Abstract: Few would dispute that Canadian history is a colonial history, and curated civic landscapes countrywide confirm this reality. But what if we adjust the claim to assert that Canadian history is also Black history? Where, then, are the civic signs of Black history in Canadian cities? What do those signs say and how do they function? Who put them there? How do they operate within a network of other signs of the past which centre whiteness? And how can we examine and imagine the urban signs of Black history in ways that can make a city’s landscape richer and more inclusive?

This presentation brings these questions to London, Ontario, a colonial city which has a significant Black history and which both depicts and elides that history on its civic landscape. The presentation ultimately reflects on the possibilities which material semiotics and digital technology present for discovering richer and more inclusive ways of producing collective memories in the city.

Host:

Faculty of Information and Media Studies

URL:

https://www.fims.uwo.ca/

Contact:

FIMS Communications
fims-communications@uwo.ca

Department:

Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS)