An Archipelago Aflame

Professor David Lambert (History), Professor Kate Astbury (SMLC) and PhD Student Abigail Coppins (SMLC) have recently collaborated with heritage and culture charity St Vincent and the Grenadines Second Generation (SV2G) on a major new trail about war and resistance in the Caribbean at St Paul’s Cathedral. We sought spotlight funding to help develop resources jointly to bring our research to new audiences in the Caribbean and UK in innovative ways. Astbury and Coppins asked for funding to cover the printing of some pop-up banners, to be co-developed with community members of the charity SV2G to be displayed here in the UK and then on St Vincent and the Grenadines. Lambert asked for funding to cover printing a prototype of a two-player card-driven board game that models the complex dynamics that characterised Revolutionary wars in the Caribbean in a hands-on interactive way with a view to using it in schools and on open days.

Kate Astbury and Abigail Coppins used their part of the funds to cover SV2G’s costs for designing and printing 6 pop-up banners which members of SV2G have created with our guidance. These banners will be displayed in High Wycombe during Black History month and then sent to St Vincent and the Grenadines to be on display in various locations. David Lambert used his part of the funds to work with colleagues in Design Studies on the development of his prototype board game, which is now called ‘Tides of Freedom’. The original plan had simply been to print existing board game components, but after receiving advice from Emma Roberts (Warwick Innovations), it was decided that bringing in real design expertise into the development process would be of greater benefit.

This joint project has also facilitated early-stage conversations about a joint AHRC funding application between Astbury and Lambert.