University histories need to be re-examined with attention to the role of Indigenous Peoples, connections to Residential Schools and universities’ fundraising efforts.
Western museums need to meaningfully come to terms with their colonial past and present to fulfil their role as places of knowledge.
(Shutterstock)
Western museums are beginning to re-evaluate how they portray cultures and history and return stolen artifacts. But for change to be meaningful, it needs to be truly inclusive.
Is it possible to disentangle the personal attributes of a gentle and kindly woman, from her role as the crowned head of a declining global empire that waged numerous wars? Many don’t think so.
President Emmanuel Macron (G) et Umaro Sissoco Embalo, president du Guinée Bissau (D).
Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Les récentes visites de Macron en Afrique racontent une histoire
de la France qui fait acte de repentance pour ses crimes coloniaux tout en essayant de conserver son influence héritée du colonialisme.
French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo (R) during Macron’s visit in July 2022.
Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Macron’s recent visits to Africa tell a story in which France is doing penance for its colonial crimes while trying to maintain influence gained through colonialism.
Ndabaningi Sithole, July 1977.
Central Press/Getty Images
Racism and colonialism are not events but enduring structures written into law and media systems. Legislators should listen to what Black, Indigenous and racialized people are calling for.
Queen Elizabeth II waves from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
In the early 1960s, British and American diplomats conspired to establish a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest atoll of the Chagos Archipelago.
Patrice Lumumba, left, first Prime Minister of independent Congo in 1960. The CIA celebrated his death.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, South Africa and Assistant Professor in the History of International Relations, Utrecht University