Robben Island and the challenging cultural heritage of incarceration

Robben Island and the challenging cultural heritage of incarceration by Dr Nicholas Evans

We are delighted to host Dr Nicholas Evans as part of the Wilberforce Institute's Public Lecture programme, in association with Hull Museums in conjunction with the University of Hull's Cultures of Incarceration Centre.

The year 2024 marks the thirtieth anniversary of multiracial democratic elections in South Africa and the election of Nelson Mandela, one of the twentieth century's most enigmatic former prisoners, as the first Black President of the Republic of South Africa. This illustrated talk explores Robben Island's rich heritage as a place for medical and carceral isolation under Dutch, British and Afrikaner rule. Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on the island, situated just outside of Cape Town, for eighteen years. Since then, his former Pr*son cell has been visited by global figures including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. But how have custodians preserving the island's rich heritage struggled with preserving one of the world's most well-known prisons? And how does Pr*son heritage prevent stories of the incarceration of prisoners other than Nelson Mandela from gaining greater attention? This research draws upon fieldwork conducted as part of the AHRC sponsored project 'Remember Me: The Changing Face of Memorialisation' of which Dr Evans was co-investigator.

Dr Nick Evans is Senior Lecturer in Diaspora History at the University of Hull. His research focuses on voluntary and forced migration around the Atlantic between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. A founding member of the Wilberforce House Museum Advisory Board, he champions work to decolonise heritage and amplify the experiences of Black people living in contemporary Britain. In 2023, he was part of teams that won both the Museums Association’s Decolonising Museums Award and the PraxisAuril KE Award 2023 for supporting Equality Diversity and Inclusion through Knowledge Exchange. Since 2023 he has served on the National Centre for Teaching Black History Educator's Steering Group at the International Slavery Museum.

This year we are teaming up with Hull Museums to offer attendees at our public lectures the opportunity to visit Wilberforce House Museum next door before they join us for the lecture. As a result all our lectures will begin at 4.30pm, directly after the Museum closes, and all will take place at our home in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull, HU1 1NE. We are very grateful for the financial support Hull Museums is providing to the Wilberforce Institute’s public lecture programme, and hope that some of you will take the opportunity to have a look round their exhibitions and displays in advance of the lectures. Please join us for refreshments from 4.15pm onwards, and if you can, stay afterwards for a glass of wine and a chance to talk with our speaker.

There are a limited number of tickets available to attend in person. If you can’t make it in person, you can still enjoy the lectures by streaming online – please select the ticket according to your preference when you make your booking.

Image: South African Tourism from South Africa, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

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