Borrell’s remark came in response to requests
approach that still falls short in terms of reparations
from Latin American leaders and reflected his own for victims and political accountability. The
bafflement. At the same time, revisionist theses narratives of this latent conflict are closely bound
proliferate under the auspices of public institutions. up with the growth of xenophobia and the rise in
These include arguments put forward by the populist discourses of hate. The structural omission
philologist Elvira Roca in her book Imperiofobia of this “uncomfortable” past has confronted
[Empire-phobia] (2016), where she depicts Spanish European identity itself, which has been challenged
colonialism as humane and claims there is no need by diaspora communities calling for a decolonial
to undertake any national self-questioning. For review of public space, of representations of
the African case, it will be necessary to wait for the otherness and of national histories (Huyssen, 2003).
decolonisation of the archives and for educational The issue is one of “transnational memories”, which
socialisation in order to examine Spain’s role in are built out of multiple geographical and social
the Atlantic slave trade and the contemporaneous experiences that include the slave trade, colonial
occupation of the territory. Doubtless, this process occupation and post-colonial Africa on the move,
will also be pushed forward by Afro-descendant and which have given shape to subaltern identities.
communities, for instance, through legal challenges Coming out of this dialectic are demands that
such as the one instigated almost thirty years ago challenge the normalised colonial heritage of our
in Banyoles (Girona). The case in question, which museums and streets, while also calling for justice
involved the desiccated remains of a Bushman on for crimes that are still kept quiet. These demands
display in the Darder Museum in Banyoles, was the have been answered with varying degrees of success
focus of a decade-long battle between a Haitian by the institutions and political authorities that
physician Alphons Arcelin along with other Africans are directly concerned, situating any progress or
and a Catalan society reluctant to examine its own resistance on a battleground where, based on the
racism. The Bushman was not removed and buried in trend of the past decade, voices will continue to be
Botswana until 2001, when he was given a veritable raised in support of a colonial memory that is both
state funeral that was mounted as a symbol of critical and unvarnished. Discussions and solutions
restitution for the sorrow and grief of colonialism. need to happen with greater speed, involving every
The Darder Museum, by contrast, did not undertake social agent, in order to look together at the past and
any critical reformulation of the space. build a better social harmony in the present.
4
Obviously, Europe’s past involvement in the
slave trade and colonialism is today a history of
festering wounds. The continued existence of the
trauma is a direct consequence of a management
References:
ASSMANN, Aleida. «Transnational memories», in European Review, 2014, vol.
22, no. 4, pp. 546-556.
CARDINA, Miguel. «Memórias amnésicas? Nação, discurso político
e representações do passado colonial», in Configurações. Revista de
sociologia, 2016, no. 17, pp. 31-42.
HUYSSEN, Andreas. «Diaspora and nation: Migration into other pasts», in
New German Critique, 2003, no. 88, pp. 147-164.
MUÑOZ MARTINEZ, Celeste. «África en nuestros archivos: la historia que
aún no puede ser contada » in La necesidad de conocer África. Dykinson,
2017. pp. 129-140.
REYES, Abdiel Rodríguez. «El giro decolonial en el siglo XXI» in Revista
Ensayos Pedagógicos, 2016, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 133-158.
SCHABAS, William, Unimaginable Atrocities – Justice, Politics, and Rights at
the War Crimes Tribunals, Oxford University Press, 2012 – pp. 51-53.
Informe de las Naciones Unidad sobre el museo colonial de Bélgica:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=24153&LangID=E
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