Decolonising York: telling alternative stories in a heritage city
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Archaeology
Abstract
This project will review York's heritage landscape through a combination of archival research and survey of the existing built heritage infrastructure. The aim is to identify excluded Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic stories and places across York's 18th - 20th century history and, with them, contribute to the creation of new heritage experiences. Working between the University of York and the Civic Trust, I will be embedded in critical heritage studies, historical research and the practicalities of civic policy. This contributes to larger agendas at the university and among heritage organisations in the City of York to create inclusive histories.
Historic interest is at the core of York tourism and major source of revenue, with plans to develop the city as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Presentation draws on the 'Island Story' from the Romans to Victorians, with emphasis on Vikings, medieval buildings, the Church and the chocolate industry. Much of York's modern heritage presentation represents precisely the hegemonic, white narratives that decolonial approaches seek to disrupt, in a northern British city, where 12,000 York residents self-identified as BAME in the 2011 census.
Approaches to 'decolonising' history centre the recognition of diverse contributions. This also requires a reconceptualisation of knowledge to confront how subjectivities of 'white' Europeans have been affected by the legacies of colonialism. Such debate is a faultline of British public life, reflected in the Rhodes Must Fall or Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted projects, which highlight how practices of racialised exploitation are the histories of modern Britain. For York, we argue the same is true. York's local history is of Caribbean plantation labourers as much as Quaker industrialists. The project aims to uncover these diverse stories to enrich York's public space.
I will explore York's heritage as part of infrastructures through which identity and power are produced and will benefit from co-supervision and training between Archaeology (heritage approaches) and History (archival research, public history) as well as from a strong partnership with the Civic Trust. The main focus will be from the eighteenth century onwards, exploiting the strengths of York's archival collections. Yet this will complement ongoing work on York's deeper past, with which I will interact at the Civic Trust. Avenues of exploration for this study can include the city's confectionery industry, colonial labour and reparations, and migration to York.
Some of the key questions are:
Can we identify elements of York's built heritage associated with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic histories and experiences? How do visitors currently experience those stories?
What diverse stories can be told about York's urban past, drawn from archival research at York Explore and the UoY Borthwick archive?
How do York's diverse communities experience and value their heritage?
These understandings, grounded in decolonial and critical heritage studies, will then be brought into the work of the Civic Trust, through ongoing collaboration and a period of placement. My work will help inform new ways of presenting York's past, and shape Civic Trust strategy to be more inclusive moving forward.
Research methods will be shaped by my experience and supervisor guidance, but are likely to include archival research, focus group interviews and a survey of York's built heritage. York's archives contain rich information on the city's role in the cocoa trade from the 19th century, and I will draw on these, and other local records, in my analysis.
Historic interest is at the core of York tourism and major source of revenue, with plans to develop the city as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Presentation draws on the 'Island Story' from the Romans to Victorians, with emphasis on Vikings, medieval buildings, the Church and the chocolate industry. Much of York's modern heritage presentation represents precisely the hegemonic, white narratives that decolonial approaches seek to disrupt, in a northern British city, where 12,000 York residents self-identified as BAME in the 2011 census.
Approaches to 'decolonising' history centre the recognition of diverse contributions. This also requires a reconceptualisation of knowledge to confront how subjectivities of 'white' Europeans have been affected by the legacies of colonialism. Such debate is a faultline of British public life, reflected in the Rhodes Must Fall or Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted projects, which highlight how practices of racialised exploitation are the histories of modern Britain. For York, we argue the same is true. York's local history is of Caribbean plantation labourers as much as Quaker industrialists. The project aims to uncover these diverse stories to enrich York's public space.
I will explore York's heritage as part of infrastructures through which identity and power are produced and will benefit from co-supervision and training between Archaeology (heritage approaches) and History (archival research, public history) as well as from a strong partnership with the Civic Trust. The main focus will be from the eighteenth century onwards, exploiting the strengths of York's archival collections. Yet this will complement ongoing work on York's deeper past, with which I will interact at the Civic Trust. Avenues of exploration for this study can include the city's confectionery industry, colonial labour and reparations, and migration to York.
Some of the key questions are:
Can we identify elements of York's built heritage associated with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic histories and experiences? How do visitors currently experience those stories?
What diverse stories can be told about York's urban past, drawn from archival research at York Explore and the UoY Borthwick archive?
How do York's diverse communities experience and value their heritage?
These understandings, grounded in decolonial and critical heritage studies, will then be brought into the work of the Civic Trust, through ongoing collaboration and a period of placement. My work will help inform new ways of presenting York's past, and shape Civic Trust strategy to be more inclusive moving forward.
Research methods will be shaped by my experience and supervisor guidance, but are likely to include archival research, focus group interviews and a survey of York's built heritage. York's archives contain rich information on the city's role in the cocoa trade from the 19th century, and I will draw on these, and other local records, in my analysis.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Stephanie Wynne-Jones (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Daria Lynch (Student) |