Whose Heritage?

In his seminal lecture “Whose Heritage? Un-settling the ‘Heritage,’ Re-imagining the Post-nation” (1992), Stuart Hall called on diasporic communities to subvert the foundational ground on which the process of heritage construction has proceeded.

For this event, CIVA has convened curators, scholars, and cultural activists to discuss critical heritage practice in archives and collections. The first panel will think through forms of remediation, revisitation, and unlearning of archival structures, and discuss the toxic afterlives of colonial collections. The second panel will feature representatives of various Black Archives initiatives in a discussion of their approaches to collecting oral histories, personal accounts, documents, and artifacts of Black experience, as well as issues of infrastructure, economics, and sustainability in creating and maintaining Black Archives in Europe.

Event conceived in collaboration with Som•m•e Of Us

With Sepake Angiama (Iniva London), Lotte Arndt (Technische Universität Berlin), Jessica De Abreu (Black Archives Amsterdam), Jonelle Twum (Black Archives Sweden), Hannah Ishmael (Black Cultural Archives, UK).