There is scope to connect these stories to those of the removal of indigenous children from their families in Australia and Canada.c. Oral history and focus group work with community and advocacy groupsd. Creative practice in developing engagement activities and presenting findings to non-specialist audiences.