Re-interpreting convict transportation: Decolonising the convict transportation exhibition at the National Justice Museum, Nottingham
Lead Research Organisation:
Nottingham Trent University
Department Name: Sch of Arts and Humanities
Abstract
This project draws on decolonial theory and praxis to re-imagine museum interpretation around convict transportation. It explores how historic sites linked to convict transportation and penal settlement can better incorporate stories of displacement and subordination of indigenous populations linking these to contemporary narratives of exile, deportation, and confinement.
The National Justice Museum (NJM) is a criminal justice collection, heritage site and education provider that occupies the site of Nottingham County courts, gaol and police headquarters. Its focus is inequality, justice and human rights. It is a nationally styled accredited museum and a charitable trust. Opened in 2010, the convict transportation exhibition at the National Justice Museum offers an immersive experience modelled on an eighteenth-century convict ship travelling from England to Australia. The exhibition draws on the site's history as holding prison and point of departure for the colonies. As such it provides the starting point for a comparative analysis of existing narratives of transportation told in prison museums across the UK, exploring these via a decolonial theoretical framework. The research will lay the groundwork for the redevelopment of National Justice Museum's convict transportation exhibition. Its findings will be used to leverage funding for the gallery redevelopment and shape and inform shape and inform the exhibition strategy, interpretation content, inclusion of objects and archive material.
Indicative preliminary research questions:
- What current perceptions do visitors and stakeholders hold around convict transportation?
- How can interpretation engage with specific histories linked to built heritage while connecting these to wider, transnational stories of convict transportation and its legacies?
- How can stories of indigenous populations upon whose land penal colonies were created be centred within transportation narratives?
- What role can creative practices focused on decoloniality play within and beyond the museum?
- How can interpretive practices ensure inclusive and sensitive language and imagery when telling stories of suffering and erasure associated with convict transportation, forced labour and imprisonment?
In addition to the academic thesis, the researcher will be responsible for running a series of 'ideation' sessions with museum stakeholders and community members. These will inform the creation of a policy document and decolonial toolkit aimed specifically at museums focused on the history of crime and punishment. The researcher will also have the opportunity to design a new 'pause and reflect' space adjacent to the current convict transportation exhibition.
The project is truly interdisciplinary and we invite candidates from a range of backgrounds including (but not limited to) history, museum and heritage studies, criminology, sociology, cultural studies, postcolonial and critical race studies. We expect the researcher to develop their own focus and approach but anticipate the use of the following methods:
a. Fieldwork ethnography at museums and heritage sites in the UK.
b. Archival and collection research - National Justice Museum hold important archival resources including material on child transportation. Notable is a register for Millbank Prison 1840-1845 and material from the Rainer Foundation. There is scope to connect these stories to those of the removal of indigenous children from their families in Australia and Canada.
c. Oral history and focus group work with community and advocacy groups
d. Creative practice in developing engagement activities and presenting findings to non-specialist audiences.
The National Justice Museum (NJM) is a criminal justice collection, heritage site and education provider that occupies the site of Nottingham County courts, gaol and police headquarters. Its focus is inequality, justice and human rights. It is a nationally styled accredited museum and a charitable trust. Opened in 2010, the convict transportation exhibition at the National Justice Museum offers an immersive experience modelled on an eighteenth-century convict ship travelling from England to Australia. The exhibition draws on the site's history as holding prison and point of departure for the colonies. As such it provides the starting point for a comparative analysis of existing narratives of transportation told in prison museums across the UK, exploring these via a decolonial theoretical framework. The research will lay the groundwork for the redevelopment of National Justice Museum's convict transportation exhibition. Its findings will be used to leverage funding for the gallery redevelopment and shape and inform shape and inform the exhibition strategy, interpretation content, inclusion of objects and archive material.
Indicative preliminary research questions:
- What current perceptions do visitors and stakeholders hold around convict transportation?
- How can interpretation engage with specific histories linked to built heritage while connecting these to wider, transnational stories of convict transportation and its legacies?
- How can stories of indigenous populations upon whose land penal colonies were created be centred within transportation narratives?
- What role can creative practices focused on decoloniality play within and beyond the museum?
- How can interpretive practices ensure inclusive and sensitive language and imagery when telling stories of suffering and erasure associated with convict transportation, forced labour and imprisonment?
In addition to the academic thesis, the researcher will be responsible for running a series of 'ideation' sessions with museum stakeholders and community members. These will inform the creation of a policy document and decolonial toolkit aimed specifically at museums focused on the history of crime and punishment. The researcher will also have the opportunity to design a new 'pause and reflect' space adjacent to the current convict transportation exhibition.
The project is truly interdisciplinary and we invite candidates from a range of backgrounds including (but not limited to) history, museum and heritage studies, criminology, sociology, cultural studies, postcolonial and critical race studies. We expect the researcher to develop their own focus and approach but anticipate the use of the following methods:
a. Fieldwork ethnography at museums and heritage sites in the UK.
b. Archival and collection research - National Justice Museum hold important archival resources including material on child transportation. Notable is a register for Millbank Prison 1840-1845 and material from the Rainer Foundation. There is scope to connect these stories to those of the removal of indigenous children from their families in Australia and Canada.
c. Oral history and focus group work with community and advocacy groups
d. Creative practice in developing engagement activities and presenting findings to non-specialist audiences.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sophie Fuggle (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Hannah McCullough (Student) |