These seven principles were developed by the project team and guide our educational and pedagogical philosophy. We invite you to think about why these principles might have been important to us. How do they compare to your own philosophy when teaching complex and sensitive topics?
- African societies were complex and diverse, and thus responded in complex and diverse ways to European demand for captives.
- Enslaved people’s resistance to and strategies for surviving enslavement were complex and diverse.
- Primary sources and case studies allow us to challenge stereotypes of the Atlantic slave system.
- Non-written sources, and reading sources against the grain, are crucial in uncovering marginalised perspectives.
- Atlantic slavery strongly influenced economies, societies, cultural and racial formations in Europe, including Scotland.
- Societies dominated by slavery were integrated into the development of the modern world and demonstrate many characteristics we think of as ‘modern’.
- The cultural, ideological and economic inheritances of the Atlantic slavery system have strongly affected the world we live in today.