12.00 – 13.00 pm, Zoom Webinar
Inclusive Heritage in Scotland’s Built Environment
This session will explore approaches to the management of our built environment through the dialogues of Empire and Imperialism. Centring on Managing Imperial Legacies –an ongoing research project exploring how Scotland’s built heritage is linked with narratives of Empire and the transatlantic slave trade– this talk will consider recent conversations around the retention, re-framing or removal of buildings, structures and streetscapes linked to Empire. It will pose how and why heritage as a profession, and architectural history as a discipline can and should evolve through challenging and expanding historic narratives, and will address how a deeper understanding of the role and purpose of the built environment during the 18th and 19th centuries can help us to engage more thoroughly with the societal constructs that uphold racial inequalities in the present day.
Dr Kirsten Carter McKee is a postdoctoral fellow in Architectural History and Heritage at the University of Edinburgh. She has previously worked for the heritage industry in commercial, government and third sector roles, with a specialism in the political and cultural dialogues of 18th and 19th century western architecture. Her current teaching and research roles focus on how we can broaden our understanding of our built environment to recognise conversations on race, gender and LGBTQ+ histories, and how this can help us to develop more inclusive and sustainable approaches to the interpretation and management of our built heritage.
