International

^{Posted on Tuesday, 23rd October, 2007}

Bristol’s Empire and Commonwealth Museum – apology, art or identity in the making?

^{By Jenni O’Connor}

^{The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum}

^{I had to make a considerable mental effort to banish the internal screenplay of preconceptions and stereotypes which ran through my mind as I stepped into the colourful lobby of Bristol’s Empire and Commonwealth Museum. Was it going to be an apology for the past, or worse still, a self-glorifying justification? Was it filled with looted artefacts, acquired in the days when the sea-faring city of Bristol profited from the unpardonable triangular trade – taking slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, then returning to Europe with the fruits of their stolen labour in the form of sugar, tobacco and cotton?}

^{I’m glad to report that none of the above was the case. Instead I travelled a generally balanced and sensitive journey, albeit at great speed, through the last 500 years, to understand a tiny proportion of the detail of how a small sea-faring nation came to dominate and then release an empire which stretched from Alaska to Ahmedabad, China to Chad; Fiji to the Phillipines.}

^{“Nationalists from Ghana to the Gujerat lobbied for Independence”}

^{The journey took me through settlement and slavery to a lucrative trade in silks and other textiles, tobacco, fur, spices, wood and china – including the acquisition of much art, African and other, along the way. It concluded with the shackles of empire finally being freed, as nationalists from Ghana to the Gujerat lobbied for independence in the aftermath of World War II, paving the way for today’s globalised economy in a shrinking world – one where many of the children of colonisation are now striking out and defining their own path.}

^{The museum left me with the suggestion of a world in which, having accepted the injustices of the past, the modern Commonwealth’s stated aim is to promote a ‘global family of nations’ on an equal footing, in a partnership of sovereign states.}

^{The purposes of the Commonwealth seem noble – promoting democracy, education and good governance, and including the vast minefields of human rights, sustainable development and the integration of small states into the global economy. But they do beg the question, how realistic can this be, when multinational corporations are often more powerful than small countries, and have the capacity, for example, to keep the international price of coffee, cocoa and sugar down, which in turn maintains millions in poverty. And when the West still seems to be obsessed with telling Africa and the ‘developing world’ how to do things.}

^{So it is here, where the museum leaves off, that my real journey begins. Where does the end of empire leave today’s ‘global citizens’, whether of African, Indian or Chinese descent, both culturally and politically – in a world where some people are patently more equal than others?}

^{“Britain would be a poorer place without its Caribbean carnivals and African art”}

^{Carribean Carnival}

^{Here in the UK – and I can only write from this perspective – all contemporary cultural activity has certainly been influenced, for the better, by the impact of the end of Empire, in terms of the influx of peoples from around the world. This is the positive note which the museum tour ends on, and indeed Britain specifically would be a poorer place without its Caribbean carnivals, South Asian foods, and African or African-influenced art and music. (Indeed, it’s amazing that given the centuries-old spice trade with the East, it took so long for the food in this country to become more enticing…). On any High Street you will be able to find Indonesian furniture, African carvings and batiks, Indian restaurants, Thai silks and record stores jam-packed with West Indian and African-American music. The movement is in all directions, too, as African roots musicians like Alpha Blondy and Lucky Dube have made reggae their own, whilst Trinidad and Guyana have specialised in their very own Indian-influenced version of calypso (in itself an essentially African rhythm), known as Chutney Soca. And let’s not forget sport – almost all today’s world class sprinters are of West African descent, whether they are running for Britain, Jamaica or the United States.}

^{Some of Africa's art}

^{So we live in a global paradise, right? Well, actually not. In the main, it’s only the affluent (if generally well-meaning) denizens of Chelsea or Cheltenham who can afford to stock their houses with African and other ex-colonial art, even if they do double check the fair trade and organic logos on the coffee, tea and bananas in their shopping baskets. As Bertha Kang’ong’oi said in her excellent article ‘African Renaissance: Born or Created?’, these are “trends set by others who neither know nor understand Africa,” which are now being validated by Africans themselves, perhaps for the wrong reasons.}

^{“Trends set by others who neither know nor understand Africa”}

^{This search for authenticity has become another fashion, something to boast about to friends, even if these conscientious buyers are taking steps to ensure their art and craft hasn’t been produced in a sweatshop by child labour, or their food by farmers paid a dollar a day whilst their skin peels from exposure to pesticides. So there is still a long way to go, as mere consumption should never be mistaken for action or progress.}

^{To quote from the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s speech to the Royal Society of Arts in Glasgow in October 2004: “If there were 100 people in the world, 15 would own 80% of the wealth; the other 85 would share the remaining 20%... This situation is not only morally scandalous. It is, quite simply, unsustainable and it will make the world a more dangerous place. So what must be done? One of the most effective ways of tackling poverty is through increased trade. But trade will only work for the poor if it is fair.”}

^{“Mere consumption should never be mistaken for action”}

^{Meanwhile, the descendents of the independence generation living in the West, despite often excelling in both the professions and the arts, still often feel alienated from their adopted society. A video-poem in the final gallery of the museum, by hugely talented Afro-Caribbean dub poet, actor and writer Miles Chambers, summed it up best:}

^{“I want to feel normal… I want to buy jerk chicken sandwiches from Tesco – I don’t want women to clutch their handbags when they see me at night – I want to enjoy the pub, a pint, a pie – when you look at me, what do you first see?”}

^{It’s only now that the deep-seated legacy of slavery, colonialism and empire is finding a more broadly accepted cultural expression, and that the iniquities of ‘free’ trade over ‘fair’ are being better understood. But it will only be when the joint spheres of political action and culture come together that we will be a step closer to creating the global family the Commonwealth aspires to, with no poor relations begging for scraps at the table.}

^{For now, though, the Empire and Commonwealth Museum is doing the best it can to help us all understand the highs and lows of our shared history and identity, whilst leaving us with a positive role model for the future.}

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