{"title":"Confronting Colonial Modernity in a French City: Slavery and Racism in Bordeaux’s Musée d’Aquitaine","authors":"Claire Sutherland","doi":"10.1080/2159032x.2023.2266642","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"What is the purpose of an exhibit on Atlantic slavery? Does it seek to raise awareness of the trade in enslaved people, with a view to highlighting and overcoming its racist legacy, or to situate the Atlantic trade within the historical – and ongoing – continuum of slavery, or to draw attention to the role of slavery in constituting colonial modernity? Does giving this history its rightful place within the national story of France, Britain or elsewhere ultimately serve to embed racial divisions in contemporary society, or to expunge them? In other words, does a reckoning with Atlantic slavery open a path to tackling racism today? This article addresses these questions in turn. Its principal referent is the Musée d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux, set in the wider context of the city’s self-image and French debates around commemorating the Atlantic slave trade. The article concludes that even though Bordeaux’s slaving past is integrated into the Musée d’Aquitaine’s guiding chronology, the full ramifications of slavery for colonial modernity have not been understood or represented. Beyond simplistic dichotomies of guilt and innocence, accusation and repentance, the enormous significance of coloniality and slavery in constituting European modernity, not least the Enlightenment, have yet to be grasped and assimilated in Bordeaux.","PeriodicalId":44088,"journal":{"name":"Heritage and Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Heritage and Society","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159032x.2023.2266642","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
What is the purpose of an exhibit on Atlantic slavery? Does it seek to raise awareness of the trade in enslaved people, with a view to highlighting and overcoming its racist legacy, or to situate the Atlantic trade within the historical – and ongoing – continuum of slavery, or to draw attention to the role of slavery in constituting colonial modernity? Does giving this history its rightful place within the national story of France, Britain or elsewhere ultimately serve to embed racial divisions in contemporary society, or to expunge them? In other words, does a reckoning with Atlantic slavery open a path to tackling racism today? This article addresses these questions in turn. Its principal referent is the Musée d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux, set in the wider context of the city’s self-image and French debates around commemorating the Atlantic slave trade. The article concludes that even though Bordeaux’s slaving past is integrated into the Musée d’Aquitaine’s guiding chronology, the full ramifications of slavery for colonial modernity have not been understood or represented. Beyond simplistic dichotomies of guilt and innocence, accusation and repentance, the enormous significance of coloniality and slavery in constituting European modernity, not least the Enlightenment, have yet to be grasped and assimilated in Bordeaux.
大西洋奴隶制展览的目的是什么?它是寻求提高人们对奴隶贸易的认识,以突出和克服其种族主义遗产,还是将大西洋贸易置于历史上和正在进行的奴隶制连续体中,还是提请人们注意奴隶制在构成殖民现代性中的作用?在法国、英国或其他国家的国家故事中赋予这段历史应有的地位,最终会将种族分裂嵌入当代社会,还是会消除它们?换句话说,对大西洋奴隶制的清算是否为今天解决种族主义开辟了一条道路?本文依次解决这些问题。它的主要参考对象是波尔多的mussame d’aquitaine,背景是这座城市的自我形象和法国围绕纪念大西洋奴隶贸易的辩论。这篇文章的结论是,尽管波尔多的奴隶制历史被纳入了mus d 'Aquitaine的指导年表中,但奴隶制对殖民地现代性的全部影响却没有被理解或表现出来。除了罪责与清白、指控与忏悔的简单二分法之外,殖民和奴隶制在构成欧洲现代性(尤其是启蒙运动)中的巨大意义,尚未在波尔多被理解和吸收。
期刊介绍:
Heritage & Society is a global, peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for scholarly, professional, and community reflection on the cultural, political, and economic impacts of heritage on contemporary society. We seek to examine the current social roles of collective memory, historic preservation, cultural resource management, public interpretation, cultural preservation and revitalization, sites of conscience, diasporic heritage, education, legal/legislative developments, cultural heritage ethics, and central heritage concepts such as authenticity, significance, and value. The journal provides an engaging forum about tangible and intangible heritage for those who work with international and governmental organizations, academic institutions, private heritage consulting and CRM firms, and local, associated, and indigenous communities. With a special emphasis on social science approaches and an international perspective, the journal will facilitate lively, critical discussion and dissemination of practical data among heritage professionals, planners, policymakers, and community leaders.