Safeguarding the memory of the Slave Route
Revitalizing sites linked to the slave trade and slavery as a means of keeping the memory of those terrible events alive has become a key objective in the countries and regions whose history is marked by this chapter of human history. An international seminar will bring site managers, academics, political leaders, education experts and tourism authorities together in Brasilia from 20-23 August to explore new ways of achieving this goal.
Participants will also establish the first-ever international network of sites and itineraries linked to the slave trade, slavery and resistance, and abolition, with a view to nominating certain routes for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Successful management and development projects at important sites in countries such as Brazil, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Spain, Portugal, France, Cuba, Peru, Barbados, Benin, Cap Verde, Uruguay, Panama, Mexico, Mozambique, Ecuador, Haiti, the United States and Canada will be presented and reviewed as possible models for others. Of particular interest will be projects underway at the historic Valongo Quay complex in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo’s Quilombola Circuit (Brazil), The Slave Route ( Benin) the Cape Coast Chateau (Ghana), the Liverpool museum(U.K), the Indian Ocean Itinerary of Memory (Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Island of Reunion), The Route of Abolitions (France), the Afro-Canadian Experience (Canada), the Island of Goree (Senegal), the City of Lagos (Portugal).
To build on the expertise of site managers and tourism professionals, the participants will also work on a guide and a series of training modules, and launch the development of education materials for a broader public.
Organized by the Palmarès Fundaçao Cultural, a Brazilian cultural foundation, and UNESCO ‘s Slave Route Project, the seminar is scheduled to be opened by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil and honororary president of the Lula Institute, together with Aloizio Mercadante, the Brazilian Minister of Education and Ana de Hollanda, the Brazilian minister of culture.
The seminar is one of the events marking the commemoration on 23 August, of the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and of its Abolition, and part of the lead up to the United Nations Decade for People of African Ascent (2013-2022).
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More on UNESCO's Slave Route project
Media Contact in Brasilia
Ana Lucia Guimaraes
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