Contextualisation Archives - Contested Histories

Explorers’ Monument in Fremantle

Paula — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In February 1913, the killing of three settlers by Aboriginal people in 1864 was commemorated with the unveiling of the Explorers’ Monument. Yet the history remembered by the memorial was just one side of the story – its plaque failed to mention the deaths of almost 40 Aboriginal people by the three settlers and the punitive recovery expedition. In 1994, a second plaque was added to the monument, recognising the right of Aboriginal people to defend their land and commemorating all Aboriginal people who died in the invasion of Australia.

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Codrington Library, All Souls College in Oxford

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In 2015, the student organisation Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford began to place sustained pressure
on All Souls College to confront the legacy of their ‘Codrington Library’ – named for the enslaver
and benefactor Christopher Codrington. Across two ‘waves’ of targeted protest in 2015-16 and
2020, the College made a range of concessions: it introduced scholarships for graduate students
of Caribbean descent, pledged over £1,000,000 to initiatives including Codrington College in
Barbados and Oxford’s Black Academic Futures programme, and installed a commemorative
plaque honouring those enslaved on Codrington’s plantations. In 2020, it ceased using the name
‘Codrington Library’ and in 2021, recontextualised the statue through digital displays and texts
that address the College’s legacy of slavery. This case study demonstrates how sustained
student-led activism prompted an elite institution to confront its colonial history and highlights
the tension between symbolic and material forms of redress in higher education.

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Latin Bridge in Sarajevo

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The Latin Bridge, built in the 16th century, reached international fame as the place where, on 28 June 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip. This event is widely regarded as one of the triggers of the First World War and the associated atrocities that followed. At the same time, the event at the bridge signalled a crucial moment to get rid of Austria-Hungarian control. The bridge came to symbolise the conflict between the perception of various parties and succeeding regimes throughout the 20th century, changing names several times. This case study highlights the complexities associated with competing interpretations of historical narratives.

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Edward Colston Statue in Bristol

Contested Histories Admin — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 22:00:00 +0000

The legacy of Edward Colston, a Bristol-born merchant and Royal African Company executive, involves a complex history relating to local politics, educational institutions, and organisations in Bristol. For many years, the Society of Merchant Venturers, which held significant influence over local heritage policy-making, curated and protected the Colston legacy. At the same time, several groups and individuals attempted to remove Colston’s presence from Bristol’s public spaces due to his involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade. The debate surrounding Colston’s legacy spread outside of Bristol after Black Lives Matter protesters toppled Colston’s statue into the Bristol Harbour in June 2020. The city is still dealing with the effects of these events and looking for solutions regarding contested narratives about imperialism and slavery in the city’s public spaces.

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Rhodes Statue at Oriel College in Oxford, England

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 10:12:54 +0000

In 2015, the student organisation Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford was established to protest against the statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College. The initial two-year campaign led to promises from Oriel to contextualise the monument, which ultimately went unfulfilled. The campaign was reignited in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd, and in response, Oriel College announced its desire to remove the statue. However, the introduction by the Government of a ‘retain and explain’ policy made this impossible. Oriel College’s decision to contextualise the statute with a small ‘information sign’ has been dismissed as ‘woefully inadequate’ by activists.

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Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

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 meant to commemorate these foundational events. Showing how memorials can have immense political ramifications.

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Columbus Statue in Barcelona

Paula — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The Columbus Monument in Barcelona, located at the intersection of the city’s port and the main street of Las Ramblas, was built during the Columbus-mania of the 19th century and was the largest monument dedicated to the so-called discoverer of the Americas. Several social and political groups have called for its removal in the last years, especially since 2020, inspired by the Black Lives Movement. However, the city council has decided to maintain the statue and re-contextualise it and the city’s colonial past.

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