Forgetting to Heal Remembering the abolition act of 1807

This article investigates the cultural memory of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. It examines official government responses and considers how these were replicated in popular culture, drawing on the film Amazing Grace. The study highlights the rhetoric employed to dist...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of English studies 2010-04, Vol.14 (1), p.23-36
Main Authors: Waterton, Emma, Smith, Laurajane, Wilson, Ross, Fouseki, Kalliopi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abolition
Amazing Grace
collective guilt
collective memory
Wilberforce
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article investigates the cultural memory of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. It examines official government responses and considers how these were replicated in popular culture, drawing on the film Amazing Grace. The study highlights the rhetoric employed to distance the past of the transatlantic slave trade from the present, thereby contributing to a process of historical erasure rather than tackling the lingering social and political affects of a traumatic past.
ISSN:1382-5577
1744-4233
DOI:10.1080/13825571003588403