Online Symposium: Barriers to Black Academia: Slavery and Colonialism and The Case for Reparative Justice
Starting on Slavery Remembrance Day (23rd August 2021) and running through to the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (25th March 2022), this series of online panel discussions will discuss the barriers to Black academia in the UK with internationally renowned scholars and activists. Exploring the absence of Black UK academics in teaching and research, especially in studies of slavery, the implications of this absence in relation to student experience and research, and the reparative actions needed from Higher Education Institutions to address the barriers to representation.
More information about the project can be found on our website.
Stereoviews of the Caribbean
Friday 22nd October 2021 (3pm - 3:30pm)
Online
As part of BHM, the Centre for the Study of International Slavery presented an online exhibit and Q&A discussion with Jean-Francois Manicom, Lead curator of the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at the International Slavery Museum.
Book Club with Professor John Oldfield
Wednesday 17th November 2021 (6pm - 7pm)
Online
The Centre for the Study of International Slavery and Liverpool University Press hosted Professor John Oldfield who talked about his book The Ties That Bind: Transatlantic Abolitionism in the Age of Reform, c,1820-1865.
“Human Trafficking and Unfree Labour" virtual networking and research poster event
Wednesday 8th December 2021 (1:30pm - 5pm)
The University of Liverpool and the University of Georgia Partnership hosted a “Human Trafficking and Unfree Labour" virtual networking and research poster event for all Postgraduate Researchers and Early Career Researchers. This was an opportunity to meet with peers at similar stages of your academic career and broaden your knowledge of the field. The event provided a platform for network building, collaboration, and the sharing of knowledge.
CSIS, University of Liverpool and Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull Networking Workshop
Friday 21st January 2022
Wilberforce Institute, Hull
This networking workshop scoped out potential research areas which will lead to collaborative UKRI funding along the three threads of discussion.
Slave Stealing Women, Slave-Owning Women and Stolen Slaves in the American South
Wednesday 23rd February 2022 (1:30pm - 3pm)
Rendall building, L7 7EZ
International Women’s Day Event Modern Slavery - A Gendered Issue
Friday 11th March 2022 (2pm - 3:30pm)
502 Teaching Hub, L3 5TR
This panel event was introduced by Dr Laura Sandy, Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of International Slavery and Senior Lecturer in the History of Slavery. Dame Sara Thornton, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Honorary Professor in Modern Slavery at the University of Liverpool, provided opening remarks, followed by Jo Bezzano and Dr Samantha Currie from the University of Liverpool’s Law School, who outlined the challenges faced by women victims of trafficking to secure legal status in the UK. Dr Amy Benstead from the University of Manchester’s Department of Materials then discussed how modern slavery and trafficking affects women in global textiles and fashion supply chains. Panel remarks were followed by a moderated Q&A, and the event will closed with a tea and coffee reception.
The recording from the event can be watched on the CSIS YouTube.
English Merchants, the Transatlantic Slave Trade & African Slavery in Early Barbados 1640-1672
Tuesday 15th March 2022 (5:30pm - 7pm)
502 Teaching Hub, L3 5TR
Speaker: Dr Michael Bennett, University of Manchester
This paper presented new evidence relating to English slave trading in the middle decades of the seventeenth century, demonstrating that the early English slave trade was of larger proportions than is currently suggested by the quantitative data contained within the Transatlantic Slave Trade database. It also argued that the networks developed by these private slave traders in the 1640s and 1650s would later be of vital importance to the commercial operations of the Royal Adventurers in the 1660s, the new monopoly company formed to govern English trade with West Africa.
The recording from the event can be watched on the CSIS YouTube.
Liverpool Antiracism Festival – Museums Beyond Walls; Beyond Borders and Barriers
Saturday 30th April 2022 (1pm - 5pm)
502 Teaching Hub, L3 5TR
The session invited local and international participants to discuss how universities can support co-created and community-led initiatives, and the development of resources that can be used locally and internationally. This co-produced project intended to move beyond borders and break down barriers to learning about slavery and racism by collectively re-interpreting spaces at the university and around the city, which have been built on the systems, institutions, and inequalities created by slavery. This event aimed to advance the international anti-racism conversation and activism within the university and heritage sectors, nationally and globally.
The Persistence of Memory: Remembering slavery in Liverpool, ‘slaving capital of the world’
Tuesday 10th May 2022 (5:30pm - 8:30pm)
The Kuumba Imani Millenium Centre, L8 1TH
CSIS in partnership with Liverpool University Press held a public talk with Dr Jessica Moody, University of Bristol.
This event can be watched on the CSIS YouTube.
Museums Beyond Walls; Cities and the Built Environment of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Friday 13th May 2022 (12pm - 3:30pm)
CSIS hosted the second of two events focused on better understanding Liverpool’s concerns regarding slavery, its legacies, and its representation in the city’s infrastructure and organisations. The session invited local participants from different age groups, along with secondary school and university students, to discuss how universities can support co-created and community-led initiatives, and the development of a variety of resources that can be used locally and internationally. By collectively re-interpreting spaces on the university campus and around the city, this co-produced project aimed to move beyond the walls of museums and national borders and break down barriers to learning about slavery and racism.
Survivors’ Voices, Stories and Images: A Public Exhibition and Discussion
Thursday 17th March 2022 (5pm - 7:30pm)
502 Teaching Hub, L3 5TR
Participants were joined by survivor leaders and activists from Azadi and researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab for an exhibition of photography produced by survivors of human trafficking as part of the project Survivors' Voices, Stories, and Images: Survivor-Led Empowerment Through Ethical Story-Telling and Participatory Photography in Kenya.
Hosted by the Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS), this exhibition offered survivors the opportunity to share their words, images, and experiences with an international audience.
‘Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism at the University of Liverpool Research Project’': A Liverpool community event
Thursday 16th June 2022 (5pm - 8pm)
Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, L8 1TH
The University of Liverpool (founded in 1881) has benefited significantly from wealth and other advantages derived from colonialism and the enslavement of people. In some cases, this has taken the form of benefaction from those directly involved in these activities, or from their descendants. This connection is being interrogated by university researchers and the local community, including the immense efforts and data collection done by the Liverpool Black History Research Group.
Guests were invited to drop into Kuumba Imani for local cuisine, drinks, and conversation about the future of this research and have a say in how it is performed.
Belonging and Being British: Rethinking archives, objects, and narratives to confront the history of slavery & its legacies
21st and 22nd June 2022
This event offered participants the opportunity to visit archives, museums, galleries, and other buildings across the city of Liverpool that contain exhibits, materials, and other links to Trans-Atlantic slavery. Collectively, they visited and looked at archives, sources, objects, and exhibits held in the Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum and discussed the portrayal of places in the UK, like Liverpool, that have been dependent on slavery and the slave trade.
Diaspora Here: Cultural Landscapes of the Global South
Saturday 25th June 2022 (11am - 4pm)
Katumba Hub, L8 1YR
The day included an artist roundtable featuring local artist and filmmaker Michelle Peterkin-Walker from Akoma Arts, who will talk about her most recent Project Yore Lens on L8, and Leroy Cooper, a filmmaker and photographer who has documented Liverpool’s Black community for more than 35 years. This was followed by a discussion with members of the community, Afro Caribbean and Latin American cuisine and a selection of activities including carnival headdresses and mask making as well as Museo Para Mi activities. The event was closed by a Afro-Latino musical performance.
Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation
Monday 27th June 2022 (5pm - 7:30pm)
SOTA Library, Liverpool
Speaker: Dr Kris Manjapra, Tufts University