Archipelagic Perspectives on Decolonising Caribbean Monuments: Contestation, Everyday Reappropriation and Creative Regeneration of Colonial Memoryscapes in Martinique and Saint Lucia (1946-2023)

Abstract

Through comparative analysis of Martinique and Saint Lucia across seven decades of postcolonial development, this study examines how Afrodescendant communities deployed diverse strategies to contest and transform colonial monuments' signification. Employing Glissant's archipelagic thinking, this interdisciplinary research transcends imperial divisions separating Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean studies, focusing instead on subterranean convergences connecting these neighbouring islands. The research employs the concept of memoryscape to examine monuments and their surrounding physical and imaginary spaces, exploring how Afrodescendant people experience these memorial sites. The methodology combines archival analysis from French, British, and Caribbean repositories; collection of visual, textual, and online materials documenting evolving site perceptions; and four months of comparative fieldwork involving thirty interviews with Afrodescendant Martinicans and Saint Lucians alongside the co-production of visual media. The analysis establishes four fundamental arguments: colonial monuments derive their power from extensive networks of signification transcending their material form; decolonising these spaces demands attending to the colonial epistemologies informing commemoration practices; everyday engagements with colonial memorial sites constitute substantive forms of memory-work; and political status contextualises rather than determines memorial strategies. These findings challenge prevailing assumptions within heritage and memory studies about where monuments' power resides and how memorial decolonisation might be most effectively pursued. By centring Afrodescendant perspectives across different colonial legacies, this study contributes to broader debates about commemoration, contested heritage, and decolonial praxis in postcolonial societies.

Date of Award	23 Apr 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Xavier Guegan (Supervisor), Lisa Bernasek (Supervisor) & Jen Dickinson (Supervisor)