This book reflects on the complexity and difficulty of museums' experiences in presenting and interpreting the histories of slavery and abolition. It draws together contributions from academics, museum professionals, community activists and artists who were involved in marking the bicentenary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade.

1. Introduction: Anxiety and Ambiguity in The Representation of Dissonant History. Geoff Cubitt, Laurajane Smith, Ross Wilson Part I: Organizing the Bicentenary: Politics and Policy 2. The Burden of Knowing Versus the Privilege of Unknowing. Emma Waterton 3. High Anxiety - 2007 and Institutional Neuroses. Roshi Naidoo 4. Restoring the Pan African Perspective: Reversing the Institutionalization of Maafa Denial. Toyin Agbetu 5. Slavery and the (Symbolic) Politics of Memory in Jamaica: Rethinking the Bicentenary. Wayne Modest Part II: Representing the Bicentenary: Communities, Consultants and Curators 6. The Role of Museums as 'Places of Social Justice': Community Consultation and the 1807 Bicentenary. Laurajane Smith and Kalliopi Fouseki 7. Science and Slavery, 2007 - Public Consultation. Tracy-Ann Smith 8. The Curatorial Complex: Marking the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Ross Wilson Part III: Marking the Bicentenary: Exhibitions, Art and Personal Reflections 9. Making the London Sugar and Slavery Gallery at Museum of London Docklands. David Spence 10. Terra Nova for the Royal Geographical Society: 2007 and the Bombay African Strand Of the 'Crossing Continents: Connecting Communities' Project. Cliff Pereira and Vandana Patel 11. Exhibiting Difference: A Curatorial Journey with George Alexander Gratton the 'Spotted Negro Boy'. Temi-Tope Odumosu 12. Art, Resistance and Remembrance: A Bicentenary at the British Museum. Christopher Spring 13. Maybe There Was Something to Celebrate. Raimi Gbadamosi Part IV: Encountering the Bicentenary: Trauma and Engagement 14. Atrocity Materials and the Representation of Transatlantic Slavery: Problems, Strategies and Reactions. Geoff Cubitt 15. Affect and Registers of Engagement: Navigating Emotional Responses to Dissonant Heritages. Laurajane Smith 16. Commemorating Civil Rights and Reform Movements at the National Museum of American History. Kylie Message