Sixth Global Conference on Slavery Past Present and Future Held in the Netherlands in Summer 2022
07/19/2022
The Sixth Global Conference on Slavery Past, Present, and Future, part of a multi-year interdisciplinary project created and organized by IU McKinney Dean Karen E. Bravo, took place July 11 through 13. The gathering was held at Webster Leiden Campus-Webster University USA in The Netherlands.
The conference began with a field trip to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam during which conference delegates participated in a customized tour which explored the Dutch Slavery Footprint in the museum’s holdings. Tour guides highlighted and provided contextual information about often hidden and/or overlooked aspects of artwork which evidenced the deep intertwining of Transatlantic and East Indian slavery and colonialism in the history and economic and cultural life of The Netherlands.
“The participation of delegates from a variety of disciplines and perspectives and the in-depth discussions in each session offered opportunities for deep learning on the topics of slavery, enslavement, and continuities of exploitation," said Dean Bravo.
Themes for the conference included defining slavery, slaveries of the past, human trafficking and other forms of contemporary exploitation, systems and structures of enslavement and subordination, voices of the enslaved, legacies of slavery, and anti-slavery initiatives and movements.
The conference series brought together participants of different backgrounds and disciplines to discuss slavery, enslavement, and slavery-like exploitations in all its forms across time and geographies. By providing new opportunities for dialog across disciplinary and national boundaries, the conference series seeks to catalyze new insights and potential approaches, and the enrichment of knowledge on the topics of slavery. Delegates from across the globe took part in the event. Nations represented included Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The sixth conference built upon the work of earlier events, which were held in Mansfield College, Oxford University in Oxford, England, in 2015; Prague, the Czech Republic, in 2016; Indiana University Europe Gateway in Berlin, Germany, in 2018;University of Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2019; and in a virtual format hosted by IU McKinney in 2021.
