Repair in practice: reflections on a sabbatical rooted in Caribbean reparatory work

By, Dr. Tara Inniss, Department of History, Philosophy and Psychology, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus, Barbados and Visiting Scholar, McDonald Archaeological Research Institute and Jesus College.

This post is part of Exploring Legacies of Enslavement: a research series, highlighting ongoing research on the legacies of enslavement.

For the past two terms, I have been a Visiting Scholar in the inaugural UWI–Jesus College Sabbatical Exchange at the University of Cambridge. In the Michaelmas Term, I was in the Faculty of History while in the Lent Term I have been working closely with archaeologists in the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre. While this experience has been enriching in many ways, the most meaningful aspect of my sabbatical has been the opportunity to advance reparatory work connected to Caribbean heritage, memory, and community engagement. 

Reparatory justice is a long, often complex process of recognition, redress, repair, and return. Some of my research centers on how institutions, especially those with long entanglements with colonialism and slavery, might meaningfully participate in the work of repair. The University of Cambridge, with its own ongoing inquiries into the legacies of enslavement, provides a critical space to pursue this work and it is my hope that further collaborations with the University of the West Indies (UWI) can be explored that would benefit our students, faculty and heritage practitioners in the region.  

Building reparative possibilities through Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) 

A central strand of my sabbatical involved engagement with the Legacy of Slavery Inquiry at Jesus College and collaboration with scholars across Cambridge working on related questions. University and College archival holdings contain extensive documentation of Caribbean histories, alongside growing institutional commitments to ethical stewardship. Through targeted scoping projects, I identified archival and museum collections with Caribbean connections and considered mechanisms to improve access. Strengthening partnerships between Cambridge-based repositories and Caribbean galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM institutions) offers a pathway to address long‑standing inequalities in historical knowledge production while enabling shared capacity‑building in collection management, research, and interpretation.  

In the Caribbean, students and researchers frequently face constrained access to archives due to climate‑related emergencies, including fire and flooding, as well as the continued location of many records in the UK and Europe. These challenges were explored in my open‑access article, “Burning Archive: The Barbados Department of Archives published in the Journal of British Studies. Reparative work in this area requires not only uncovering obscured histories, but returning knowledge, resources, and decision‑making power to those most closely connected to these records. 

Trans-Atlantic conversations on heritage and repair 

As part of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre Seminar Series, I delivered a talk in December 2025 entitled “Repair in Practice: Trans‑Atlantic Connections and Caribbean Heritage.” The session brought together students, academics, and heritage professionals to explore partnerships with tangible reparative outcomes, including collaborative curation, knowledge repatriation, community‑based interpretation, and improved access to Diaspora collections. We also addressed heritage‑management challenges linked to climate change, conflict, and persistently weak policy environments. 

Cambridge students and colleagues expressed strong interest in community‑facing initiatives while noting limited regional pathways for engagement. This is where Caribbean scholars and institutions such as UWI are especially well positioned to partner and lead. Our regional expertise and long‑standing relationships with museums, archives, and cultural organisations support initiatives grounded in rigorous scholarship, ethical practice, and community accountability. 

These themes were further explored in the webinar “Exploring Restitution, Colonial Collecting and the Caribbean,” hosted by the UWI Museum and the Centre for Reparations Research, UWI Mona Campus, on March 20, 2026, where I served as a commenter. Participants from across the Dutch‑, English‑, and French‑speaking Caribbean examined reparations, repatriation, and imperial legacies within diverse institutional contexts. Contributions underscored that reparations extend beyond financial redress to include ethical stewardship, the return of archives, the prioritisation of descendant communities, and sustained investment in local capacity—affirming the Caribbean as a centre of intellectual leadership in reparatory justice. 

Broader reparatory frameworks: communities, research and collaboration  

Reparatory justice in heritage is not only about the repatriation of documents and objects. It is also about making space for cultural memory, living traditions, and the communities who sustain them. I continued my work with Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and shared our work on the Barbados National Committee for ICH, which I Chair. On November 13, 2025 I delivered a Visiting Scholar Talk to Jesus College colleagues on “Barbados’ Living Heritage: Stories of Sugar and Rum” where we discussed the intangible cultural legacies shaping the sugar and rum industry.  In early December 2025, I traveled as a Technical Expert to New Delhi, India to serve on the Barbadian Delegation for the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of ICH.  We supported the inscription of Barbados’ first ICH element “The Social and Cultural Traditions Associated with Landships” on the List of ICH in need of Urgent Safeguarding List. This is a powerful example of how safeguarding cultural traditions is itself a reparatory act which affirms continuing legacies often overshadowed by plantation histories. 

Collaborative research also remained central to the exchange. I worked with Jesuan researcher, Julián Garay-Vázquez to advance some research on the interconnected history and material culture for processing an indigenous food crop, cassava, and its importance in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region and Africa which will be forthcoming in an edited work on global food imperialism. Such scholarly exchanges can provide targeted exploration of themes that are close to the Caribbean reparatory agenda.  

Archaeologists at the McDonald Institute have also shared research which examines connections to current geopolitical debates which are most pressing for the Caribbean including the recent Venezuela Crisis. Oliver Antczak shared his presentation on “Living Statues and Millenary Fishermen: Uses of Heritage during the (recent) Venezuelan Crisis” in our Departmental Seminar at The UWI, Cave Hill Campus via Zoom on February 13, 2026. These activities can continue to build bridges in research and scholarship while connecting scholars to Caribbean communities.  

It has been a privilege to be the first Visiting Scholar in the UWI–Jesus College Sabbatical Exchange. I am grateful to colleagues at Jesus College, the Faculty of History, and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research for their support, and I hope this exchange continues to foster collaboration addressing the legacies of slavery while shaping resilient futures for the Caribbean. 

About the author 

Tara A. Inniss is a Lecturer in the Department of History, Philosophy and Psychology at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus. Her teaching and research focus on the history of medicine, the history of social policy, heritage, reparatory justice, and social development. She holds a PhD in Caribbean History from The UWI and a Masters in International Social Development from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. She currently serves as Chair of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Committee for Barbados and is a Visiting Scholar at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and Jesus College, University of Cambridge.  
 
Contact: tara.inniss@uwi.edu 

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