Rich history: race, space and the sanitisation of colonial heritage

Willems, Wendy ORCID: 0000-0002-9185-4268 (2020) Rich history: race, space and the sanitisation of colonial heritage. Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

Video (Willems_rich-history-race-space-and-sanitisation-of-colonial-heritage) - Published Version Download (175MB)

• Author
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqgTv57o...

Abstract

As recent antiracist protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing made clear, urban space is the product of much longer histories of slavery and colonialism. Demonstrations worldwide have pointed to statues, street names and other visible markers that continue to glorify these histories. The whiteness of urban space is not only expressed in the celebration of colonial legacies but also reinforced by processes of gentrification. Occasionally, these two processes can mutually reinforce each other such as in an upmarket residential development, now known as Royal Arsenal Riverside, in Woolwich, South-East London. Instead of confronting history in an explicit manner, colonial heritage in the Royal Arsenal has been sanitised and commodified into a desirable but contextless aesthetic.

Item Type:	Audio/visual resource
Official URL:	https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/res...
Additional Information:	© 2020 The Author
Divisions:	Media and Communications
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Date Deposited:	15 Jan 2021 08:39
Last Modified:	01 Apr 2024 07:53
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/108430

Actions (login required)

View Item