Opinion

Our urban and rural landscapes are intertwined with the history of colonialism. We must confront this legacy with honesty

By 2023-07-12T00:01:00

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Many people remain unaware of the extent to which colonialism and slavery have shaped our environment. We need to contextualise this history to fully understand it, writes Victoria Perry

‘Just how do we deal with the heritage of elite and beautiful buildings, cities and landscapes, or any work of art, which are the result of these historic Caribbean slave-based economies?’ asks historian Jeremy Musson in his review of my recent book A Bittersweet Heritage: Slavery, Architecture and the British Landscape.

It is a question I very much asked myself 20 years ago, when – newly-resident in the multi-cultural London borough of Hackney – I first embarked on the PhD research that formed the book’s foundation.

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