Displaying History in (post)colonial Britain

ABSTRACT\nThis thesis looks at British memory culture in (post)colonial times from the\nturn of the twenty-first century onwards. Up until that point the academic field was\nintroduced to the development of new studies such as (post)colonial studies, subaltern\nstudies and museum studies. Theories and critiques on memory culture developed as\nwell and, on their part, were met with interest as well as critique.\nNot only did these critiques address the incompleteness of these memories,\nbut also the celebratory qualities of these nationalistic memories. Reconsiderations\ndid not only come from scholars, but also from subaltern communities and migrant\nminorities. Besides that, this time was marked by increasing protests against selective\nnarratives, the heritage of Empire and the one-sided colonialist displays in museums. Protesters and critical scholars were looking for the representation of the subaltern\nstories of imperial times. They believe that their role in this history as well as in the\n(post)colonial present of today, is not addressed as it should be.\nBritain was one of the biggest colonising countries in the history and had an\nenormous Empire that covered almost a quarter of the global landmass and a little shy\nof a quarter of the world population on its absolute high-point. The influence Britain\nhad on the world, as well as the other way round, as one can imagine, has been\nsignificant. Many British people refer to these facts with pride. Their culture and\npatriotic believes both rely heavily on the glorious past. Few people seem to think of\nslavery and discrimination when the British Empire is mentioned. In the case of the United Kingdom, it is especially interesting to compare and\ncontrast different examples of museums and their endeavours to cope with\n(post)colonial realities of Britain’s imperial past and (post)colonial present. In a\ncountry with a profound love for their British heritage, a very traditional culture and a\nperpetuity of Empire in its current Commonwealth structure, the people and the\ninstitutions seem to struggle to ‘come to terms with’ the entire history of its imperial\npast and to acknowledge the existence of colonialism in today’s present.\nThe museums that serve as exemplary cases for this research are the British\nMuseum (London), the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford), and the former British Empire\nand Commonwealth Museum (Bristol). These museums differ from each other in\nrespect to their outreach, their environment and their status. Each of these museums,\nhowever, have been confronted with the challenge to adapt to contemporary\ncomposition of the British society and the changing social and political climate. In the end, this thesis will show that the attention for decolonisation has\naffected the museum sector in Britain. Museums are no longer self-evident and\nsacrosanct institutions . Some of them tend to bend towards finding solutions to fit in,\nand possibly survive, within the changing social and political climate. But, execution\nof the proposed measures and the willingness to make profound changes to their\ntraditional institutions remain minor and moves towards a ‘new’ history pattern seem\nto hold off.

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