Commissioning, production, content and audience reception of bicentenary events commemorating the abolition of the slave trade in the UK, 1807-2007

废除跨大西洋奴隶贸易200周年是资助一个研究项目的独特机会，该项目批判性地评估2007/08年英国各种创意产业和遗产遗址的纪念奴隶贸易现象和活动的制作和内容。此外，该项目还建立了理解机构纪念活动的理论方法，这将为纪念活动作为一种行为和过程的学术理解提供信息，并将对那些在公共领域委托和制作纪念活动的人产生影响。该项目将在PI开发的新关键方法的背景下，开发现有的方法来捕捉观众对有问题的过去的接受，并将与合作博物馆分享这些方法。在5家合作博物馆中，有3家正在创建新的永久画廊，其中最引人注目的是NMM 2楼的大西洋世界画廊和印度世界画廊；三楼BECM的重新定位称为“打破链条”；以及NML的附属建筑国际奴隶制博物馆。国家博物馆的这些重新定位是开创性的，因为直到最近，奴隶制的主题在很大程度上都是缺席的。现在到了2007年，不仅展览承认奴隶制的事实，国家博物馆也将把跨大西洋奴隶贸易放在舞台的中心。博物馆希望通过IPUP参与讨论，讨论如何展示有关奴隶制经历的有问题和令人不安的内容。因此，重要的是，AHRC KT研究项目和网站www.history.ac.uk/abolitionofslavetrade将为学者和从业者之间的讨论提供一个论坛，并开发现有的方法来捕捉观众对有问题的过去的接收，并与合作博物馆分享这些方法。项目的受众接待阶段将产生与种族和多元文化有关的身份问题的研究数据。这项研究不仅将与合作博物馆分享，还将与DCMS和DCLG的政策顾问分享。尽管教育部尚未确定跨大西洋奴隶贸易何时成为国家历史课程必修部分的时间表，但了解奴隶制和废除奴隶制已经为公民身份的教学提供了信息。数据的收集和知识思想的发展将为学术界和公众讨论有问题的过去和当代英国提供信息。因此，这个研究项目代表了IPUP长期战略的一部分，IPUP将于2008年9月组织一次国际学者会议（与耶鲁大学GLC联合），以反思西方思想传统中的奴隶制问题，并在AHRC KT项目完成后委托出版一卷学术文章。这将与2007/08年度的IPUP启动活动相吻合，该活动包括一系列关于“英国性的过去和未来”的国际会议和活动（与《国际卫生条例》合作组织）。2007年在约克大学举办的纪念废除奴隶贸易200周年纪念活动将作为国际奴隶政策研究所关于纪念废除奴隶贸易的研究项目的补充，该活动将包括从2月6日起举行的一系列关于奴隶制的公开讲座；成人暑期学校，7月2-6日，终身学习中心，“反对奴隶制：1807-2007年的过去、现在和未来”；4月12日至14日的国际会议，“废除。1807-2007：结束跨大西洋世界的奴隶贸易”。演讲者包括小说家卡里尔·菲利普斯和著名学者西蒙·沙玛、菲利普·摩根、大卫·默里、大卫·阿特韦尔、吉姆·沃尔文、亨利斯·阿尔廷克、马库斯·伍德、文森特·卡雷塔、特雷弗·菲利普斯、夸贝纳·阿杜朗-帕里、阿迪勒·阿夫吉博。所有人都参与了网站讨论。

The bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade is a unique opportunity to fund a research project that critically evaluates the phenomena of commemorating the slave trade and the production and content of events across a wide variety of creative industries and heritage sites in the UK throughout 2007/08. In addition, the project builds theoretical methods for understanding institutional commemorations that will both inform academic understanding of commemoration as an act and process, and will matter to those in the public sphere who commission and produce commemorative events. The project will develop existing methods of capturing audience receptions of problematic pasts, in the context of new critical methodologies developed by the PI, and will share these with the partner museums.Of the 5 partner museums, 3 are creating new permanent galleries, most significantly the 2nd floor of the NMM into an Atlantic World Gallery and an Indian World Gallery; the 3rd floor reorientation of the BECM called 'Breaking the Chains'; and the annex for the NML called The International Slavery Museum. These reorientations of national museums are groundbreaking because until recently the subject of slavery has been largely absent. Now in 2007, not only will the exhibitions acknowledge the fact of slavery but national museums will put the transatlantic slave trade centre stage. Museums want to participate in discussions via IPUP about how to display problematic and uncomfortable content about the experience of slavery.Significantly therefore, the AHRC KT research project and the website at www.history.ac.uk/abolitionofslavetrade will provide a forum for discussions between academics and practitioners, and also develop existing methods for capturing audience receptions of problematic pasts and share these methods with the partner museums. The audience reception phase of the project will produce research data on identity issues relating to race and multiculturalism. This research will be shared not only with the partner museums but also with policy advisors in DCMS and DCLG. Although the Department of Education has not yet confirmed the timetable for when the transatlantic slave trade will become a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for History, understanding slavery and abolition is already informing teaching and learning on Citizenship.The collection of data and the development of intellectual ideas will inform both the academic and also the public discussion about problematic pasts and contemporary Britain. This research project therefore represents part of a longer-term strategy for IPUP, which will organize a conference of international scholars (joint with the GLC, Yale) for September 2008 to reflect on the problem of slavery in the western thought tradition, and commission the publication of a volume of scholarly articles after the completion of the AHRC KT project. This will fit with the IPUP launch events for 2007/08 which consist of a series of international conferences and events (organized in collaboration with the IHR) on 'The Past and the Future of Britishness'. This IPUP research project on the commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade will be complemented by the Bicentenary events organized for 2007 at the University of York which will consist of a series of public lectures on Slavery from 6 February; a summer school for Adult Learners, 2-6 July, Centre for Lifelong Learning, 'Fighting Slavery: Past, Present, and Future 1807-2007'; and an International Conference, 12-14 April, 'Abolitions. 1807-2007: Ending the Slave Trade in the Transatlantic World'. Speakers include novelist Caryl Phillips and leading academics Simon Schama, Philip Morgan, David Murray, David Attwell, Jim Walvin, Henrice Altink, Marcus Wood, Vincent Carretta, Trevor Phillips, Kwabena Adurang-Parry, Adiele Afgibo. All are participating in the website discussions.