Call for Papers - Transatlantic Slavery and the Archive Conference 2027

Histories of transatlantic slavery have long been shaped by the archive. This has led researchers to confront the fact that records of transatlantic slavery were overwhelmingly written by or for enslavers.

Influential critiques by Michel-Rolph Trouillot (Silencing the Past, 1995) and Saidiya Hartman (Scenes of Subjection, 1997; ‘Venus in Two Acts’, 2008) have highlighted the relationship between archival production, power, violence and historical silence. They have shown how the lives of enslaved people are often fragmented, obscured, or wholly absent from the documentary record.

Further interventions rooted in Black feminist thought and postcolonial studies, such as Stephanie Smallwood’s Saltwater Slavery (2007), Marisa Fuentes’ Dispossessed Lives (2016) and Jessica Marie Johnson’s Wicked Flesh (2020), have built on these insights. Their work exposes the limits of such sources and helps to develop methods for engaging with archival gaps and silences.

More expansive and creative practices have followed. These often look beyond official documents to bring in other forms of what the writer Toni Morrison called ‘memory work’.

Yet the historical value of the archive endures, as researchers continue to show how the vast records of enslavement can enrich understanding of Atlantic history across disciplines. Shifts in archival practice across organisations also play a significant role. The selection, preservation, organisation, and accessibility of records profoundly impact how histories of enslavement are surfaced and engaged with.

This two-day interdisciplinary conference aims to foster discussion and debate about the relationship between histories of enslavement and archives today.

It will explore:

• How were archives documenting transatlantic slavery formed, and for what purposes?
• What do archival sources tell us about transatlantic slavery, what do they omit and what do these silences tell us?
• Are there types of archives or sources that have been overlooked when reconstructing histories of transatlantic slavery?
• How can we challenge and resist the limits of the archive to centre the experiences of the enslaved?
• How have developments in archival practice shaped research into transatlantic slavery?
• How has the digital turn transformed how we encounter archives of enslavement?
• How can archives of transatlantic slavery best serve descendant communities, and how can access and engagement be expanded?

Find out more and read the full Call for Papers. 

Professor Stephanie Smallwood (University of Washington), author of Saltwater Slavery (2007), will give a keynote lecture on Monday 21 June 2027.