News

By Eleanor Stephenson, PhD candidate in History.This post is part of Exploring Legacies of Enslavement: a research series, highlighting ongoing research on the legacies of enslavement.

The University of Cambridge has transferred legal ownership of 116 Benin artefacts from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) to Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), operating under a management agreement with the Benin Royal Palace.Read the full story on the University of Cambridge main site.  

Trinity Hall has welcomed Dr Zehra Jumabhoy as the inaugural Berger Trust Future Leaders Fellow, where she will investigate how art and visual culture reveal Britain’s imperial past and its ongoing influence. Read the full announcement on the Trinity Hall website.

The Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative is pleased to announce two funding opportunities now open to support innovative work that deepens understanding of the histories, legacies and afterlives of enslavement.Research project proposalsExpressions of interest are invited from senior University members for research projects that contribute to …

David Dabydeen, Emeritus Professor of Literature at the University of Warwick and honorary fellow of Selwyn College Cambridge, has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by a group of scholars. Dabydeen is a poet, writer and historian whose work has for several decades explored the memory and history of slavery and indentureship in his na…

In this blog, Homerton alum Dr Jerome Atutornu, now Senior Lecturer at the School of Health, Science and Society at the University of Suffolk, explores how Black communities remain underrepresented in genomics and argues that research must value community knowledge. Read the full blog on the Homerton College website.

This blog introduces the Sounding Freedom and Liberation podcast, a multidisciplinary series exploring music, freedom and postcolonial experience, including discussions of Afro‑Caribbean histories and abolition songs that appropriated enslaved people’s narratives to support ending the slave trade. Read the full story on the Centre for Research in t…

An online exhibition revisits Tony Phillips’ residency the at Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, where his work not only engages with museum objects and contemporary consumer culture but also interrogates the contested histories of the Benin Bronzes, highlighting the colonial violence behind their looting and the ongoing politics of their disp…

Professor Marsha Pearce, British Academy Global Professor at the Fitzwilliam Museum, reflects on her move from the Caribbean to Cambridge. She discusses how museums can become spaces of belonging for Global Majority artists, whose work has long been marginalised in UK collections.Read the full blog on the Collections-Connections-Communities (CCC) w…

This blog reflects on the first year of the African Collections Futures project, highlighting how its research, exhibitions, and community‑focused work have grown beyond the original report to deepen engagement with African collections at Cambridge. Read the full blog on the Collections-Connections-Communities (CCC) website. 

MPhil World History student Eleanor Gaylard sheds new light on the long-overlooked histories of Afro‑Argentines in her compelling piece for Cambridge’s Faculty of History, revealing how Black identity in Argentina has been continually reshaped and obscured over time. Read the story on the Faculty of History website.

The Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative and Cambridge University Press hosted the launch of The University of Cambridge in the Age of Atlantic Slavery by Dr Nicolas Bell-Romero. The event was chaired by Professor Pedro Ramos Pinto, Convenor of the Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative. Dr Bell-Romero's book was the result of several yea…

Cambridge University Library's exciting project sees a community panel research and design the Library’s 2027 exhibition and public programme.  Read the full story of the University Library's website. 

Read the blog by by Vicky Avery, Keeper, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, on the University of Cambridge Museums Collections in Action website. 

Read the blog by by Vicky Avery, Keeper, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, on the University of Cambridge Museums Collections in Action website.