CEAGS member PD Dr. habil. Ulrike Schmieder has published a two-volume open access publication entitled “Slavery in the Atlantic Region - Places of Remembrance, Places of Silence in France and Spain, Martinique and Cuba” with De Gruyter Oldenbourg Verlag in 2024. It contains the results of her DFG project “Memories of Atlantic Slavery. France and Spain, the French and Cuba in Comparison and in the Context of Global Debates on the Commemoration of the Slave Trade and Slavery”.
“In the context of the cultural heritage boom, places of remembrance of enslavement and colonialism are a field of social conflict. This became visible in 2020 in the Black Lives Matter movement. In the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), Europe, Africa and the Americas are discussing how enslavement should be remembered, who should apologize to whom and who should compensate whom.
The author examines historical sites of enslavement and profit transfer, museums, monuments and memorial ceremonies in France and Spain, Martinique and Cuba. In interviews in the European capitals and port cities, she found out who was committed to or against the commemoration of the African prisoners. In the Caribbean, the author spoke to descendants of enslaved people about their memories of enslavement, experiences of racism and the local memorials. As a legacy of enslavement, racist social inequality came to light.
The book is aimed not only at researchers and students of history and related disciplines, but also at anyone interested in the decolonization of memory culture and historical politics.” (De Gruyter Oldenbourg Verlag)
Further information from the publisher can be found here, a review of the publication here.
