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I was supposed to be on the radio to talk about Labour's manifesto re. the teaching of the history of Empire but they ran out of time and it was cancelled. What I would have said is that, based on what we know so far, this is a really important initiative...as long as /1
...it doesn't simply invoke the balance-sheet approach, but encourages a critical and nuanced reappraisal of the history and legacies of Empire. The word 'injustice' is used and I don't think that is unhelpful - history is not about justice, one way or the other. /2
The same goes for the notion of 'crimes', as mentioned before. Slavery was legal, for instance, so that concept doesn't get us far. British school-children today must not just be taught about how Britain abolished the slave-trade but also the preceding 200 years of slavery. /3
This is an important matter, which fully deserves being a political issue during the election, as it is not simply a matter of education. It goes to the very heart of today's crisis of identity and so many every-day issues concerning structural racism, inequality etc etc /4
A government initiative cannot be prescriptive but I have complete faith in today's history-teachers, who are fully capable of taking on this challenge - despite the pressures of admin, resources etc. /5
And I would love nothing more than a new generation of university students who had been exposed to a broader and more critical curriculum (beyond the Tudors, World Wars etc.), and who were aware of the legacies of the past that continue to shape their every-day lives. /6
For the record: I've lived here for 20 years but I can't vote in the GE...
The end /7
The end /7
