Posted by Rosie Jennings on October 9th, 2024.
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Launch events in Bath: Tuesday 15 October, Sunday 20 October 2024, Tuesday 22 October 2024
Launch event in Bristol: Wednesday 16 October
A new book edited by University of Bath’s Dr Christina Horvath reflects on the aftermath of the toppling of Bristol’s Colston statue, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the resulting debates over history, heritage and memory.
Breaking the Dead Silence: Engaging with the Legacies of Empire and Slave-Ownership in Bath and Bristol’s Memoryscapes explores the overlooked legacies of transatlantic slavery and the obscured heritage of Bristol and Bath. New and diverse voices from academics to activists offer fresh perspectives and proposals on how to create a richer, truthful and more representative approach to heritage.
Dr Horvath continues: “The main aim of this book is to diversify this heritage by bringing to the fore some of the missing voices and unheard stories. Stories not only about slavery and abolition, but also about Bath’s Caribbean cricket team, and the Bristol bus boycott, the Bath workhouse or one of Bath’s most prominent residents, Emperor Haile Selassie”.
The book, available for free download, features critical commentaries from 19 authors including academics, artists, activists and heritage professionals, challenging the official heritage narrative of both cities. Published by Liverpool University Press. Co-editor Dr Richard White, a visiting research fellow at Bath Spa University, added: “Stories of colonial exploitation, forced migration and looting are hidden in plain sight in Bristol and Bath. From Bath’s UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site and the old port of Bristol to the coastal cities of the UK and beyond, public sites of memory have yet to fully acknowledge the atrocities committed in the creation of the wealth they manifest.”
Authors include:
- Renée Jacobs, founder of The Belonging Network;
- Social activist, Roger Griffith MBE;
- Jill Sutherland, independent researcher of museology and curatorial practice;
- Shawn Sobers, Professor of Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice at the University of the West of England, Bristol
Contributors offer unique perspectives on how Black and minority communities feel underrepresented in mainstream heritage narratives, often leading to feelings of exclusion, invisibility, silence, and erasure.
The title, Breaking the Dead Silence, references Jane Austen’s portrayal in her novel Mansfield Park of a conversation on transatlantic slavery stifled by a “dead silence”. The authors argue that this silence persisted in Bath until the 2020 toppling of the Colston statue in Bristol and that the active contribution of civil society is crucial to earnestly pursue decolonisation.
Launch Events:
- Tuesday 15 October, 19:00–21:00 BST: Widcombe Social Club, Bath. Register here.
- Wednesday 16 October, 18:45–21:00 BST, MShed, Bristol. Register here.
- Sunday 20 October, 19:30–20:45 BST, Author Talk at Topping & Company Booksellers of Bath. Register here.
- Tuesday 22 October, 13:15–14:15 BST, Meet the Authors, University of Bath. Register here.
For more information, please contact Rebecca Tanswell at the University of Bath press office: 01225 386319 or email [email protected].
Breaking the Dead Silence is released by Liverpool University Press, Paperback £27.99 and available for free download. Use code 27BREAKING for an extra discount when purchasing directly from the LUP website before Thursday 31 October 2024.
