Navigating personal and professional pathways towards the telling of Bath’s African-connected histories

Sobers, Shawn; Andrews, Polly

Abstract

This chapter is a transcript of a conversation between Polly Andrews - Learning Officer for Bath Abbey, and Convenor of the Bath & Colonialism Action Group; and Professor Shawn-Naphtali Sobers – trustee of Fairfield House , Bath, and Professor of Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

In their multiple roles, both Andrews and Sobers negotiate asking new questions about Bath's colonial and related histories, and they work to bring these alternative perspectives and new-found stories to new audiences. In a city which is ever mindful and protective of its international reputation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Andrews and Sobers discuss some of the challenges and opportunities in carrying out this work, of introducing new narratives into the city’s history.

Their intimate and open conversation reveals the complexities of navigating this narrative space, coming close after the (so-called) ‘culture wars’ debates following the fallout from the 2020 global Black Lives Matter protests. The discussion explores the responsibility each of them feels towards telling the histories of Bath's connections with transatlantic slavery, colonialism, and the narratives of African-Caribbean presence in the city. As a white woman and black man respectively, both authors arrive at this exchange from different personal and cultural starting points, and the chapter explores their personal journeys and links with these histories, and their arrival in this place in the personal and professional positions.

Citation

Sobers, S., & Andrews, P. (in press). Navigating personal and professional pathways towards the telling of Bath’s African-connected histories. In Legacies of Slave-ownership and Enslavement: Reshaping Memoryscape in Bath and Bristol after the Fall of Colston. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press

• Acceptance Date: Jun 6, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 9, 2023
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Edition: 1st
• Book Title: Legacies of Slave-ownership and Enslavement: Reshaping Memoryscape in Bath and Bristol after the Fall of Colston
• Keywords: slavery, colston, bath, bristol, legacy, impact, memoryscapes
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10849973