Theme 5: Legacies of the past / historical transitions

Keywords: History, Literature, Comic Books, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Violence, Biodiversity, Cultural Diversity, Medieval, Identity, Transitions, Mythologising, Ethics, Frugal Archaeology, Decolonising

Summary of plan

The group discussed the value of the theme in relation to breaking away from negative legacies and how collaborating across disciplines would provide a holistic approach to understanding knowledge creation both in a historical and contemporary context. There was also a strong emphasis on engaging Postdoctoral Researchers and Early Career Researchers in the development of the theme.  The group concluded that an initial mapping exercise of expertise/interest across the School, along with initial networking events, would be a good starting point to further develop a collaborative network of scholars working in this thematic area.

Suggested focus and ambitions of theme

Knowledge Creation: Who gets to be a part of knowledge creation in terms of the legacies – modes of knowledge creation and breaking away from the authorised discourse.

Breaking away from negative legacies / Decolonising legacies:

  • Understanding, disentangling and breaking away from deeply embedded negative legacies (e.g., chronologies, dating of artifacts) – whether it's through technology or breaking away from notions of history that legitimize nationalism.
  • Decolonising could provide a focus as it is central to many aspects of these wide-reaching negative legacies. It deals with race and ethnicity, but also with the hierarchies and structuring of knowledge that go along with the colonial period and the legacies inherited from that. 

Working on legacies of colonialism overlaps with current research taking place in Archaeology on the Fens.  The work examines the ways in which Fenlanders have been excluded from writing the

  • story of their own landscape.  This is another way of working on legacies, colonialism, of the mind and the  way we think, but also about larger issues of colonialism in terms of collections and Social Justice. 
  • Another area of research that may be of interest to this theme is the work being carried out by Sarah Abel at Murray Edwards and especially an international project she’s involved in called CitiGen.  The project is looking at the way in which modern genetics ancient DNA is being used and abused to serve, to retell narratives.  
  • What does this response to legacies of the past mean?  What comes after the decolonising?  One of the reasons why people don’t want to explore the legacy of the past is the fear of uncertainty of what will be discovered once you start digging.  How do we produce a framework that is situated in the present and the future and to understand what we did to untangle those legacies?

Humanities and Social Sciences leading research on Science and History:

Even research projects that involve Science and History can sometimes be reluctant to take on board questions over traditional historical frameworks, because it’s a common point of reference. The group discussed how businesses and scientists are approaching historians and social scientists to analyse and interpret data on human movement.  In this context, there is scope for Humanities and Social Sciences leadership on projects that are traditionally based in the hard sciences.