A global conversation on the legacies of slavery
From June 24 to 26, 2026, the University of Cambridge will welcome leading scholars, museum professionals, heritage practitioners, and community partners from Haiti, the United States, Ghana, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom for a landmark international workshop entitled Mapping the Legacies of Slavery in Post-Plantation Societies: Violence, Heritage, and Preservation Conundrums in Haiti.
Hosted at Murray Edwards College, the workshop forms part of the Leverhulme Visiting Professorship held by Professor Louis Herns Marcelin and is sponsored by the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics and the Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative.
At the heart of the event is an ambitious effort to examine how the historical institution of slavery continues to shape contemporary societies. While Haiti will serve as the central case study, participants will engage in comparative discussions spanning Ghana, the United Kingdom, France, the Caribbean, and the United States.
The workshop will explore how the legacies of enslavement remain visible in landscapes, heritage sites, cultural memory, social inequalities, and contemporary forms of violence and exclusion.
International collaboration and institutional partnerships
The program will bring together representatives from the University of Miami, the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED) in Haiti, the University of Cambridge, the University of Ghana, the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies at the University of Glasgow, the Centre for the Study of International Slavery at the University of Liverpool, the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London, the University of Oxford, McGill University, the University of the West Indies, the International Slavery Museum, the Lowe Art Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and other leading institutions.
Through presentations, roundtables, collaborative research sessions, and strategic planning discussions, participants will identify innovative approaches to preserving difficult histories while advancing community engagement and public education.
The Haiti Mapping Legacies Project
A major focus of the workshop will be the Haiti Mapping Legacies Project, an initiative designed to document and interpret sites associated with slavery, resistance, emancipation, and post-plantation transformation. The project seeks to create new opportunities for collaborative research, heritage preservation, digital mapping, museum exhibitions, and public history initiatives.
Building long-term impact
Beyond the scholarly discussions, the workshop is expected to foster lasting international partnerships. Participants will develop collaborative grant proposals, publication projects, exhibition plans, and community-based interventions that connect research to broader social impact. The event represents an important step toward building a global network dedicated to understanding and addressing the enduring consequences of slavery.