Race, ethnicity, and the politics of memorialisation
Yasminah Beebeejaun - University College London
On-going struggles over urban space have emphasized the widespread valorisation of colonialism within the architectural and iconographic heritage of our cities. In response to these debates, Robert Jenrick, the British politician responsible for planning, is proposing new laws to ban the removal of statues and plaques, as well as the renaming of spaces, asserting that anti-racist campaigns are attempting to censor and subvert history. These debates reflect how material changes to space remain subject to bitter contestation. I focus upon the politics of memorialisation, and how a sustained engagement with an ethics of recognition and anti-racism opens up our understanding of how urban planning has contributed to the spatial domination of white majorities. I question how effective projects to decolonize urban space might be within a framework that continues to exclude the histories of people of colour within the urban realm.