New Faculty Seminar: Edith Gonzalez
HI Seminar Room (218 Clemens Hall)
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
We Carry It Within Us: Does shared colonial history equal shared cultural heritage?
In the late 17th century, the island of Barbuda was established as a plantation under a land grant from the English Crown to Christopher Codrington. He, and his descendants, established a legacy for the management of Barbuda Plantation where managers tried various strategies to produce a profit from the labor and expertise of indigenous and Afro-Caribbean peoples held as enslaved laborers on the island. Archives and libraries across the UK retain archival collections from the Codrington family papers (among others) comprising an extensive data set through which to examine the Codrington legacy of shifting ecologies and assemblages -- which became integral parts of modern Barbudan culture and identity. Where does the responsibility for cultural heritage collection stewardship, accessibility, and interpretation lie, particularly when multiple and sometimes competing communities of relevance have shared history? How can researchers tease out otherwise forgotten stories?
