With kind permission of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Envisioning reparations: historical and comparative approaches

Wed 28 September 2022 - Fri 30 September 2022

Møller Institute

n light of Cambridge’s exploration of its historical connections to colonialism and slavery, this conference proposes to bring together scholars of Africa and the African diaspora in order to generate a broad discussion on the concept of ‘reparation’ as it relates to Black history and Black movements for freedom and equality. Rather than focusing exclusively on the UK, the US, or English-speaking Caribbean countries, this conference invites the broadest possible discussion of the black populations throughout the Americas as well as the formerly colonised nations of Africa.

Sessions will specifically address the origins and evolution of reparations movements from the period of slavery until the present, and the conference invites debates on the horizons of possibility for this controversial and embattled cause. Calls for varying forms of reparations have raised questions about the place of morality, politics, economics and law in evolving interpretations of the past.

This conference proposes to contribute to the University of Cambridge legacies of enslavement inquiry through dialogue with world-leading scholars on Black history while also creating a forum to advance the rapidly evolving public debate on slavery’s long legacies and the idea of historical reparation.

Cost: FREE