Abstract
This thesis interprets the memorialisation of African diasporan history and culture at diverse museums and sites of memorialisation in Britain, America and France. Through case studies, the thesis reflects on how an alignment with Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic can impact the reach of these sites by both its presence and its absence. The case study focus is largely on very recent developments, where significant public and private money has been directed towards memorialising racial issues which have previously been pushed to the margins of historical memorialisation.These recent museological shifts are seen here within a comparative frame of how black Atlantic identity is memorialised, or commemorated, at diverse museum sites. The case studies identify how the potential for a sense of inclusive, transatlantic belonging for the African diaspora at new museums - both local and national - is at odds with a reductive, nationalist hierarchy of racial history still being told at other sites.
Working alongside a critical tradition of diverse black Atlantic approaches, the case study analysis comprises the National Museum of African American History and Culture, (NMAAHC), The Whitney Plantation and a multi-site focus on Toussaint Louverture’s black Atlantic Identity as permanently memorialised at 1) The Chateau de Joux in France, 2) the Paradox of Liberty Exhibit at the Smithsonian’s NMAAHC and 3) a temporary exhibit, in 2018, in the Asahi Shimbun Room 3 of The British Museum in London.
| Date of Award | 15 Jul 2020 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Jude Davies (Supervisor) & Carol Smith (Supervisor) |