The Legacy of Empire: How to Reckon with the Past (Simukai Chigudu)

Is removing statues and decolonising the curriculum the answer?


A member of the first generation born after the end of colonial
rule in Zimbabwe, Simukai Chigudu came to the UK as a teenager
and later became one of the founding members of a campaign to try
to get the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes moved from Oriel
College in Oxford.


Now an associate professor of African politics at the University
of Oxford, he’s written a memoir called Chasing Freedom: Coming
of Age at the End of Empire.


In this episode he discusses the legacy of the Rhodes Must Fall
campaign and whether countries like Britain should pay
reparations for slavery.


TIMECODES:


(00:03:00) The history of colonialism in Zimbabwe


(00:05:10) Cecil Rhodes’ role in Zimbabwe and the ‘Rhodes Must
Fall’ campaign


(00:09:35) Attitudes to England


(00:16:37) Decolonising the curriculum


(00:18:47) Statues


(00:34:53) Experiencing racism


(00:44:40) The case for reparations


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Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before
that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The
Independent.


Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis
Vickers with Anna Budd and Cordelia Hemming. Digital production
was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Philip
Bull. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna
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