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This public history platform draws out new stories of Manchester and Lancashire’s cotton industry, particularly those linked to colonialism, enslavement, and global movements of people and goods.
Global Threads is a collaboration between the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery and the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, seeded by funding in 2021 and 2022 from UCL’s Grand Challenges programme and UK Office.
In 2021 we recruited a diverse team of talented emerging researchers in fully-paid positions in a programme of heritage and public history research and writing workshops and one-to-one mentoring and skills development sessions to craft ten original case studies, each exploring a specific narrative linking lived experiences of resistance, solidarity, colonisation, enslavement, and industrialisation to Manchester. Our team have all gone on to positions in the heritage sector, research roles, PhD scholarships, and media work.
In 2022 we recorded a series of audio discussions, managed and edited by one of our team, putting our talented researchers in conversation with each other and a group of invited experts which explore the content of each case study as well as key issues and challenges around public history. Our team were joined by a Manchester-based craft designer and facilitator to design and run a programme of creative public engagement at the Science and Industry Museum and delivered the opening presentation at the Science Museum Group’s annual research conference.
In 2023 we partnered with the British Textile Biennial to research and co-curate our first exhibition project, The Penistone Cloth – Textiles and Slavery – From the Pennines to Barbados and Beyond, held at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and developed a hub for guest blogs platforming public history interventions and related projects in the city and region.
We continue to build new partnerships and networks to develop new, deeper, and diverse engagement in these essential historical legacies and narratives.
Project dates: From 2021.
Project team: Sibia Akhtar, Megan Bridgeland, Cameron Christie, William Douch, Holly French, Tiger Ritchie, Serena Robinson, Katie Belshaw, Matthew J. Smith, Matthew Stallard.