The legend around the figure of Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, popularly known as Mbuya Nehanda, an anti-colonial leader and spirit medium, revolves around the interplay between the Zimbabwean pre-colonial past and its neo-colonial present. The government initially proposed dedicating a statue to the woman in Harare’s capital city. However, as announced,… Read More
Unveiled in 1871, this statue commemorates Prince Albert – the husband and Prince Consort of Queen Victoria – in the grounds of Leinster House. The statue was moved to its current position in 1923, replaced by a Cenotaph memorial to Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. In 2018, a petition submitted… Read More
A copy of Bright Bimpong’s Freedom statue was gifted to Denmark by individuals from the Virgin Islands in 2017, to mark the 100th anniversary of Denmark selling the islands to the United States. In 2019, the statue was finally placed in front of Eigtveds Pakhus, a colonial-era warehouse, which is… Read More
The project on Contested Histories primarily focuses on controversies over monuments, statues, street names, and other tangible representations of historical legacies. However, the project recognises that contested historical legacies can also include intangible heritage, such as music. In this blog post, Serena Jampel examines the role of music in political… Read More
In June 2020 the chairman of Afrosvenskarnas riksförbund (the Afro-Swedish National Federation) called for the removal of a statue of Gustav III, the king who brought Sweden into the transatlantic slave trade and made Sweden a colonising power through his purchase of the Caribbean island of Saint-Barthelémy in 1784. However,… Read More
The era of British colonisation and the Biafran War are the significant moments that have defined present-day Nigeria. The British occupation of Nigeria lasted from the 1880s until October 1 1960, when the country gained independence. Long-standing divisions between the three main ethnic groups – the Yoruba, the Igbo, and… Read More
Italo Balbo was an Italian fascist General who served as Mussolini’s Marshal of the Air Force andthen as Governor of Libya. While being celebrated for his aerial feats, he remains a controversialfigure as the Governor of Libya. In 1933, the Illinois monument was erected after his transatlanticflight to Chicago to… Read More
In 1941, Japan occupied Malaysia in the context of World War II. That same year, they built a stone monument in Alor Setar to honour three Japanese soldiers who were killed while securing the city’s bridge to cut off Allied troops. The restoration of the memorial in 2019, officiated by… Read More
The Indro Montanelli statue in Milan was built in 2006 by the then-mayor Gabriele Albertini. Initially, criticism arose for the funeral aesthetic and impression of the statue; some described it as a ‘funerary mummification.’ However, in the last years, it has been contested for Montanelli’s link to colonialism, fascism and… Read More
The Matilda Newport Monument in Monrovia, Liberia, commemorates the victory of American free Black settlers over the indigenous population in battle in 1822. The protagonist of the story, Matilda Newport, is credited with lighting a cannon that resulted in the defeat of the native people. The monument has stood in… Read More
The Nanjing Memorial Hall commemorating the six weeks of Japanese occupation in the Sino-Japanese War remains a key point of contention in Sino-Japanese relations. This case study explores how contested historical events can lead to the construction of national identities and the impact and tension this can cause in spaces… Read More
This case study examines the renaming process of the street ‘Mohrenstraße’ to Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße and its corresponding underground train station in Berlin, Germany. The decision to rename came after several years of debate and initiatives from various societal actors and academics, who stressed the racist character of the word ‘Mohr’ in… Read More