Symposia
PAST EVENTS:
SUMMER 2015: EUROTAST International Conference
Hosted by the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool
Event Page
Genetics/heritage was an international conference that brought together perspectives from population genetics, archaeology, anthropology, and history to better understand the contemporary legacies of the transatlantic slave trade. This three day conference will highlighted the results from EUROTAST, a Marie Curie Initial Training Network of science and humanities fellows and featured cutting-edge research from leaders in the field. By bringing together new research from genetics and heritage, we showcased the productive results of collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.
APRIL 2014: Memorialization and Heritage: Legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in West Africa
Hosted by the University of Ghana, Legon
APRIL 2014: Slave Raiding, Trading and Ownership in West Africa and Beyond: Reflections on Origins and Transatlantic Connections
Hosted by the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire, Université Cheick Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
The West Africa EUROTAST training initiative was provided by our network affiliate partners in Ghana and Senegal. The intensive 10-day itinerary focused on the themes of heritage memorialization and slavery’s legacies in Africa. The programme included visits to important heritage sites in Ghana and Senegal, which are not only the subject of continuing archaeological research but also poignant destinations for roots tourism within the African Diaspora. These visits were complimented by two symposia including cross-disciplinary perspectives from invited scholars (particularly from West Africa) that explored the reverberations of this unique trading system across time, culture, geopolitical landscape, language, biological identity and collective memory. Finally, a special inspiration day for local educators, planned in each country, served as a critical opportunity for fellows to participate in situated learning experiences, and cross-cultural dialogue.
SEPTEMBER 2013: Which Way Now? Understanding Transatlantic Slavery in Scandinavia
Hosted by The Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
From the mid-seventeenth century until 1802 Denmark- Norway was one of several maritime nations who participated in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Their ships transported at least 100,000 enslaved Africans to the Caribbean islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John, which remained Danish colonies until their transfer to the Unites States of America in 1917. Although Denmark and other Scandinavian countries participated in the Trade, there is little public discourse around these histories and their modern legacies. As Denmark prepares for its centennial commemorations of the transfer of the Danish Virgin Islands in 2017, this interdisciplinary symposium will explore research and perspectives in science, anthropology, heritage, media and contemporary art to expand the current dialogue on slavery and the public past in a European region that is lesser known in the context of this history.
MAY 2013: Recasting Categories: Race, Ancestry, Belonging
Hosted by the Centre International de Recherches sur les Eclavages (CIRESC), Paris
“Race” is a conceptual system that has historically been used to categorise the human family based on phenotype, faculties and character, and which formed the basis of worldwide networks of exploitation under European colonial rule. Today, although biological definitions of race have largely been disavowed by the scientific community, the legacies of racialised thinking have had profound and complex societal implications. This collaborative symposium with CIRESC seeks to facilitate an interdisciplinary dialogue that will explore these inherited categories and understand their influence on contemporary forms of cultural and political identification. Furthermore the discussion will look at the role of genetic ancestry testing in the formation of new ties of kinship and concepts of belonging.
FEBRUARY 2013: The Archaeology of Slavery: Reclaiming history and identity from Africa to the Americas
Hosted by St. Maarten Archaeological Centre (SIMARC)
This 2-day symposium seeks to explore and question the ways archaeology has contributed to academic and public understanding of the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies in Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. Simultaneously the symposium will also demonstrate the diversity of archaeology as a discipline, through varying perspectives and research methodologies including theory, material culture, maritime and landscape archaeology, bioarchaeology, heritage studies and public engagement with archaeological outcomes and professional practice.
JUNE 2012: EUROTAST Network: Contexts & Perspectives
Hosted by the Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past, University of York
Part of the EUROTAST Kick-Off programme, this exploratory symposium, showcased EUROTAST network projects with contextual talks providing complimentary perspectives from invited scholars. For more information about the event, please DOWNLOAD the Kick-Off Week Report.