ACTIVITIES
XXV Museums and Education Conference:
The decolonization of museums
New research, new perspectives, and new contributions to the study of colonial slavery from Catalonia
ACTIVITIES AROUND THE EXHIBITION “THE INFAMY”
The number of visitors to the exhibition “The Infamy. Catalan Involvement in Colonial Slavery”, from its opening on 20 February 2025 to its closing on 6 April 2026, was 24,354. Just over 3,000 people took part in person in the activities organised around the exhibition. The number of participants in online activities that are still ongoing, such as podcast listens, website visits or downloads of the publication Tools for the Decolonisation of Museums, is not included, as this figure changes over time.
“SILENCED VOICES. LEARNING FROM THE PAST TO COMBAT RACISM” (“VEUS SILENCIADES. APRENEM DEL PASSAT PER COMBATRE EL RACISME”) ↗
Educational activity
Description:
Through the participation of lower and upper secondary pupils in a role-playing exercise and a visit to the exhibition itself, debates were generated around racism. The activity also aimed to invite reflection on an episode of our history that is often hidden: Catalan participation in the trafficking and exploitation of enslaved people, and its connections with present-day inequalities and discrimination. This activity was designed in collaboration with the educational specialist Moustapha Ady Mbaye Toure.
“STORIES FROM INFAMY: VOICES FROM THE PAST WRITTEN TODAY” (“RELATS DES DE LA INFÀMIA: VEUS DEL PASSAT ESCRITES AVUI”) ↗
Educational activity
Description:
A proposed educational workshop to be carried out in the classroom after the guided visit to the exhibition “The Infamy”, which encouraged the production of short texts in the form of monologues or dialogues inspired by the lives of real individuals, constructed from information provided by sources such as wills, contracts of sale, newspaper advertisements and other archival records. These accounts enabled pupils to imagine what the lives of those people might have been like and to give them a voice, placing names and context upon stories that have until now been rendered invisible.
The activity was carried out with the advice of Laida Memba, a member of the University of Barcelona research group (Tr)afican(t)s.
TALKS: “WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT OUR INFAMY?” (“QUÈ EN SABEM DE LA NOSTRA INFÀMIA?”)
Description:
“What Do We Know About Our Infamy?” was an umbrella title under which a series of lectures, debates and presentations on slavery were brought together and, taken as a whole, gradually broadened knowledge of Catalan participation in the trafficking of enslaved people. The series was directed by Dr Martín Rodrigo Alharilla, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), who took advantage of the presence in Barcelona of leading scholars working on slavery to invite them to participate; hence, from the outset, it was not conceived as a closed series.
Date: Tuesday 11 March 2025
Speaker: Dr Lluís Nicolau Parés, anthropologist and professor at the Federal University of Bahia
Description:
Drawing on the biography of an emancipated African in Bahia in 1830, the session explained the involvement of some freed Africans in Atlantic trading and Brazil’s participation in this infamous trade during the nineteenth century, when it was already illegal.
Date: Thursday 27 March 2025
Speaker: Dr Ulrike Schmieder, professor in the Department of History at Leibniz University Hannover
Description:
A lecture on how museums address the subject of slavery in their exhibitions, with examples of both bad and good practice, and with guidance on what should be borne in mind when approaching the decolonisation of museums
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Date: Thursday 24 April 2025
Speakers: Gustau Nerín, anthropologist and historian specialising in the study of colonialism in Africa and professor at the University of Barcelona, and Martín Rodrigo, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at UPF
Description:
A talk structured as a debate on the activities of Catalan slave traders in Africa and the Americas during the nineteenth century.
• “Responses to infamy” (“Respostes a la infàmia”) ↗
Date: Thursday 12 June 2025
Speakers: Laida Memba Ikuga and Alba Valenciano Mañé, both researchers on the (Tr)african(t)s project, and Edmundo Sepa Bonaba, director of Espai AfroCatalà at the Fundació Nous Catalans
Description:
A round table, coordinated by Laida Memba, with the aim of opening up reflection on how the legacies of slavery and colonisation have generated political, cultural and social responses, often silenced yet fundamental to understanding today’s struggles for justice and reparation.
Date: Tuesday 14 October 2025
Speaker: María del Carmen Barcia Zequeira, professor at the University of Havana
Description:
A session devoted to examining how the exploitation of people of African descent in Cuba continued after abolition and what mechanisms of resistance gradually emerged.
Date: Thursday 20 November 2025
Speakers: Abraham Jiménez Enoa, Cuban journalist descended from enslaved people, and Sarai Martín López, anthropologist and researcher on the University of Barcelona’s (Tr)african(t)s project
Description:
A talk on the figure of the indiano: his achievement and his shadows, and on what the organisation of indianos fairs in Catalonia represents, especially for Black people.
Date: Tuesday 27 January 2026
Speaker: Lisa Surwillo, Doctor of Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California
Description:
A lecture aimed at analysing a selection of nineteenth-century Spanish literary works as a reflection of the control that traffickers in enslaved people, and the slave economy in general, exercised over networks of political, cultural and financial power.
Date: Tuesday 24 February 2026
Speaker: Camila Opazo Sepúlveda, specialist in post-/decolonial studies and Spain’s representative on ICOM’s working group on the decolonisation of museums
Description:
A session on the international debate surrounding public space, analysing how memory disputes reveal tensions between official and dissident memories, and proposing progress towards a redistribution of power in the construction of urban memories.
Date: Thursday 19 March 2026, 6.00–7.30 p.m.
Speaker: Isabel Bedoya Palol, Doctor of History from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Description:
A session on the experiences of enslaved women, their memory and the legacies they have transmitted.
ITINERARY “BARCELONA AND THE INFAMOUS BUSINESS OF SLAVERY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY” (“BARCELONA I L’INFAME NEGOCI DE L’ESCLAVITUD AL SEGLE XIX”)» ↗
Dates: Saturdays 26 April, 24 May, 14 June, 18 October and 8 November
Concept and implementation: Ruta d’Autor, made up of Lorena Bou and Aymara Arreaza
Description:
An itinerary designed to make known the vestiges that remain of Barcelona’s slave-owning past, covering the lower part of the city from the Maritime Museum of Barcelona to Pla de Palau and stopping at the residences of some of the traffickers and owners of enslaved people in the nineteenth century.
PODCAST “THE INFAMY” ↗
Description:
A series of interview-format episodes with specialists in history, anthropology and colonial slavery, hosted by the journalist Samanta Villar, with the aim of exploring in greater depth and disseminating content relating to Catalan involvement in colonial slavery. The recorded episodes were as follows:
- Episode 1: “Catalonia’s role in slavery”
- Episode 2: “Maritime routes and organisation”
- Episode 3: “Abolition”
- Episode 4: “Revolts”
- Episode 5: “Enslaved women”
- Episode 6: “Historical reparation, memory and present-day visibility”
DEBATE “AFRICA AND THE REVISION OF A FORGED AMNESIA: A PATH OF HISTORICAL DECONSTRUCTION” (“ÀFRICA I LA REVISIÓ D’UNA AMNÈSIA FORJADA: UN CAMÍ DE DESCONSTRUCCIÓ HISTÒRICA”) ↗
Date: Wednesday 29 January 2025
Description:
An activity organised by the Centre d’Estudis Africans i Interculturals, with the support of the CEAI and MMB’s «Joves i Àfrica» team, included in the Iberian Congress of African Studies, held in Barcelona on 29, 30 and 31 January 2025, with the aim of opening up a space for debate and dialogue on the development of anti-Black racism in our society throughout history.
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WORKSHOP “INFAMOUS IMAGES” (“IMATGES INFAMES”)TALLER «IMÁGENES INFAMES» ↗
Date: Friday 21 March 2025
Speaker: Anyely Marín C., Doctor of the History of Science, who combines research with teaching and facilitates training spaces on decolonial methodologies, Black feminisms and anti-racist strategies
Description:
A workshop organised by Espai Avinyó of the Barcelona Interculturality Plan 2021–2030, in collaboration with the MMB, held in the context of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and aimed especially at technical communications staff in cultural institutions and facilities. Its aim was to analyse the genealogy of the image as a device for reproducing racist imaginaries and how these have circulated and continue to be reproduced today in communication campaigns, exhibitions and educational materials.
“REFLECTION AND ACTION TO DECOLONISE MUSEUM DISCOURSES AND NARRATIVES” (“REFLEXIÓ I ACCIÓ PER DECOLONITZAR RELATS I NARRATIVES DELS MUSEUS”) ↗
25th Museums and Education Seminars
Date: Wednesday 14 May 2025
Description:
An activity intended to reflect on what we understand by decolonisation, what its implications are, how to generate fairer and more inclusive narratives, how to create spaces for co-creation with communities that have historically been poorly represented or not represented at all, and how to dismantle narratives permeated by racism. It was aimed at professionals working in public programmes teams in museums and cultural centres. The programme can be found here.
“NEW RESEARCH, NEW PERSPECTIVES AND NEW CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF COLONIAL SLAVERY CARRIED OUT IN CATALONIA” (“NOVES RECERQUES, NOVES MIRADES I NOVES APORTACIONS EN L’ESTUDI DE L’ESCLAVITUD COLONIAL FETES DES DE CATALUNYA”)«NUEVAS INVESTIGACIONES, NUEVAS MIRADAS Y NUEVAS APORTACIONES EN EL ESTUDIO DE LA ESCLAVITUD COLONIAL REALIZADAS DESDE CATALUÑA» ↗
Science outreach seminar
Dates: Tuesday 8 July 2025
Description:
An outreach seminar, directed by Martín Rodrigo, in which some of the latest research on Catalan involvement in colonial slavery was presented, across different contexts and periods. Open to the general public, the seminar sought to develop a better and more precise understanding of the colonial past and its impact on the present, while fostering critical reflection and dialogue among researchers, students and the public at large. It also sought to foster debate and reflection on how the phenomenon of slavery has influenced contemporary societies through the legacies it has left behind. The programme can be found here.
PERFORMANCE “IN THE WAKE” ↗
Date: Thursday 24 July 2025
Description:
The proposal for this activity came from the team behind the Blackcelona Festival, which took place at Fabra i Coats factory in July 2025, and it was included in the festival programme. It was coordinated by the “In the Wake” team, made up of Esther (Mayoko) Ortega, Iki Yos Piña and Oumukala Sow.
Staging the performance as part of the exhibition had several aims:
• To foster Afro-centred spaces for thought and action within the Museum, on an ongoing basis, especially in relation to the exhibition sections that explore the relationship between Catalonia and the Americas, beyond “The Infamy”.
• To broaden the narratives of the exhibition “The Infamy” from dissident and cimarrón perspectives.
• To strengthen alliances with communities that can support the Museum in its genuine process of decolonising memory.
PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK LA BISABUELITA ↗
Date: Monday 22 September 2025
Description:
On 22 September, Martín Rodrigo presented the book La bisabuelita. Género, esclavitud y finanzas entre La Habana y Barcelona (no. 6 in the Esclavituds series), written by Martín Rodrigo in collaboration with Lisa Surwillo, professor of Iberian and Latin American Studies at Stanford University (California). The book focuses on Manuela Xiqués Romagosa (1807–1891) as an example of how some Catalan slave-owning families lived in Cuba and the investments they made in Catalonia.
HTOOLS FOR THE DECOLONISATION OF MUSEUMS: A REFLECTION ON RETHINKING MUSEUMS AS DIVERSE AND JUST INSTITUTIONS (EINES PER A LA DESCOLONITZACIÓ DELS MUSEUS: UNA REFLEXIÓ PER REPENSAR-SE COM A INSTITUCIONS DIVERSES I JUSTES) ↗
Digital publication (25th Museums and Education Seminars)
Publication date: Monday 3 November 2025
Description:
A reflective text by Catalina Gayà, Laia Seró and Mariona Pina on the Museums and Education Seminar and everything that was discussed there, intended to encourage practice in order to contribute to the processes of decolonial self-criticism that museums are undertaking in response to the racist traces present in their approaches.
This guide has been published online in Catalan, Spanish and English, and was sent to more than 500 professionals throughout Spain, receiving especially positive feedback.
PRESENTATION OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES TO TEACHERS
Dates: Thursday 11 December 2025 and Thursday 5 March 2026
Description:
The Educational Programmes Unit organised two sessions to present the educational activities linked to the exhibition “The Infamy”, aimed for lower and upper secondary teachers, at which the exhibition, the activity “Silenced Voices: Slavery in the Nineteenth Century” (“Veus silenciades. Esclavitud al segle XIX”) and “Stories from ‘The Infamy’: Voices from the Past Written Today” (“Relats des de ‘La infàmia’: veus del passat escrites avui”) were presented. The session in March 2026 was aimed at staff from organisations belonging to the Barcelona Education Network (XEB).
PRESENTATION OF THE MASTER’S DISSERTATION ON THE COLONIAL NARRATIVE OF “THE INFAMY”
A reflection from the perspective of communication on how to challenge the colonial narrative in cultural institutions. The case of “The Infamy” at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona (Una reflexió des de la comunicació per desbordar el relat colonial a les institucions culturals. El cas de “La infàmia” del Museu Marítim de Barcelona)
Date: Tuesday 16 December 2025
Description:
Mariona Pina, who holds a master’s degree in Media, Communication and Culture from the University of Barcelona, wrote her dissertation on how to challenge the colonial narrative in cultural institutions, focusing specifically on the case of the exhibition “The Infamy”. Pina wished to share her research with the Museum team, thereby making it possible to explore further how the decolonisation of the MMB should be approached.
JAN EXPERIENCE FESTIVAL ↗
Date: Saturday 24 January 2026
Description:
A proposal by the Associació de Joves Afrodescendents Negres de Catalunya, which articulated memory, critique, celebration and reconstruction through live culture — music, gastronomy, storytelling, art and the spoken word — with a clear anti-racist purpose. Unlike the usual activities in museums, aimed at re-examining the past in order to reflect on the future, Jan Experience emerged from the present, from the urgent need to respond to racism, hate speech and collective amnesia, in order to articulate a clear vision of the future we want to build together.
GUIDED TOURS OF THE EXHIBITION
Description:
Every Sunday, from 2 March 2026 until the closing of the exhibition “The Infamy”, two free guided tours for individual visitors were held each Sunday and conducted by the Re-Crea Serveis Culturals team.
The MMB team also conducted guided tours for cultural groups, professional groups (from other museums, the Provincial Council, the City Council, etc.), higher-education students and groups with specific accessibility needs (including people with visual impairments, deaf people, people with Alzheimer’s, and people with mental health difficulties, and people referred through prison and social inclusion services, among others).
WORKSHOP “MUSEUMS CONFRONTING COLONIALITY. TOOLS FOR INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION” (“MUSEOS FRENTE A LA COLONIALIDAD. HERRAMIENTAS PARA LA TRANSFORMACIÓN INSTITUCIONAL”) ↗
Date: Monday 16 March 2026
Speaker: Camila Opazo
Description:
A practical training workshop for museum professionals aimed at introducing concepts related to coloniality, identifying traces of racism in collections and institutional programmes, to help dismantle hegemonic narratives, and sharing strategies and actions carried out in other museums around the world that include short-, medium- and long-term measures, such as revising labels, collaborative curating, changes in narratives, critical conservation practices or the restitution of collections.
FAMILY ACTIVITIES: “THE LION KING” AND “FAMILY DANCE WORKSHOP”
Dates: Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 March 2026
Descripción:
As part of the Easter 2026 family activities programme, two activities were organised by Àfrica es promociona, a collective of independent artists who collaborate in the creation and facilitation of workshops, cultural activities and educational projects related to West Africa. On 30 March, “The Lion King”, a dramatized traditional Mandinka story, was scheduled, and on 31 March, the “Family Dance Workshop”, a dance to the rhythm of the Djolé, which conveys ideas of respect for others and collective work.
