Shadows of the Slave Past ─ Memory, Heritage, and Slavery

How do our contemporary societies remember, reenact, conceal, and forget unpleasant aspects of their national histories encompassing enslavement, racism, and segregation of individuals and groups? How is the slave trade past conveyed and displayed in the public space? Over the last twenty years, the Atlantic slave past has received increased attention in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. The rise of the public memory of slavery resulted from the political struggle of social actors fighting for social justice or seeking to occupy the public arena, sometimes in order to obtain political gains. Relying on transnational and comparative examination of monuments, memorials, and museums located in various regions of the Americas, Europe, and Africa, Shadows of the Slave Past: Memory, Heritage, and Slavery seeks to understand how slavery and the Atlantic slave trade are remembered, commemorated, and "heritagized" in the public space.