SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The toppling of the Edward Colston statue by Black Lives Matter protestors in Bristol became one of the defining moments of the British summer of 2020. The removal of the statue reignited conversations around how Britain conceptualises colonialism and empire today. This paper seeks to evaluate and contextualise these conversations and argues that the toppling of the statue was an act of anti-colonial theatricality that disrupted Britain’s official narratives of post-colonial bliss. Using a critical, postcolonial framework, this paper seeks to explore what public memory of Edward Colston reveals about Britain’s relationship with colonialism, and what countermemory can do to resist (mis)remembrance and (re)imagining of colonialism, past and present.