The Politics of Slave Memorialisation and Redress in the USA


CHANGE OF VENUE: NOW AT BALLIOL COLLEGE, LECTURE ROOM 23.

The 2019-2020 Omar Azfar Lecture, given by Dr Marisa J. Fuentes (Oliver Smithies Visiting Fellow), will give background to the recent contestations over statues and memorials representing both slavery and the legacy of white supremacy in the United States. Touching on key sites of protest and physical/ architectural change, this lecture considers the history of post-Civil War memorialization and the recent momentum of historicizing these legacies at American universities. Finally, the talk will dwell on the work which has been undertaken at Rutgers University in New Jersey to redress its legacies of slavery and the slave trade.