Panel on Scotland's Transnational Heritage

We are incredibly excited to host a symposium on the collection of essays constitutive of Scotland's Transnational Heritage: Legacies of Empire, Trade and Slavery. To enlighten and engage on a variety of topics, from a broad range of expertise, are three contributors to the collection: Emma Bond, Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies at the University of Oxford; Michael Morris, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Dundee; and Lisa Williams, Honorary Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh and founder of the Edinburgh Caribbean Association.

How do we re-think the way Scotland’s history is told today? In the current context of calls to decolonise both the museum and the academy, how do we tell the stories of Scotland’s role in networks of colonialism?

Scotland’s Transnational Heritage draws on the expertise of academics, museum professionals and creative practitioners working together to re-think the way that the transnational histories of Scotland are being told today. It outlines new historical examples of how Scottish trades and institutions benefitted from Empire. It gathers examples of contemporary case studies and innovative practices in storytelling that engage and inform.

The essays aims to inspire heritage and museum staff and academics to create new approaches to these histories, both in Scotland and beyond.

So come along, have a glass of wine on us, and let Emma, Michael and Lisa give you a timely overview of the exciting and diverse work taking place in these fields today.

Emma Bond is Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies at the University of Oxford and was Principal Investigator of the ‘Transnational Scotland’ network (2019–20). She has published widely on transnational, border and migration cultures, including the monograph Writing Migration through the Body (2018) and the co-edited volume Destination Italy: Representing Migration in Contemporary Media and Narrative (2015).

Michael Morris is Senior Lecturer at the University of Dundee, and was Co-Investigator of the ‘Transnational Scotland’ network (2019–20). His research is on the historical and cultural legacies of slavery, including Scotland and the Caribbean: Atlantic Archipelagos (2015). He is a founding member of the Black Atlantic Research Dundee network, and decolonising committees at V&A Dundee and the Museums of the University of St Andrews.

Lisa Williams is an author, poet and founder of the Edinburgh Caribbean Association. She curates a range of arts events across Scotland to promote Caribbean culture. She runs educational and anti-racist programmes and leads walking tours focusing on Edinburgh's Black history. She has an MA in Arts, Festival and Cultural Management and is an Honorary Fellow in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.