Zooming with Justin Agnett from Swale Migration Stories

Justin and I had a really exciting conversation about his Swale Migration Stories project, which aims to challenge public perceptions of migration and uncover hidden historical narratives centring on Swale. The heritage sector has been necessarily rocked AGAIN by the murder of George Floyd and support for Black Lives Matter. Most museums have put out empty statements of intent to change so it's inspiring to hear about a project that's delving a lot deeper than press releases and optics. 

We talk about how history is constantly evolving (and along with it the wider truth), but people with power want it to stay the way that works for them. They want it to back up the stories they tell themselves and the people of this country about pride, patriotism, race and class. They want to continue being painted as the heroes of WWII not oppressors of millions during Empire. We talk about how museums are a place to think, a place to pause for thought, a place where uncomfortable truths can be met head-on. Justin says it's important to signpost to the next thing to do after having this moment in the museum, to encourage people to keep going, to not see the museum visit and resulting discussion or momentary shift in perception as the end game. 

Conversations about migration need to be managed carefully. Justin sets about trying to trouble people's ideas of what migration actually is, all the journeys that aren't thought of as anything to do with being a “migrant”, uncoupling migration from racist tropes and misunderstandings based on deliberate lies by the right wing media and politicians attempting to sow division. As people who work in museums know, the secret to addressing “difficult” subjects is to ground them in an object. Justin says this doesn't even need to be an artefact, it can be coffee, sugar, tea. Apart from these everyday objects, Justin's been working with museums and heritage sites in Swale to identify objects within their collections with migration stories like the conkers from eastern europe brought over in people's pockets, fossils from the Antarctic, clothing from paper mills and steelworkers, post cards and letters from America. The abolitionist Olaudah Equiano who was kidnapped in West Africa and enslaved at the age of 11, visited Sheerness sometime in 1773.

The project has necessarily involved lots of partnership work and as I tell Justin about the work my colleague Grace Quansah and I are doing at the British Museum around African Kingdoms he suggests I look at the work Christine Locke is doing at Diversity House and in particular her Benin and British Heritage project: https://www.diversityhouse.org.uk/portfolio-items/benin-and-british-heritage/

Diversity House's Benin and British Heritage project

Because of Covid, it's become more of a digital bringing together of objects but there will be pop ups at street markets, tourist information centres and a shop in Sittingbourne too. Justin tells me it's about uncovering truths and sharing them in an engaging and interactive way that seeks to educate,  not alienate. He definitely doesn't wish to shy away from the impact that British and European colonialism has had on the world and wants the people of Kent to reckon with their shared past and unite towards a fairer future.