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Journal
of Education in Museums
40
ISSN 0260-9126
Cover image: Sara Zagni, Artspace, Leeds Art
Gallery
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GEM Journal No 40
Nelson, Narrative and
National Identity
A Contested History?
Tanya Wilson
The parameters are changing for whom we To begin with, it is first necessary to assess
venerate and why. Monuments still stand to the accusation of ‘white supremacy’. Horatio
historical figures whose actions, policies and Nelson, hero of the Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
attitudes are condemnable by our contem- - a decisive naval victory against the threat
porary standards. As part of a global protest of invasion from Napoleon Bonaparte - has
movement to bring down statues that ‘reinforce been memorialised across the country with
racism’, (Stiem, 2018) attention has turned to ‘quasi-religious veneration’ (Petley, 2018). The
British monuments, among them Admiral Lord sentiments of national pride and British naval
Nelson. In an article written for the Guardian prowess that surround his name have left
in 2017, Afua Hirsch argues why, in light of the little room for any other interpretation of his
confederate statues being pulled down in the legacy. And yet, a fact largely overlooked
US, she believes Nelson’s column in Trafalgar in most accounts of his life, the Admiral
Square in London should be next. Labelling used his power and influence within the
the naval hero a ‘white supremacist’, she claims House of Lords to speak out against William
that Nelson is just one part of a bigger prob- Wilberforce and the Abolitionist movement.
lem Britain has with facing its colonial past. As In a letter to Samuel Taylor, an owner of
the darker side of British colonialism within the Jamaican plantations and the lives of over
heritage industry comes increasingly under 2000 slaves, Nelson wrote:
the spotlight, the ways in which we interpret
this heritage are being questioned and chal- I have ever been and shall die a firm friend
lenged. In this article, using the British heritage to our colonial system. I was bred, as you
surrounding Nelson as a point of focus, I know, in the good old school, and taught
intend to examine how and why there are to appreciate the value of our West India
calls upon the heritage sector to reconsider possessions; and neither in the field or
the ways in which colonialism is interpreted. in the senate [House of Lords] shall their
Upon a closer examination of heritage sites interest be infringed whilst I have an arm
including Trafalgar Square and the National to fight in their defence or a tongue to
Maritime Museum in Greenwich, we might launch my voice against the damnable
then establish how, if at all, these issues are and cursed doctrine of Wilberforce and his
being addressed. hypocritical allies.
(Petley, 2018)
46 GEM Journal No 40 Tanya Wilson
Taylor was a powerful voice among those when addressing the colonial past, and that
who spoke out against the abolitionists Imperial legacy is still prevalent today (Snow,
and was a close ally to those conservative 2017). That much would seem evident in the
members of parliament who moved to block articles that criticise Hirsch, unwilling to give
Wilberforce’s calls to end the slave trade. credence to evidence that would besmirch
Although Nelson’s views were not in keeping a national hero. The trouble with this school
with the rising humanitarianism of his time, he of thought is that, as a nation, by dismissing
was not alone amongst his fellow British naval crimes of the past as ‘of its time’ that would
officers in valuing ‘West Indian possessions’ otherwise contest this image of heroism and
over human lives. In fact, at this time, the British greatness, we are shaping the narra-
Royal Navy was intrinsically connected and tive to fit a national ideology, ignoring that
dependent upon Britain’s ‘colonial system’. which does not fit, essentially constructing a
Slave-produced sugar from the colonies was national identity built upon a false narrative.
Britain’s ‘most valuable import’, the import
duties of which helped to fund the defence of Tyler Stiem, also writing for The Guardian in
the realm and, by extension, the Navy’s war 2018, explores in some depth what he labels
fleet. Additionally, trade depended on British ‘Statue Wars’, looking at the broader picture
ships and British mariners who could be of the protest movement surrounding prob-
pressed into the navy at times of war. (Petley, lematic statues that has spread from South
2018) What this tells us is that evidently, Africa to the United States and now to Britain.
Nelson was pro-slavery, for it was the slave He would go so far as to argue that this false
trade that upheld the colonial system that narrative - ‘that the moral failures of the past
became the foundation of British greatness are, in fact, the triumphs we once thought
that Nelson so patriotically defended. The they were’ - created the nostalgia that has
issue then is that by celebrating Nelson, we influenced current affairs such as Brexit as
are upholding sentiments of British greatness well as Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great
that are now inextricably connected to colo- Again’ (Stiem, 2018). While we don’t have the
nialism, and by extension, slavery. room here to explore the political nuances of
such current affairs, it is certainly valuable to
Considering this, the question arises: how consider the broader question of how such
should we interpret this contentious herit- statues are not only reflective of the narra-
age? Afua Hirsch would argue that Nelson’s tives and national identities from the time
column must be pulled down. Surely there is that they were built, but can also shape and
no question to bringing down a statue that influence contemporary thought and politics,
elevates racist thought? The issue, however, and thus, why it is essential that this issue is
is considerably more complex. Foremost addressed.
is the backlash Hirsch faced following the
publication of her article. Talking with Dan Stiem identifies three possible approaches
Snow on his podcast History Hit Toppling to such statues. Firstly, ‘conservatism’; to
Statues, Why Nelson’s Column Should be leave the statues alone. Secondly, ‘agonism’;
Next with Afua Hirsch, (2017) Hirsch tells of modifying statues to ‘reflect contemporary
how she came under attack by numerous sensibilities’. And finally, ‘antagonism’; the
tabloids, criticising both her and her arti- removal of the offending statues. Ignoring
cle. The ubiquitous sentiment was that ‘the the issue and leaving statues as they are is
past is the past’, and that Nelson was ‘of his clearly no longer an option as statues are
time’. However, Hirsch argues that the real- being defaced and protests turning violent,
ity is quite the opposite. She argues that as was the case in Charlottesville, Virginia,
there is an ‘intellectual laziness’ within Britain resulting in the death of a 32-year-old woman
Tanya Wilson GEM Journal No 40 47
(Black, 2018:27). The ‘antagonistic’ removal but that’s as far as agonism goes’ (Stiem,
of statues is equally problematic. As we 2018). Though apologetic, it would appear
have already seen, in Britain there is an to be a limited solution, even tokenistic, as
evident reluctance to do so, not only with has been suggested by responses to the
regards to Nelson’s column, but with other newly proposed plaque on Colston’s statue
statues that have similarly come under fire, (Parkes, 2018). I would agree that the narra-
including a statue of Cecil Rhodes in Oxford tive surrounding Nelson and the part that
and Edward Colston in Bristol (Black, 2018). he played countering the Abolitionists must
In such debates, phrases such as ‘cultural be ‘contextualised’, but in order to do so, we
terrorism’ have been thrown around, with must go deeper than simply a plaque and
comparisons being drawn to the cultural look to the bigger picture of the heritage
cleansing undertaken by the Islamic State sector and its many platforms and how it can
and earlier the Taliban on ancient sites in the offer a counter narrative.
Middle East (McInkstry, 2017). While perhaps
this is an extreme example, the essential To begin with, we must first look to museums,
motives are comparable; the removal of and how they approach contested histo-
heritage that does not conform with contem- ries and have themselves become contested
porary values. Another issue that pulling heritage sites. The concept of contested
down the column would present is that in history is deeply embedded within the
doing so, we completely erase this conten- history of modern museums as we know
tious history, thereby erasing both good and them. From the age of Enlightenment to
bad from public memory. This, too, would an era of postcolonial, postmodern new
be problematic as there would be no point museology, there has been a shift in the
for discussion, removing challenging history, ways in which history is being presented and
even ‘white washing’ history as Subhadra interpreted within museums (Kidd, 2014:3).
Das, curator of UCL Collections, argues (Das The modern museum, born out of the age
in Black, 2018:28). Where would it end? How of Enlightenment, has always had education
many statues must fall? at the heart of its function. This education,
however, was largely didactic, authorial,
This leaves us with ‘agonism’, modifying elitist, and passively received (Hein,1998:2,
statues in order to acknowledge their histori- Reeve and Wollard, 2014:3). However, over
cal truths, essentially reinterpreting them the past twenty to thirty years, as there has
to comply with contemporary values. For been a shift towards postmodernist prac-
example, such modifications might include a tise within museums in which individual and
plaque, as has been proposed for Colston’s social meaning-making is at its core, the
statue in Bristol, highlighting his involve- authorial voice of the museum has been
ment in the slave trade (Cork, 2018). Afua undermined (Reeve and Wollard, 2014:4). As
Hirsch in conversation with Dan Snow, simi- a result, museums have become ‘live sites
larly recognises this option (Snow, 2017). of struggle’ (Kidd, 2014:3), in which groups
Backtracking somewhat from her initial and individuals now question the ‘authority,
article for The Guardian, Hirsch suggests authenticity, ownership, voice, absence and
that pulling down Nelson’s column is not silence’ of the museum (Kidd, 2014:3). The
necessarily the solution. Rather, it must be historical ‘truths’ presented by museums are
contextualised, as currently, elevated above being contested. I use the term ‘contested
Trafalgar Square, there is nothing to offer history’ loosely. As Jenny Kidd identifies,
a narrative that counters Nelson the Hero. there is no common terminology within the
However, as Stiem would argue, such a modi- sector and many different terms have been
fication might ‘perform a kind of apology, used within the same context, from ‘chal-
48 GEM Journal No 40 Tanya Wilson
lenging’ to ‘difficult’, ‘sensitive’ or ‘emotive’ tion to Contested Histories in Public Space:
(Kidd, 2014:2). For the purposes of this article, Memory, Race and Nation (2009). They posit
I use the term relating to histories that are that monuments, museums and other public
challenging or being challenged or revised history sites in Western democracies are
in light of this new museology; relating to the representative of national identity, but that
contested historical narrative that Admiral as multiculturalism and identity politics have
Nelson is a National Hero. challenged these national identities, they
have become sites of struggle between
The scope of this museological shift is vast ‘modernist notions of a unified nation-state’
and complex and at the heart of much and postmodern, postcolonial interrogations
museum theory, but for the purposes of this of race and national identity (2009:2). Such
discussion, what I believe is important to take public spaces imply a singular ‘public’ with a
away from it is the focus on the individual, collective voice, yet as we have already seen,
which is necessary to explore in more depth. and as Knauer and Walkowitz stress, in multi-
In the introduction to Hot Topics, Public racial and multiethnic societies, there is no
Culture, Museums (2010) Fiona Cameron collective set of values, and therefore factors
explains the necessity for museums in the such as race, class and gender, shape one’s
21st century to engage with what she terms individual relationship to the public sphere
‘hot topics’ as an extension of the museum’s and the narrative of national identity. Further,
role of ‘representing diversity and pluralism’ Knauer and Walkowitz highlight a period of
(Cameron, 2010:1). Introducing John Rawls’ New Left and other social movements in the
political theories, she demonstrates how the 1960s and 1970s that looked to the voices
very nature of diversity is inherently political and histories of ‘minority’ groups (2009:3).
as “the political culture of a democratic soci- It saw an expansion of historical knowledge
ety is marked by a diversity of opposing and ‘beyond the ivory tower’, giving a voice to
irreconcilable religious, philosophical and those that had previously been silenced.
moral doctrines” (Rawls in Cameron, 2010:2). The counter response to this, however, was
As a result, according to cultural theorist the fear that history was being destabilised,
Zygmunt Bauman “morality in a postmodern even discredited, particularly in the eyes
world… has become re-personalised and of politicians and state actors, who sought
individual rather than based on a consensual, to revive the histories and achievements of
collective morality, all traits characteristic of ‘Great White Men’, resulting in what is often
modernist institutions” (Cameron, 2010:4). referred to as ‘the culture wars’ (Knauer and
Further, as Jenny Kidd argues, museums Walkowitz, 2009:4). What we see here, is that
are no longer sites that simply explore past our ‘Statue Wars’ is evidently an extension of
identities, but are sites that in which indi- ‘the culture wars’. By challenging Nelson on
vidual identity is constructed (Kidd, 2014:4). his column, we are destabilising the notion
However, in a postmodern world of indi- of Nelson as a Great White Man,and the
vidual identity construction with ‘opposing sense of national identity that has been built
and irreconcilable’ moral doctrines, points of around him. Yet, by celebrating him, we are
contention are inevitable. silencing the voices of the ‘minority’, exclud-
ing their individual national identity.
These points of contention are particu-
larly loaded throughout much of the sector With this in mind, we may now look to the
as it has moved away from 18th and 19th National Maritime Museum in Greenwich,
century values towards 21st century soci- London, and how, if at all, the museum
etal demands, as Lisa Maya Knauer and has addressed this contested history in the
Daniel J. Walkowitz explain in their introduc- Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery. I want to first
Tanya Wilson GEM Journal No 40 49
draw attention to the title of the gallery. The Trafalgar. It’s almost like a shrine. There is no
tidy and succinct alliteration perfectly encap- mention of Nelson’s sentiments or involve-
sulates all that the gallery intends to cover; ment in countering the Abolitionists. Instead,
‘The story of the Royal Navy and the British he is portrayed, as quoted in a promotional
people, 1688-1815’. (See Fig.1) video for the gallery, as ‘a hero and a saviour
for the British People, elevated beyond mere
From bustling dockyards to ferocious sea mortality and into a god’. (Nelson, Navy,
battles, it brings to life the tumultuous Nation Gallery (n.d.))
18th century, exploring how the Royal
Navy shaped everyday lives as it became It is perhaps impossible for a contemporary
a central part of society and turned sea- mind to ever fully comprehend the threat of
faring heroes into national celebrities. invasion from Napoleon Bonaparte and the
(Nelson, Navy, Nation Gallery (n.d.)) extent to which Nelson really was a saviour to
the British people. The gallery aims to convey
The gallery leads us on a journey through that narrative and how Nelson and the Navy
the story of the British Navy during the built a national identity, as evidenced in the
height of its power, building up towards the gallery’s name. It is an important story to tell,
Napoleonic Wars, The Battle of Trafalgar as Nelson’s actions have shaped the Britain
and, of course, Nelson. In the first half of the we live in today. However, as we well know,
gallery we learn how naval ships were not just Nelson was not this untouchable god-like
weapons in warfare, but symbols of ‘national figure that history has painted him to be.
power and prestige’ (See Fig.2). We are also He was a flawed human being. By choosing
told of the hierarchy, discipline and not-so- to ignore this, the museum is not adopt-
glamourous life on board. In the second half, ing a postcolonial interrogation of identity,
as we reach the Napoleonic Wars, much of but rather favouring a modernist notion of
the gallery is dominated by displays and arte- national identity built on the achievements
facts relating to Nelson and his Naval career. of the Great White Man, again, silencing
There are portraits, letters, jewellery and a the voices of the ‘minorities’, offering no
chess set, a case filled with commemorative opportunity for individual interpretation. The
memorabilia of the Admiral, fragments of gallery impresses a deeply engrained senti-
flags from ships he’d served on, and, taking ment of national pride that still surrounds
centre stage, the uniform in which Nelson Nelson and it could be argued that the risk of
was shot and killed during the Battle of destabilising this notion is the reason for the
Figure 1. Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery. Figure 2. ‘symbols of national power and prestige’,
Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery.
50 GEM Journal No 40 Tanya Wilson
evident reluctance to even acknowledge this Atlantic Ocean between the 17th and 19th
counter narrative. centuries. In this gallery, we see on the one
hand narratives celebrating exploration, but
This isn’t to say that the National Maritime on the other, narratives of those exploited
Museum completely neglects postcolonial and enslaved by this period, offering a more
thought and museum practice. The Tudor critical, multivocal perspective, allowing for
and Stuart Seafarers gallery presents mari- individual interpretation. It would therefore
time exploration of this period. On a display appear that the National Maritime Museum
entitled ‘Encounters’ its reads: is open to postmodern practise and post-
colonial theory. However, Nelson, it would
Exploration brought Europeans into appear, remains untouchable. How might
contact with the peoples of Africa, the the museum be persuaded to confront this
Americas and Asia. These encounters contested heritage?
sometimes led to diplomatic and trad-
ing relationships, but also to hostility and In answering this question, I turn to examples
exploitation. From the 1490s Europeans elsewhere in the British heritage sector. It
began to establish settlements in these is important to note that the ethnographic
regions, hoping to take advantage of the collections that built many of the national
rich resources in the ‘new worlds’. The museums of the Enlightenment are them-
spread of these European empires often selves contested, much of it having been
had a devastating effect on indigenous acquired during the period of colonial
populations and continues to shape the conquest, often immorally or without native
world we live in today. permission, further implicating museums
(See Fig.3) within the narrative of colonialism and post-
colonialism (Thomas, 2018). As such, these
This might seem somewhat tokenistic given national museums have become “important
the scale of exploitation and devastation that sites of struggle for groups seeking redress
followed the exploration of the European for past wrongs” (Knauer and Walkwoitz,
empires. However, a further gallery: The 2008:8). The British Museum in London is
Atlantic Galley: Slavery, Trade, Empire, one such example. Objects within its collec-
addresses this exploration and exploitation tion have become the centre of heated
in much more depth, looking at the move- debates surrounding repatriation. In 2006,
ment of people, goods and ideas across the the then director of the British Museum
Neil MacGregor said ‘repatriation is yester-
day’s question’ (Thomas, 2018), and yet it
is still a hot topic today. Only in December
2018, performance troupe BP or Not BP?
led an unofficial ‘Stolen Goods Tour’ around
the British Museum where activists from
around the world called for the repatria-
tion of cultural artefacts acquired during
the colonial period (Polonsky, 2018). An Act
of Parliament from 1963 prevents the British
Museum from deaccessioning objects within
its collection and therefore the question of
repatriation is beyond the immediate control
of the museum, however, the tour demon-
Figure 3. ‘Encounters’ - Tudor and Stuart Seafarers
strates a movement of mounting pressure
gallery.
Tanya Wilson GEM Journal No 40 51
upon museums to address contentious but what these tours have already achieved
connections to colonialism. is the opening up of discussions surrounding
contested histories, allowing the opportunity
In a similar manner, in 2017 MA student Alice for individual interpretation and meaning
Procter began leading free and independ- making, challenging the modernist authorial
ent ‘Uncomfortable Art Tours’ in which she voice of the museum.
addressed the role that colonialism played in
shaping and funding the national collections Another way we might address such contested
of the National Gallery, National Portrait history, and the counter narrative of Nelson,
Gallery, British Museum, Victoria and Albert is rather than looking to redress the past, we
Museum, Tate Britain and Queens House might look to the future. Rather than looking
at the National Maritime Museum (Procter, to rewrite the past according to contempo-
(n.d.)). Her website, The Exhibitionist, rary values, we ought to celebrate those who
features portraits of famous British figures, live up to and embody such standards. For
defaced by bright red spray painted accu- example, Hirsch in conversation with Snow
sations. For example, across the Armada raises the issue that the majority of statues
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I is emblazoned across Britain, and particularly in London, are
‘slaver’, across Queen Victoria; ‘thief’. Nelson of white men, often military figures, embody-
also features across which is written ‘white ing imperial power. According to The Public
supremacist’ (Fig 4,5,6). Both the ‘Stolen Monuments and Sculpture Association, of
Goods Tour’ and the ‘Uncomfortable Art the 828 statues they have recorded across
Tours’ share a similar purpose in challeng- the country, only 174 of them are female
ing the narratives that are being presented (Reality Check, 2018). However, earlier in
within these national institutions, calling upon 2018, a statue of suffragist Millicent Fawcett
the institutions to consider these conflict- was erected in Parliament Square, becom-
ing narratives and provoking public debate ing the first woman to be represented in the
surrounding such issues. Both tours were square (Black, 2018:27). As Stiem suggests,
highly popular events and reached the atten- part of the issue surrounding ‘statue wars’
tion of the media, for better and for worse. is a matter of representation (Stiem, 2018). If
Whether these museums will act on the calls more efforts such as this are made to vener-
being made upon them is yet to be seen, ate people from ‘minority’ groups as earlier
Figure 4, 5, 6. Alice Procter - https://www.theexhibitionist.org/
52 GEM Journal No 40 Tanya Wilsondiscussed, a more diverse representation and African identity. Being the first black
and celebration might encourage a change artist to secure a commission for the Fourth
of focus away from the modernist, colonial Plinth, the Dutch Wax prompts complex
national identity upheld by such imperial associations with ‘colonialism, industrialisa-
military monuments, embracing a postcolo- tion, emigration, cultural appropriation, and
nial individual identity. the invention (and reinvention) of tradition’
(Royal Museums Greenwich (n.d.)). It can be
Another example of looking forward may seen as both a celebration of multicultural-
be seen in Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship ism yet also as a consideration of colonialism,
in a Bottle (Fig. 7). Commissioned in 2009 allowing for the artist to construct his own
by the Great London Authority for Trafalgar identity as a black British man within this
Square’s Fourth Plinth, the installation is a narrative. The Ship in a Bottle has since
corked glass bottle, within which is a scaled been acquired by the National Maritime
down replica of HMS Victory, the flagship Museum where it is now a permanent fixture
on which Nelson served during the Battle and has become part of a social media
of Trafalgar (Art Fund, 2012). In place of campaign, encouraging visitors to ‘grab a
what would have been white sails however, selfie’; #ExploreGreenwich (Royal Museums
are sails made from colourfully patterned Greenwich (n.d.)). This demonstrates Kidd’s
Dutch Wax fabric, a trade mark of the artist argument that ‘our understanding of the past
and commonly associated with African dress (and what is challenging about it) is informed
Figure 7. Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, Yinka Shonibare (2010) https://www.artfund.org/supporting-muse-
ums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11795/nelsons-ship-in-a-bottle
Tanya Wilson GEM Journal No 40 53by the performance of heritage being played makes no mention of Nelson’s sentiments
out across other media’ (Kidd, 2014:4). Not toward the abolitionists, there is very little to
only have we seen challenging history taking offer a narrative other than absolute glorifica-
place within the museum, and in public tion. The trouble with this is that this narrative
spaces, discussion and debate has been upholds and celebrates a national identity of
addressed in the media, through podcast British Greatness deeply rooted in colonial-
and protest movements as well as in social ism that we know was built on exploitation
media. What this demonstrates is a vast and enslavement and so should not be glori-
and expanding network of platforms across fied as it once was.
which history, heritage and identity are being
confronted and constructed. The question remains if and how this chal-
lenging history should be reinterpreted.
Ultimately, what is apparent is that in ques- Britain cannot deny its colonial history. For
tioning how we might reconsider and better and for worse it has shaped the Britain
reinterpret the heritage surrounding Admiral we know today. Therefore, erasing points of
Lord Nelson, we enter a much larger discus- contention such as problematic statues like
sion concerning the heritage sector and the Nelson’s column risks erasing such history
parameters that are changing in addressing from public memory, or at least as a point
contested histories. I believe there is no of discussion. It falls to the heritage sector
doubt that this damning evidence implicat- and the many platforms through which herit-
ing Nelson as a white supremacist should age is constructed, to offer a more balanced
be addressed more so than it currently is. representation and narratives open to indi-
Granted he served his country dutifully and vidual interpretation, embracing postcolonial
achieved great things, but given the evidence, theory. We have seen such examples in the
he should not be upheld with untouchable unofficial tours we earlier explored and the
veneration. However, as we have seen, there contemporary efforts to embrace diversity
is an evident reluctance to acknowledge the in Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle and
evidence that would destabilise the portrayal the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament
of Nelson as a National Hero and the reason Square. National institutions however, appear
for this helps us to establish what this means to remain reluctant to fully embrace postco-
for interpretive practice. It would appear that lonialism, evident in the representation of
there are two conflicting approaches within Nelson at the National Maritime Museum.
the heritage sector; the outdated modernist But perhaps if more positive efforts are made
practise that projects an authorial and abso- across other heritage platforms to embrace
lute identity, verses a postmodernist practise this ideology of diversity and individual-
that embraces individual voice and identity ism, interpretive practice surrounding such
and postcolonial ideology. In a time of diver- contested history will itself become more
sity and multiculturalism, museums ought to positive and constructive, embracing ever
favour such postmodern practise. However, evolving ideologies to suit contemporary
from what we have seen at the National values.
Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the ideol-
ogy may be present in some aspects, but the
practice is arguably lacking. Regardless of
the fact that the Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery
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www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve- see-do/we-recommend/attractions/grab-selfie-
helped-buy/artwork/11795/nelsons-ship-in-a-bottle nelsons-ship-bottle (accessed 27 January 2018).
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January 2018).
Cork, T. (2018) at www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/
bristol-news/wording-second-plaque-proposed- Snow, D (2017) ‘Toppling Statues, here’s why
edward-1810137 (accessed 27 January 2018). Nelson’s column should be next with Afua Hirsch’
in History Hit [Podcast] at https://play.acast.com/s/
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Nelson’s column should be next’ at scolumnshouldbenext-afuahirsch (accessed 27
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/22/ January 2018).
toppling-statues-nelsons-column-should-be-next-
slavery (accessed 27 January 2018). Stiem, T. (2018) ‘Statue wars: what should
we do with troublesome monuments?’ at
Kidd, J (et al.) (2014) Challenging History in the www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/26/
Museum: International Perspectives. Farnham: statue-wars-what-should-we-do-with-troublesome-
Ashgate. monuments (accessed 27 January 2018).
Knauer, L. and Walkowitz, D (eds) (2008) Contested Thomas, N. (2018) ‘Should Colonial Art be Returned
Histories in Public Space: Memory Race and Nation. Home?’ at www.ft.com/content/6c61c6e6-f7ed-
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Tanya Wilson GEM Journal No 40 55Journal
of Education in Museums
40
1 Editorial
Neil Herrington
36 Rocky road to chocolate fudge cake
How do we change the outcomes for
children across a whole city?
3 Editorial Kate Fellows
Nicola Wallis, Kate Noble
and Lawrence Bradby 46 Nelson, Narrative and National
Identity: A Contested History?
8 Museum and Gallery Learning in the Tanya Wilson
Early Years Manchester Art Gallery:
Co-designing and space for early 56 The learning value of a fashion
years children and service delivery. exhibition
Katy McCall and Ruthie Boycott- Dr Eleni Kostarigka
Garnett
64 The CWGC Experience: how a
16 Embodied Learning in Museums: much-loved institution at the heart of
exhibit design for preschool scientists remembrance has found a new way
Jamie Menzies, Dr Zayba Ghazali- to tell its story to the next generation
Mohammed, Dr Sharon Macnab, Peter Francis
Susan Meikleham, Graham Rose
and Dr Andrew Manches 72 GEM Conference 2019
Devon Turner, Helen Henley,
26 Curiouser and curiouser: exploring Kathrin Lewis and Becky Russell
what makes an effective EYFS visit to
a museum or gallery in the Tees Valley 79 Book reviews
Claire Pounder and Jo Graham Lauren Mihaljek, Ruthie Boycott-
GarnettYou can also read
