The Legacies of 2007: Remapping the Black Presence in Britain

Abstract

Abstract The 1807/2007 commemorations of the bicentenary of the Parliamentary Act to abolish the British slave trade stimulated a large number of academic and community based projects, from small scale research to the renovation of national museums. This article reviews the academic and other literatures that informed and have emerged from these projects. It explores how contradictions, fractures and openings highlighted by the 1807/2007 bicentenary and these literatures might be taken forward and developed by geographers interested in the making of Britishness, and the relationship between public geographies and public histories.