24 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 ROB COWAN Troublesome statues The question of what to do with statues and memorials to people or events that some people no longer think it appropriate to celebrate has become a tricky political issue. There are, perhaps, two ways of thinking about history and statues. Dynamic history, which helps us to understand; and static history, which falsifies.We can identify seven principles of each. A dynamic approach to history helps us to think about the past and respond creatively. In relation to statues and other memorials, it enables us to think about them in relation to our changing values; to our changing knowledge and understanding of the lives of the people portrayed; to the differing audiences for the statues; and to the role that the statue or memorial is, or was, intended to play. Major UK cities, including London, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and Leeds, are undertaking reviews of their statues, as is the Welsh Government. In London, the mayor, Sadiq Khan, has established the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm ‘to review and access public tributes including statues and other landmarks’. London’s statues, plaques and street names do not reflect the city’s stories.The Principles of dynamic history 1. History is made up of accepted judgments, which change through time in the light of new research and changing values. 2. History is a continuous process of interpreting the past through the eyes of the present. 3. Understanding the present depends on understanding the past. 4. There is no core of historical facts that exists independently of interpretation by historians. 5. People who are aware and thoughtful (sometimes described as ‘woke’) can help us to understand the past. 6. History can help us to understand old buildings and artefacts in new ways. Building conservationists and historians can communicate that understanding by interpreting those buildings and artefacts to the public. 7. In particular, history can help us understand historic statues in new ways. Historians can communicate that understanding by interpreting those statues to the public. In some cases, unnecessary offence can be avoided either by relocating a statue to a place where it can be seen and understood (rather than revered), or by putting it into storage. Principles of static history 1. History is made up of facts, which are unchanging and reflect unchanging values. 2. History is what has been established by past historians. 3. Understanding the present depends on an unchanging view of the past. 4. There is a core of historical facts that exists independently of interpretation by historians. 5. People who are ‘woke’ (supposing themselves to be aware and thoughtful) usually have a secret political agenda that they are trying to impose on everyone else. 6. History tells us what to value in an old building or artefact. Building conservationists and historians should communicate that generally unchanging story to the public. 7. Historic statues represent historical facts. Historians should communicate those facts as they were understood by the people who erected the statues, occasionally adding some explanation reflecting current thinking. Relocating statues falsifies history, causing distress to people who fear change to their longstanding, comforting view of the world. Provoking such fears can be an effective means of attracting political support from such people. commission will focus on increasing representation in its public spaces among Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, women, the LGBTQ+ community and disability groups. A strong criticism of taking down statues came in 2020 when the then culture secretary Oliver Dowden highlighted the issue as part of what he called the ‘war on woke’ (‘woke’ is generally accepted as meaning an awareness of social injustice). ‘Statues and other historical objects were created by generations with different perspectives and understandings of right and wrong,’ Dowden wrote in a letter to DCMS arm’s-length bodies to outline the government’s position on contested heritage (with a strong hint that their funding might depend on them toeing the line). ‘Some represent figures who have said or done things which we may find
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