Working with Traumatic Histories

The schedule for the event will be as follows:

9.00 Arrival

9-9.30 – Refreshments

9.30 – Keynote presentation by Dr Rebecca Martin (talk 9.35-10.10 – followed by q&a 10.10- 10.30)

10.30-10.45 – Refreshment break

10.45-12.00 – Workshop led by Michelle Peterkin-Walker

12.00-1.15 – Lunch break; viewing of creative interventions by Anna-Louise Loy

1.15-2.30 – Sharing session: attendees/participants introduce themselves and their work

2.30-2.45 – Break

2.45-4.15 – Case studies:

Visit to University of Liverpool Library Special Collections

Facilitated discussion of examples from museum collections.

This one-day workshop brings together heritage professionals, academics, artists and members of the public to explore histories and legacies of ‘scientific’ racism in Liverpool heritage institutions.

Museum displays and university curricula have historically played an important role in teaching and promoting racism. The medical, anthropological and anatomical collections of Liverpool heritage institutions include objects, books, specimens and ancestral remains that were used to spread pseudoscientific racial hierarchies during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

How should Liverpool’s heritage institutions respond to histories and legacies of ‘scientific’ racism? What needs to be done to acknowledge museums’ and universities’ responsibility in forming and spreading racist ideologies? Is there a way to represent heritage institutions’ historic complicity in ‘scientific’ racism without repeating and perpetuating racial trauma?

The workshop addresses these questions from a range of perspectives. There will be keynote presentations by Dr Rebecca Martin, Research Project Officer at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, and Michelle Peterkin-Walker, a socially engaged artist, activist and filmmaker. The programme includes group discussions about items in collections held by National Museums Liverpool and the University of Liverpool.

The workshop will inform ongoing work to design new displays at the redeveloped International Slavery Museum.

This event will be led by Dr Alexander Scott,  Project Curator of History and Archaeology at the International Slavery Museum (ISM), National Museums Liverpool.

And by Dr Stephen C. Kenny, Senior Lecturer, 19th and 20th century North American History, University of History, University of Liverpool.
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/stephen-kenny

This event is open to anyone over the age of 18

The event will be of particular interest to historians of slavery, race, health, medicine, and science; museum and heritage professionals, artists, activists and members of the public who are interested in exploring histories and legacies of ‘scientific’ racism in heritage institutions, especially those based in Liverpool.

Booking will close when the venue capacity has been reached