Symposium Masterclasses Are Now Available. Watch Now
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Symposium Masterclasses Are Now Available. Watch Now ~
Finding What is Ours: Hans Sloane Collection Project
Finding What Is Ours is a part of our ongoing work interrogating the impact of European cultural and heritage practices imposed on African heritage communities through chattel, colonial and neo-colonial enslavement. British Heritage institutions are implicated in this. The British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the British Library, for example, all owe their establishment to the 18th-century physician Hans Sloane’s attempts to ‘collect the world’.
Through this project we approach the work of decolonising botanical and medical practices and revisiting these archives and their colonial history. This work, however, does not begin with Hans Sloane, it begins with the ancestral cultures and knowledges that must be drawn upon, activated and developed as we create a world defined by cognitive, reparatory and environmental justice.
Hans Sloane’s (1660-1753) collecting was part-financed through the transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of African people. Sloane invested in the ‘Royal African Company’ and worked as a physician to the colonial Governor of Jamaica, allowing him access to colonial rulers, traders, enslaved people and more.
He extracted knowledge from enslaved Africans as he developed his huge collection of flora and fauna. Sloane’s collections and knowledge grew, as did his reputation as a physician. He amassed over 800 animals, shells, rocks, and plants which he placed into seven large books. He possessed 50,000 books, prints and manuscripts. Many things he obtained were given to him by others, including those involved in or connected to the trade in enslaved people.
When he died, he bequeathed this collection to Britain. The BM, and later the NHM and BL were founded as a result.
Entry to these institutions was free, but who really paid this price?
Hot chocolate - the popular beverage originates from the Caribbean, Central and North American like the Olmec, Mayan and Aztec cultures in present-day Mexico. Sloane learned this recipe and took cocoa beans back to Britain.
Collections - this volume is an example of the extensive scientific information and data collected by Sloane based on the knowledge of African and indigenous Caribbean people and cultures
African and indigenous people were never properly credited for these contributions made under highly traumatic conditions.
We are committed to identifying the harm that has been caused. We are devoted to implementing solutions supporting the healing and wellbeing of African-heritage communities; and by extension, society at large.
Finding What is Ours Symposium
DTA held an in-person symposium in London to create a counter-discourse that re-routes the knowledge to African origins and critique problematic scientific archives such as Hans Sloane’s archive. Although the symposium responds to Sloane’s collections and their legacies, we have chosen to de-centre Sloane’s extraction from our ancestors and the beneficiaries of this.
The programme focuses on the ongoing work of African-heritage practitioners and communities to heal and rebuild. It consists of interactive workshops and masterclasses and provocations from leading African heritage thinkers and doers from the UK, the U.S. and the Caribbean. These scholars specialise in reparations, ethnopharmacology and (digital) heritage practice.
Access The Symposium Masterclasses Now In Our Resources Centre!
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Masterclasses
Connie Bell (DTA)
Introduction - Background to the Finding What is Ours Project interrogating the archives of the Sloane Lab
This symposium forms part of our ongoing work interrogating the impact of European cultural and heritage practices imposed on us through chattel, colonial and neo-colonial enslavement.
Bio: Connie Bell is a co-founder of Decolonising the Archive (DTA). She is a leading Memory Worker and Cultural Producer, specialising in the field of performing migrated archives. Ms Bell holds a Masters in Applied Theatre and Community Development and a M.A. in Narrative Therapy & BA in Education. She has over 15 years of working globally in Cultural Therapy and Production. Her work as a theatre practitioner and therapist explores themes of memory, culture and identity across a range of artistic media. As well as her Independent practice, she has worked with several institutions of note including the National Theatre, University College London, the British Museum, University of the West Indies, the National Archives, Leeds University, Reading University and the Caribbean Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Dr. Damian Cohall
Presentation - Unlocking Traditional Knowledge and Science Linked to West African Herbal Practices in a Decolonised Space
In this presentation, Dr. Damian Cohall highlights the relevance of West African indigenous knowledge linked to ancestral herbal practices - addressing factors that impacted the retention of knowledge and practices within the colonised space.
Workshop - Ancestral Legacy to Common day Herbal Practices
Describing ancestral practice embedded in folklore, this workshop provides practical exercises enabling participants to utilise traditional technologies including observations, household remedies, folklore tales and herbal knowledge to address common ailments affecting people of African heritage.
Bio: Dr. Damian Cohall is the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at The University of The West Indies. He is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology with research interests in Ethnopharmacology and Pharmacognosy. Dr. Cohall is also the author of 'Medicinal Plants of Barbados'. He is a member of the editorial boards of Frontiers in Pharmacology and the West Indian Medical Journal. He continues to educate and sensitize society about the rich legacy of traditional herbal practices in the Anglophone Caribbean.
Esther Xosei
Presentation - Afrika Reparations, Restitution & Access to Information
In this presentation, Esther contextualises the issues we will be engaging with throughout the course of the symposium within the frame of historical and contemporary reparations activism and ongoing work surrounding the restitution of cultural artefacts held in European museums.
Bio: Esther Xosei is a leading UK Reparations campaigner, Jurisconsult, Community Advocate & Educator. She is an 'ourstorian' of the International Social Movement for Afrikan Reparations (ISMAR), of which she has been a key part. ISMAR is global, grassroots, people-led, and composed of various individuals, groups, organisations, campaigns, and strategies, all working towards reparatory justice. ISMAR played a pivotal role in establishing the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations (APPGAR) in 2021.
Professor Stanley Griffin
Presentations - “A Voyage in Search of Our Self: Using Sloane’s Documentation to Reveal Our Un/Documented”
“Documenting Our Self: Identifying, Preserving and Showcasing Our Community Evidences”
This session explores the importance of documenting our own communities, preserving our cultural heritage, and sharing our stories with the world.
Bio: Dr. Stanley Griffin is an archivist, cultural analyst, and historian. Currently a professor of Humanities and Education at the University of the West Indies , Dr. Griffin holds a PhD in Cultural Studies (with High Commendation) from the Cave Hill Barbados Campus of The University of the West Indies, and an MSc in Archives and Records Management (Int’l) from the University of Dundee, Scotland. His research interests include multiculturalism in Antigua and the Eastern Caribbean, the cultural dynamics of intra-Caribbean migrations, archives in the constructs of Caribbean culture, and community archives in the Caribbean.
Dr. Nadeja Webb
Presentation - Iterative Ruptures: Dynamic Partnerships at Work
What might dynamic collaborations between communities and institutional actors entail? This presentation outlines the foundations of the We Live Language lab, reflects on centring Black women cultural workers in the university classroom, and exploring community engagement with archives.
Bio: Dr. Webb leads the We Live Language (WLL) Lab, which is grounded in the writing and spoken word of Afro-diasporic Black Women poets, authors, and philosophers. WLL probes the relationship between language and power. At Johns Hopkins University, she works closely with Professor Jessica Marie Johnson (History) on community-engaged projects focused on the experiences and well-being of marginalized and minority communities. Dr Webb is an ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow, Assistant Director at LifexCode Black Data and the Black Digital Humanities, Center for Digital Humanities, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
Dr. Kirt Henry
Presentation - Towards an “Accelerated Decolonisation”: Examining the ACIJ/JMB and its Role
This presentation reflects on how institutions can, through holistic vision and policy, can be designed to achieve an 'accelerated decolonisation' by challenging the structural and epistemic legacies of colonialism. In particular, the presentation focuses on the role of the (African Cultural Institute of Jamaica) ACIJ and (Jamaica Memory Bank)JMB in Jamaica’s decolonial project by strategically utilizing the narratives and creative expressions of local communities as a grassroots methodology to shape its educational programming and outreach activities across the island.
Bio: Dr. Henry is a Jamaican-born thinker, curator, researcher, writer, and advocate for the research, documentation, and preservation of Jamaica’s culture. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Heritage Studies from The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Cultural Studies from the Institute of Caribbean Studies (UWI, Mona). He serves as the Director of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB), a Division of the Institute of Jamaica.
We hope everyone will be able to take away something meaningful from the programme that is of benefit to them and those around them.
Finding What is Ours:
Sloane Lab Workshop
Decolonising the Archive (DTA) was invited to make an intervention into these collections by the ‘Sloane Lab’ project. By connecting the data about collections held at the British Museum, British Library, Natural History Museum and more, the project meant that for the first time, digital searches connecting the objects, people and places that formed Sir Hans Sloane’s collections became possible.
In March, 2024, participants used the beta-version of the ‘Sloane Lab’ digital portal to search for African/African Caribbean histories. This was to help the project team understand the kinds of questions members community users would want to ask this digital knowledge base so the platform can be made more accessible to them.
Participants were asked for feedback on the warnings used on the site in relation to problematic language.
The final session of the day invited contributions to the planned symposium that explored the issues the ‘Sloane Lab’ knowledge base raises in more detail.
Participants were paid a fee (£200) for their contributions for attending this workshop, to ensure this was not an extractive process exploiting our community’s time and work.
Why is this important?
Despite the centrality of African and indigenous people’s knowledge, labour and bodies, to form Sloane’s collections, they are systematically silenced in his catalogues and publications.
Sloane made use of the knowledge of enslaved people, to build Britain's Hallmark Institutions. but they the African People who the resource was extracted from are systematically silenced in his catalogues and publications. As such this is an opportunity to Decentre from that violent act and create new progressive possibilities, ecologies and evolution in Knowledge and culture in order to Correct the Collecting methods, through awareness in Finding What is Ours.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Etienne Joseph
Some Questions we can pose to interrogate these types of archives:
How have collections been attained or stolen by colonialist “explorers” and “collectors” like Hans Sloane?
What is the cultural significance of the items in these collections to communities they come from?
Why were these collections the foundations of the British Museum, University College London and other British heritage and academic institutions?
How do archives and museums continue to perpetuate colonial mindsets and problematic language about items and the communities their collections come from?
How do these impact how history is written and collected about us?
The Sloane Lab is one of five ‘Discovery Projects’ of Towards a National Collection, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
#Action Not a Bag a Mouth
