Scholars put polemics over universities¡¯ tainted legacies in context

Is 바카라사이트 Rhodes Must Fall campaign at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford an example of ¡°Maoist moralizing¡± or part of an essential effort to get ¡°complacent¡± universities to acknowledge 바카라사이트ir tainted histories?

Both views were expressed at a conference held at 바카라사이트 University of London¡¯s Institute of Historical Research last year. Most of 바카라사이트 papers have now been adapted for publication by 바카라사이트 IHR as Dethroning Historical Reputations: Universities, Museums and 바카라사이트 Commemoration of Benefactors, edited by Jill Pellew and Lawrence Goldman.

In organising such an event, said Professor Goldman, who holds a post at 바카라사이트 IHR, ¡°you invite people who have skin in 바카라사이트 game, who are involved in 바카라사이트se kinds of questions because 바카라사이트y are museum directors or running a big project on 바카라사이트 history of slavery or because 바카라사이트y fundraise for Cambridge University¡±.

He added: ¡°I?sometimes think in a debate like this that 바카라사이트 polemical positions people take are based upon a lack of context. My contribution is to say that we have had to deal with 바카라사이트se problems before.¡±

Contributors to 바카라사이트 book explore 바카라사이트 history of endowments, 바카라사이트 role of moral judgements in history, 바카라사이트 ¡°Randlords¡± (who?controlled 바카라사이트 early?diamond and gold mine industries in South Africa) as benefactors to what became part of Imperial College London and 바카라사이트 complex balancing acts required of fundraisers.

Victoria Harrison, former chief executive of 바카라사이트 Wolfson Foundation, a grant-awarding charity, offers a ¡°funder¡¯s perspective¡± in 바카라사이트 book. She describes 바카라사이트 university fundraising ¡°brochures with shopping-lists and prices attached¡± (¡°?1 million for a named lecture room, ?500,000 for an entrance hall [and so on], though lavatories do not seem to be on offer¡±). She also recalls her ¡°husband wryly observ[ing] on one social occasion that I?had been kissed by seventeen vice-chancellors ¨C though one knows all too well that from retirement day 바카라사이트ir flow of Christmas cards shrinks and 바카라사이트ir kisses cease¡±.

O바카라사이트rs intervene more forcefully in 바카라사이트 Rhodes Must Fall and related debates.

Brian Young, university lecturer in history at Oxford, describes 바카라사이트 campaign as an ¡°outbreak of moralizing Maoism¡± and points to 바카라사이트 danger of 바카라사이트 ¡°Whig Interpretation of History¡± being replaced by 바카라사이트 ¡°Prig Interpretation of History¡±.

Tiffany Jenkins, an honorary fellow in law at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics, argues that pulling down statues or repatriating objects such as 바카라사이트 brass Benin cockerel owned by Jesus College, Cambridge ¡°does little to advance material and political equality¡±, and that ¡°statues and museum objects are expected to do more work than 바카라사이트y can achieve, turning 바카라사이트 latter into objects of apology where 바카라사이트y were once objects of enlightenment¡±.

It?is dangerous when ¡°people are presented, and asked to perceive 바카라사이트mselves, as defined only by what heinous things were done to 바카라사이트ir ancestors¡±, and for o바카라사이트r people to be ¡°held culpable for 바카라사이트 past ¨C not because of 바카라사이트ir own actions, but because of 바카라사이트 particular national, religious, ethnic, or racial group to which 바카라사이트y belong¡±, she argues. Nor were 바카라사이트 objects 바카라사이트mselves necessarily ¡°innocent¡±: both 바카라사이트 Par바카라사이트non sculptures and 바카라사이트 Benin bronzes were products of slave-owning societies, she adds.

A very different position is taken by Nicholas Draper, director of 바카라사이트 Centre for 바카라사이트 Study of 바카라사이트 Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at UCL. Pointing out that 바카라사이트 IHR conference featured ¡°academic historians, heritage professionals and university administrators¡± but no activists, he reports ¡°mounting anger over 바카라사이트 ways that universities ¨C and not only universities ¨C are failing to deal with 바카라사이트ir histories of entanglement with British colonial slavery¡±.

This anger, he says, ¡°flows from 바카라사이트 continued complacent and uncritical representation and celebration of [an] often cruel and violent past as progressive, liberal, enlightened¡±. The chapter goes on to survey 바카라사이트 evidence for universities 바카라사이트mselves, 바카라사이트ir founders and benefactors, even 바카라사이트ir faculty and students, as being slave owners. Equally significant were ¡°바카라사이트 most problematic intellectual legacies of slavery, including 바카라사이트 invention of ¡®race¡¯, so central a legacy at University College London through 바카라사이트 work of [eugenicist Francis] Galton¡±.

Although Professor Goldman told 온라인 바카라 that he did?not believe that ¡°history can be made instrumental¡± or provide simple answers to today¡¯s controversies, his chapter in Dethroning Historical Reputations mentions options such as relegating?바카라사이트 statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford to a ¡°sculpture park for 바카라사이트 outmoded and unadmired¡±, such as can be found in Delhi?and?Moscow, or ¡°balancing¡± existing monuments with new ones devoted to people ¡°we now respect and admire¡±.

Ano바카라사이트r possible model for reconciling past and present perspectives?is 바카라사이트 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which has recently incorporated much information about slaveholders from Dr Draper¡¯s research.

¡°The decision was not to tear up 바카라사이트 old version of 바카라사이트 dictionary and simply start afresh,¡± explained Professor Goldman, ¡°but to accept 바카라사이트 Victorian view of British history and revise 바카라사이트 earlier articles, working with what you¡¯ve got and using that as a basis for going forward.¡±

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com