Status Quo Archives - Contested Histories

St. Vladimir Statue in Moscow

Paula — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On November 4, 2016, a statue of Vladimir the Great or Saint Vladimir, as he is known in Russian, was unveiled by President Putin in Moscow during the millennium commemoration of Vladimir’s death (958–1015). Known as Volodymyr in Ukrainian, he is a major historical figure in both Russian and Ukrainian memory politics and understood, by each, to be the founder of their states. Upon its unveiling, Putin sought to emphasise Vladimir’s role as a uniter of the Slavic people, and implicitly placed Russia at its core. This enormous statue was evidently meant to rival the statue of the figure in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, which has been there since 1853. This case study examines the significance of this monument in the context of memory wars with Ukraine and as part of the Russian state’s discourse of a 1000-year-old Russia.

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Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria

Paula — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The Voortrekker monument is a large granite building which represents Dutch settler nationalism in South Africa. It was built as an attempt to construct a narrative of Afrikaner nationalist pride, tying it in with a complicated legacy of colonialism and racial prejudice. It has thus been subject to criticism over its place in modern South Africa. Since the fall of apartheid, a counter-monument of Freedom Park has served to re-contextualise in physical space the distinctions drawn between settler and African identities. However, the legacy of the Voortrekker monument remains controversial. This case study shows the challenges of reckoning with the material histories of colonialist regimes in postcolonial nations and the challenges of addressing legacies of racism in post-apartheid societies.

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Hung Lau and the Politics of Memory in Post-Handover Hong Kong

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

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Victor Schœlcher Statues in Fort-de-France and Schœlcher

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In May 2020, two statues of French administrator Victor Schoelcher were destroyed in Martinique by members of the local youth group Ligue de Défense Noire Africaine (LDNA/Black African Defence League). Despite being a celebrated figure for his role in abolishing slavery in the French colonies, Schoelcher’s legacy has come under increased contestation over the last decade. However, the toppling of these statues disguises a broader conversation that transcends the individual figure of Schoelcher, including enduring colonial legacies and the very telling of Martinique’s national history. This case study examines the reasons that motivated the attack on Shoelcher’s statues and the political authority’s response to these actions. It underscores the degree to which these events reflect conflicting top-down and bottom-up interpretations of Martinique’s national history, symbols, and memory.

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Victims of Political Repression Monument in Tayshet

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In the summer of 2020, a monument to the victims of Stalinist political repression was unveiled in the city of Tayshet in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. On July 4, 2020, the monument was vandalised and defaced, making the inscription illegible. During Soviet rule, the Gulag camp Taishetlag was located near the city, making Tayshet a stop which all prisoners made on their journey to the Gulag. In the twenty-first century, President Vladimir Putin’s reconstruction of Stalin’s figure and Soviet patriotism provoked the emergence of many new monuments to Stalin and the vandalism of those commemorating victims. Monuments remembering the victims of the Stalinist era provide a physical and spatial rebuttal to heroic memories of Stalinism. This case analyses the ongoing clash between the unofficial rehabilitation of Stalin and the commemoration of victims of the Soviet system of repression, taking the monument in Tayshet as an example.

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Statue of Unity in Gujarat

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On Vallabhai Jhaverbhai Patel’s 143rd birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled India’s tribute to him in the form of the world’s tallest statue. Standing at 182 metres, the Statue of Unity is almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty. It was revealed with military celebration and Hindu inaugural rites. Modi’s public address named the monument as a symbol of his ruling party’s ideology – ‘one nation, one creed’. Far from unifying the country, the statue has fractured the nation with various criticisms of the project. This case will explore the political agenda behind its creation as well as the economic and social ramifications at the tribal, state, and national levels.

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Abdelkader Statue in Amboise

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Inspired by historian Benjamin Stora’s recommendations on French-Algerian reconciliation regarding their tumultuous shared colonial history, the Amboise town council, backed by the Elysée Palace, commissioned a sculpture to commemorate Emir Abdelkader, an anti-colonial fighter who was imprisoned in the city during the nineteenth century. He later moved to Syria, where he was awarded France’s highest medal, the Legion of Honour, for his efforts in protecting Christian minorities from sectarian violence. The sculpture was vandalised the night before the scheduled inauguration on February 5 2022. It is worth noting that this took place amidst a highly charged presidential campaigning season, with far-right, xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric rampant among many right-wing candidates. This case study demonstrates the interaction of domestic French and international politics, with moves towards official French acknowledgement of France’s colonial abuses at once improving relations between France and Algeria whilst provoking political criticism at home, particularly from right-wing politicians.

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Three Dikgosi Monument in Gaborone

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On September 29, 2005, a statue of three dikgosi (kings) who visited England in 1895 to protest
against the imminent handover of their lands to the British South Africa Company was unveiled
in Botswana’s capital city, Gaborone. The three dikgosi are seen as ‘Founders of the Nation’ and
the monument also tells the ‘history’ of Botswana. However, overlooking local artists in
contracting the statue sparked controversy. Additionally, activists contest the perceived
expression of Tswana domination.

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Queen Victoria Statue in Hong Kong

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The Statue of Queen Victoria, commissioned for her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and installed in Hong Kong in 1896, has been a prominent feature of Victoria Park since 1952. Initially symbolising British colonial legitimacy, it has become a complex symbol in post-colonial Hong Kong. While most locals view the statue as a testament to the city’s unique historical identity, its signifi cance has shifted since the 1997 handover to China. For pro-democracy advocates, the statue represents Hong Kong’s distinct cultural history, contrasting with the mainland’s narrative. Conversely, pro-Beijing voices often see it as a reminder of China’s Century of Humiliation. Despite these contrasting perspectives, the statue remains largely uncontested, refl ecting its role in embodying Hong Kong’s multifaceted past. This case highlights how colonial legacies can become integrated into national narratives rather than opposing them, fostering dialogue about identity and history.

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Georgios Grivas Statue in Limassol

Contested Histories Admin — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:39:00 +0000

From 1955 to 1960, the Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA) waged a campaign of violence and terror against the British authorities occupying Cyprus with the goal of enosis — union with Greece. Under the leadership of Georgios Grivas, EOKA was an insurgent group that carried out tactical sabotages, riots, and attacks against law enforcement and opposition both to undermine British authorities as well as establish union with Greece as the primary goal of Cyprus, ignoring the objections of the prominent Turkish Cypriot population. Although EOKA and, specifically, Grivas were instrumental to Cypriot independence in 1960 and are widely memorialised throughout the country, the legacy of the violent right-wing group continues to cause controversy in Cyprus, particularly among the left and the Turkish population. This case study examines the tensions regarding the role of Grivas in gaining independence at the cost of brutal violence and marginalisation towards a portion of the country.

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