Reckoning with Racism: The Social Memory of the Slave Trade

This day-long symposium will showcase new directions for public institutions to engage and grapple with the history, memory and legacies of slavery and colonialism in Portugal, across Europe and throughout the Lusophone world. 

As the European country with the longest historical involvement in the slave trade, and with a growing call for a public confrontation with this past and its legacies, Portugal constitutes a crucial space to host a public discussion about how a palpable silence remains in our museums, memorials and public institutions about this history and respective heritage, despite slavery having shaped our modern world. 

Scholars, curators, preservationists, and museum professionals from Portugal, Angola, Brazil, Mozambique, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States will explore important questions, catalyze conversations, and address questions about diversity in participation, research, and representation of this past and its presence in our present questions of social and racial justice in local, national, and global contexts.

PROGRAMME

9pm - 10.45am
SLAVERY AND MEMORY PORTUGAL
Evalina Dias, José Lino, Isabel Castro Henriques, Paulo Almeida Fernandes
Moderator Raquel Machaqueiro

10:45am - 11am - Coffee break 

11am - 13pm
SLAVERY AND MEMORY IN THE LUSOPHONE WORLD 
Aline Montenegro, José Andrade, Afonso Vita, Rui Gomes Coelho
Moderator Maria Vlachou

1pm - 2:30pm - Lunch

2:30pm - 3:45pm
THE SLAVE WRECKS PROJECT: BULDING A GLOBAL ARCHIPELAGO OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Kate McMahon, Stephen Lubkemann, Dave Conlin, Jay Haigler, Kamau Sadiki, Gabrielle Miller, Jaco Boshoff

3:45pm - 4pm - Coffee break 

4pm - 5pm
DECOLONIAL MODELS AND INCLUSIVE APPROACHES OF COMMUNITIES IN MUSEOLOGICAL PRACTICES
Zandra Yeaman, Paul Reid, Mitchell Esajas
Moderator Paul Gardullo