Introduction

UncoverED started in September 2018 as a ‘collaborative decolonial project’ researching the long, unacknowledged history of African, Asian and Caribbean students at the University of Edinburgh. As a team of twelve undergraduate and postgraduate researchers across disciplines, we worked within the university archives to locate these hidden stories (Figure 12.1). Between January and June 2019, we held our first public exhibition at the University’s Chrystal Macmillan Building (Figure 12.2) and have since been rethinking our project aims and ways of working.

In this chapter, based on a group discussion in May 2020, we reflect on three aspects of UncoverED: the origins and early ambitions of the project; the significant discoveries we’ve made; and the difficulties we’ve faced over the course of our research. Researching Edinburgh’s global, imperial past presented numerous personal and emotional challenges, especially for the members of the team with lived experiences of racism. Unpicking these issues, this discussion raised three main points. First, awareness of interpersonal relationships, racial hierarchies, and different modes of power has been crucial to de-institutionalising whiteness and pursuing a ‘decolonial’ approach. Second, Edinburgh University’s connections with empire need to be thought of in terms of colonial institutions and systems, not just ‘remarkable’ individuals. Third, criticisms of empire and racism connected to Edinburgh have been made for centuries, and should not be seen as retrospectively applying today’s ‘standards’ ahistorically.

UncoverED’s original aims

Henry Dee (HD)

UncoverED was, in part, a response to global and local events. Rhodes Must Fall, in Cape Town, South Africa, and in Oxford, Britain, dramatically challenged the status quo in 2015. There were also a number of events in Edinburgh in the aftermath. The Centre of African Studies and undergraduate anthropology students ran Decolonising the Academy conferences in February 2016 and early 2018, respectively. The University of Glasgow had already made significant steps towards investigating their connections with empire, and Edinburgh itself clearly had its own colonial connections. Students from the Caribbean first came to Edinburgh in the 1740s, and the first African and Asian students arrived in the 1850s; money from the British empire financed university institutions; and innumerable alumni went to work in the empire after graduation.