Confronting the past, reimagining the future: universities, the legacies of enslavement, and restorative justice

In a one-day virtual conference on Friday 1st October 2021, speakers from universities, the museum sector, local government, and the reparations movement were brought together to consider:

• The relationships between universities, enslavement, and empire
• Legacies of these relationships today, in terms of both institutional cultures and racism, and universities’ material environments and wealth
• How restorative justice approaches can inform responses to these legacies

This conference was hosted by the Legacy of Slavery Working Party and the Intellectual Forum of Jesus College, Cambridge.

Over the last decade, universities’ historic links to transatlantic enslavement and European colonialism have come under mounting scrutiny.

This reappraisal of institutional histories has occurred alongside growing calls for universities to address inequalities around race and ethnicity, and to adopt a resolutely anti-racist position.