The Empire audit
2-year survey of old buildings will explore links to slavery
‘Academics living on a different planet’
A MAJOR survey of historic buildings is to be carried out to check for signs of racism linked to the British Empire.
The research project will be funded by £20,000 from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which is part-financed by the Scottish Government.
Experts will consider ‘how imperialism, white superiority and the beneficiaries of slavery are referenced in the stories of many 18th and 19th century buildings and landscapes’.
Researchers including architectural specialists will carry out the survey to ‘assess the geographical range – and architectural scope – of the Empire’s influences on Scotland’s built environment’.
The move follows controversy over statsociety ues, buildings and roads named after historical figures linked to the slave trade.
The two-year project, which involves the University of Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), will look for references to the Empire in the country’s ‘built heritage’ to ‘form a fuller picture of... [its] impact on the country’s historical architecture’.
Its aim is to ‘take a fresh look at key buildings and landscapes to better understand the legacy of imperialism and its belief in the racial superiority of white people – particularly in relation to the transatlantic slave economy’.
Researchers will ‘explore how voices that have previously been hidden in these narratives can be recognised and heard’. However, the initiative does not enjoy universal academic support.
Dr Stuart Waiton, a sociology lecturer at Abertay University in Dundee, said: ‘Behind what seems to be a reasonable desire by to move away from racism, you have something more problematic and extreme than that in examples like this, particularly in the way “whiteness” is regarded as divisive and degrading. ‘The vast, vast majority of white people struggled during the years of Empire on poverty wages, died at a very young age and lived in appalling conditions – if that is privilege for all those white people, the academics driving this are living on a different planet.’
He added: ‘This is historically illiterate – and not a study that should receive public funding.’
A University of Edinburgh press release said a ‘key strand of the project will be to ensure that black minority ethnic communities are able to recognise and take ownership of their narratives within Scotland’s built heritage’.
Historic sites that will be initially explored as part of the Managing Imperial Legacies project include Glasgow Cathedral, Stanley Mills in Perthshire – both of which are in the care of HES – and the Royal Northern Infirmary in Inverness.
Dr Kirsten Carter McKee, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, said: ‘It’s vitally important that we continue the exploration of the significant role Scotland played in Britain’s imperial past and how we understand these narratives within the context of the present day.’
Alison Turnbull, director of development and partnership at HES, said: ‘Our historic environment is the story of Scotland – it tells us about our past, and can help us understand our future.’
No one was available for comment at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill has been defaced again with graffiti saying he was ‘racist’ during an Extinction Rebellion protest yesterday. It comes after the Parliament Square monument was vandalised during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in June.
Police confirmed that a man has been arrested for the graffiti vandalism.