“Museums faced with slavery: the challenge of reconciling accounts of a common heritage”
Symposium, 12th to 16th April 2023

Kartyé Lib Mémoire & Patrimoine Océan Indien with their partners the High Commission for Human Rights, the Forum for reflection Afrospectives, the Museum of Black Civilisations and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience are organising an international symposium on the topic of “Museums faced with slavery: the challenge of reconciling accounts of a common heritage” on Reunion island, to be held at the auditorium of the Auguste Lacaussade Media Centre in Saint-André from 12th to 15th April 2023 and on 16th April 2023 at the Centre et Cie Ismaël Aboudou in Saint-Denis.

The Symposium, held in the context of the International Decade of Persons of African Origin (2015-2024) declared by the United Nations, will bring together researchers, museum and heritage professionals, managers of sites and places of memory, teachers and lecturers, as well as artists, from different regions around the world.

The objectives of the symposium are to have a better understanding of the impact of the work of Toussaint Louverture and the Revolution in Haiti in different regions of the world and notably the Indian Ocean, to exchange experiences and proven practices in the field of interpretation and representation of slavery in museums, to discuss new approaches that could be applied with the aim of developing federative accounts of this common heritage and exploring opportunities and means of collaboration, as well as partnerships between museums.

The roundtables on museums will be organised around the following three topics:
– Silence, ignorance and knowledge of slavery;
– Critical analyses of experiences and existing practices around representations and interpretations of slavery;
– The museum as a place of reconciliation: new approaches and museum practices.

The roundtables will be open to associations and ex officio members of the public who have expressed an interest, subject to the number of places available. A restitution of the work carried out will be made available to the general public immediately following the event.