A Commitment to Change, Part II
Last month, we stood in solidarity with Black Lives Matter to express our commitment to institutional change. In a short blog post, we outlined some of the practical steps we are taking to honour that commitment. The principles of dialogue, openness and frankness are central to our approach, and so we were pleased to receive an open letter from the…
Exploring the legacies of empire and enslavement
“It is inconceivable that a British institution as old as our University would not have been touched by colonial practices of enslavement and enforced labour. […] The legacies of enslavement form a part of who we are today, and inform what we wish to achieve. We can never rewrite history, or do away with our heritage, but we can try…
A Commitment to Change
We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, with our Black friends, colleagues and visitors. As museums, we haven’t always been there. We should provide respectful spaces for everyone to be heard, share learning, and enjoy. But our collections were founded on and exist within unequal power structures. Without addressing this, we will continue to entrench that inequality. As our…