Colonial and Botanical Heritage in Bath (Britain) and Bath (Jamaica)

This talk is organised by an external group; please go to their website for more details: www.botanicalencounters.com or click on Book Tickets to register.

Part of the Botanical Encounters series.

This talk explores how the environment of two spa towns have been impacted by their shared colonial history. Bath in Somerset benefited from profit drawn from enslaved labour in the Caribbean to create an attractive neo-Palladian cityscape with outstanding landscape architecture.

Bath in Jamaica, in contrast, experienced colonisation and anti-colonial struggle which resulted in the creation of spa facilities and a botanical garden but also in the destruction of some of the island’s original botanical heritage. The comparison of both hot springs provides opportunities for a reflection on inequalities within the heritage sector and new, sustainable forms of tourism.

Dr Christina Horvath is a Reader in French politics at PoLIS, University of Bath. Her research interests include decolonial practices through art, Co-Creation, mapping, and participative walking. She has been leading the Botanical Encounters project in Bath since October 2021. In May-June 2022, she used funding from the British Academy to undertake research in Bath, Jamaica, documenting colonial links between Bath in Britain and Bath in Jamaica. Results of this research will be published in a book she is co-editing with Dr Richard S. White on Reshaping Memoryscapes: Engaging with Legacies Of Transatlantic Slavery In Bath And Bristol.