Starting today: Museums facing Slavery symposium, 220th anniversary of Gen. T. L'Ouverture's death

International Symposium  

"Museums facing Slavery: The Challenge of Reconciling Narratives on a Common Heritage"

Commemoration of the 220th anniversary of the death of General Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803)  (Died in captivity at the fort of Joux, near Pontarlier in the Doubs)

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) and Kartyé Lib Mémoire & Patrimoine Océan Indien are pleased to invite you - via a livestream - to "Museums Facing Slavery: The Challenge of Reconciling Narratives on a Common Heritage," an international symposium taking place from April 12-16, 2023 on Réunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean.

Organized by member site Kartyé Lib Mémoire & Patrimoine Océan Indien, in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the think tank AFROSPECTIVES, the Museum of Black Civilizations, and ICSC, the symposium will bring together museum and heritage professionals, representatives from sites and places of memory, researchers, experts in digital and multimedia technologies, educators, and creators from around the world to discuss the opportunities and challenges museums and heritage sites face in the interpretation and representation of slavery in the societies affected by this history.

Full program in English here.

Session examples: 

Suzanne Simon Baptiste Louverture, an unknown heroine 

Abstract : Toussaint's companion was part of his fight at every moment of his rise in the revolutionary and political sphere of Santo Domingo. A black woman born as a slave on the Breda Plantation in Haut-du-Cap. Wife of Toussaint, mother of his children and his adviser for twenty years.

Toussaint Louverture: an American destiny 1743-1803 

Abstract: The purpose is to situate the revolutionary gesture of Haiti in a more human and global context by insisting, on the one hand, on the heroic dimension of the personal trajectory of the revolutionary General, and, on the other hand, on the global geopolitical vision that inspired his action

Abolition in the Indian Ocean: A Comaparative Study through three Islands (Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Sumatra) 

Abstract: The historiography of the Indian Ocean is incomplete without the uncomfortable narrative on slavery and its Abolition. Gaps in our knowledge of Abolition are inevitably associated with a lacuna in understanding the many morphs of slavery itself. Museums can play a key role in promoting public understanding of, not only the past, but also the prolonged and complex process of Abolition, its actors and key players.

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This symposium is free. You can watch live at https://www.facebook.com/KartyeLibMPOI. I do not know yet if the presentations will be translated into English. Full program in English here.