London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The webinar is the first in a series of events for Reframing Access to Historic Medical Photograph Collection project, with Decolonising the Archive (DTA). For an overview of the project please see the project website.

"The photographs function not only as records of disease, but as instruments of colonial medical knowledge production. These images were created within asymmetrical power relations in which racialised subjects were rendered visible primarily through pathology and bodily difference... foregrounding disease over personhood; scientific authority over lived experience" – Connie Bell, DTA

Is there a way to confront historic harms whilst promoting present and future social justice?

Can we develop radical archival reclamations with institutional collections that use internal regulations and international standards?

This webinar will introduce the scope of the project and give an oversight of the challenges to both custodians and potential researchers working with colonial medical materials. It will feature discussions of colonialism, racism, ill health and disability. No images will be shown.

This event will be recorded so that it can be made available online later. If you do not wish for your contribution to be recorded, please let us know and we will ensure that it is removed prior to publication. No copies will be retained, though we may anonymise and transcribe pertinent questions and thoughts.

Please contact the event organiser if you need any additional support to attend the event.

Programme

14:05-14:20  Introduction, code of conduct and content warnings. Background the project and the collection at LSHTM

Speaker: Victoria Cranna, Archivist and Records Manager at LSHTM

14:20-14:35  Background the work of Decolonising the Archive (DTA) and their involvement in this project

Speaker: Connie Bell, Director of Decolonising the Archive (DTA) 

14:35-14:50  Outline of the importance/relevance of archives

Speaker: Dr Etienne Joseph, Co-founder of Decolonising the Archive (DTA) 

14:50-15:00  Break

 

15:00-15:15  An overview of the damage/ good of medical extraction from the perspective of a formerly colonised nation

Speaker: Damian Cohall, Dean of Faculty of Medicine Cavehill Barbados

15:15-15:30  Q&A

Moderated by Connie Bell

Speakers

Dr Damian Cohall 

Dr Damian Cohall is the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of The West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. He has formerly held the posts of the Head of Department-Preclinical and Health Sciences, Deputy Dean - Preclinical Sciences. He is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology with research interests in Ethnopharmacology and Pharmacognosy. He is the author of Medicinal Plants of Barbados, text book chapters and journal articles in areas of his research interest. In October 2022, his work was featured in Nature - Where I work. He is member of the editorial boards of Frontiers in Pharmacology and the West Indian Medical Journal. He continues to educate and sensitise the society about the rich legacy of traditional herbal practices in the Anglophone Caribbean. 

Dr Etienne Joseph

Dr Etienne Joseph is the co-founder of DTA (Decolonising the Archive), an organisation exploring Pan-African archival methodologies, and head of archiving at Hackney Archives. Grounded in grassroots community, his work explores the idea of the ‘living archive’ and its importance within African Heritage memory work. He is an archivist, researcher, educator and practitioner with a passion for the renewal and reinvention of African-centred approaches to the archive. He has worked with a diverse range of organisations ranging from youth collectives researching and monitoring Police violence in London, to independent Libraries and Archives based on the African continent. His current projects include 'Correcting Our Collecting' a short course exploring reparative archiving (in collaboration with the University of the West Indies), an ongoing project to repatriate archives relating to the decolonisation of Botswana, and work on several collections of personal papers relating to African heritage experiences in the UK. 

Connie Bell

Connie Bell is a Memory Worker, Cultural Producer, and Co-Founder / Director of Decolonising the Archive (DTA) and the University of Repair. Her work explores decolonial methodologies, safeguarding fugitive archives and memory justice as technology within archives.  
 

She leads the Museum Restitution Course, addressing the ethics of displaying ancestral human remains in museums and the commitment of care for descendant communities. Connie produces the podcast Duppy Conquerors, which examines the legacy and resistance of the Jamaican Maroons.  

Her practice reimagines and activates archives as living spaces for repair, dialogue, and community justice. 
 

Victoria Cranna

Victoria Cranna is the Archivist & Records Manager at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She established the LSHTM Archives Service in 2002 and is responsible for managing, preserving and making accessible the historical records of the School and operating the records management service. Since 2020, the Archive Service has been working in accordance with Decolonising Principles which cover five areas: Archive Practice, Cataloguing Practice, Dissemination, Education and Inclusivity. Victoria is also a tutor on the Level 7 Archivist and Records Management apprenticeship scheme, she is responsible for teaching eight apprentice in the London cohort. The aim of the scheme is to enable a wider range of people to start a career in archives through reducing the financial and academic barriers to becoming an archivist. Her contributions to the Archives profession include AIM25 trustee, Higher Education Archives Programme steering group member, ARA Professional Development Programme Assessor, peer reviewer on the Archive Service Accreditation standard, ARA Diversity and Inclusion Ally and member of the TNA Inclusive Archival Practice Network Steering Group.

Event notices

• Please note this event is virtual only
• Please note that the recording link will be listed on this page when available