Look Who it Was Random video

Encountering truth: the real life stories of objects from empire’s frontier and beyond

671 views · Published 13 July 2015 · 53:39 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: King's College London · 2015 · Education

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Wednesday 29 April 2015
Europe’s post-enlightenment Empire has been the greatest determinant of our contemporary planet’s geo-political map. It is, and will remain, an extraordinary, transformational and devastating period of global history. 
In the largest migratory movement the earth had ever seen, distant and disparate worlds collided. It was less than a century ago that this historical epoch came to its end. When the forces of European power receded toward its source, trophies and objects of colonial conquest remained in Europe's possession. 
These material objects, collected throughout Empires reign, embody the practised cultures and histories of other societies. And they point to legacies of an unresolved story of ruthless domination.
June Oscar AO, an Indigenous leader from the far North of Western Australia, sheds light on the truth that is awaiting to be told when we reencounter these objects. Her presentation awakens their living history through her telling of the story of her people, the Bunuba. 
In the late nineteenth century the Bunuba staged a resistance to the British invasion of their lands, led by Jandamarra – a legend in Australia’s history. After years of tireless fighting, Jandamarra was killed in a long and bloody battle. 
As a visible exertion of British authority and control of foreign lands, Jandamarra’s head was sent to England. Where it resides, remains unknown.
Wednesday 29 April 2015

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