Regarding Statues: Whiteness, Space, and the Postcolonial European Imagination

Abstract

In recent years, there have been renewed calls to remove colonial statues in many European cities. The increased politicization of colonial heritage has become a matter of concern to urban planning as heritage disputes have erupted over the presence of specific statues and other monuments. In this paper, I argue that the retention of colonial statues is a racially charged political act that reinforces the white domination of space. I draw on critical phenomenology to demonstrate the power of material artifacts within public culture.