Teach British tourists the truth about Empire – they can take it

In this Guardian Opinion piece, Afua Hirsch, describes herself as “the party pooper who, while on holiday in destinations popular with Britons, has the audacity to ask: what actually happened here?” She believes that there is an opportunity “to be honest with and educate British tourists in parts of the former British empire, instead of which we are stuck in denial. Tour operators, hotel and museum owners think that visitors want to hear something that conforms to their already comfortable worldview. They then produce experiences that do so, and British holidaymakers come away with their preconceptions neatly confirmed.” On recent trips to Jamaica and Kenya Afua has found herself giving “unofficial alternative history talks” to fellow British tourists and found that they were interested and curious to know more.

Things are changing in places like Auschwitz, Cambodia and Chernobyl. But the British can feel comfortably distant from tragedies in these places. “The problem with the former empire is that the questions of moral culpability it raises are a lot closer to home. It’s hard enough to get people to think about these questions here in Britain. But if Britons are still being helped to avoid the truth of empire in the places where it happened, and where local people are still living with the consequences, then what hope have we got?” Read the full article here.