In response to ongoing anti-racism movements and as part of our Strategy to Address Racism Against People of Colour, Scottish Civic Trust hosted a “Race and heritage in Scotland” conference on 2nd December 2020. The conference gave the Scottish heritage sector the opportunity to come together and discuss how to build a more diverse, inclusive and anti-racist future for Scottish heritage.

Conference programme:

Access a copy of the conference programme here!

Anti-racism reading list:

With the help of our speakers and attendees, we’ve compiled a Scottish heritage anti-racism reading list.

Recordings (in order of the conference programme):

The historical Black presence in Edinburgh (Lisa Williams, Edinburgh Caribbean Association) – includes a brief 5 minute conference introduction at the beginning of the clip.

Understanding the Sacred places of Scotland’s Travellers (Davie Donaldson, Conyach Advocacy & Engagement and Chair, Romano Lav)

Heritage: Here it is! Reparative Justice and the Street Scene of Scotland’s Slavery Legacy (Councillor Graham Campbell, Flag Up Scotland Jamaica)

South Glasgow’s Heritage and Legacies of Slavery (Saskia McCracken & Mark McGregor, South Glasgow Heritage and Environmental Trust)

Scottish Civic Trust – Inclusive Projects (Nicola Godsal & Jamie McNamara, Scottish Civic Trust)

Food as Heritage (Thistles and Dandelions volunteers)

Building a True National Identity (Brent Leggs, Executive Director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, National Trust for Historic Preservation, United States)

Managing Imperial Legacies: Networking platforms, Covid responses and Collaborative Engagements (Dr Kirsten Carter McKee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

Designs Unseen: Dispatching Monuments of/to Colonial Excess (Killian Doherty, Lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism, University of Edinburgh)

Revisiting Paisley Pattern in the Post-Colonial Era for New Museum Displays (Catriona Baird, Textiles Curator, Paisley Museum)

Bound by language? Assessing and Addressing Representation in the Archives: Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion internship at the National Library of Scotland (Carissa Chew, National Library of Scotland)

It’s Only Just Begun – Decolonisation, Racism & Organisational Change (Grant Mackenzie, David Livingstone Birthplace Trust)

Thistles & Dandelions: Opening up Heritage (Fizza Kaneez, Romy Galloway, Manar Melhi, Cat Dunn, Hina Hussain and Rumaisa Zubairi, Empower Women for Change)

I Belong: A Story of Struggle and Success (Sakeena and Zamin Sheikh)

Redress and Progress: Addressing Racism in the 21st Century (Garvin Sealy, EqualiTree CIC)