Activism and institutional care : History, heritage and social memory

The activist movement led by adults who experienced welfare-based ‘care’ as children is now several decades old, and has been through a succession of evolutionary ‘waves’ to the present. In this themed edition of International Journal of Heritage Studies, the history, diverse methodologies and outcomes of that movement are discussed and analysed. From grass-roots ‘kitchen-table’ beginnings, through increasingly public lobbying of policy-makers, to major inquiries leading to both material advances and continued frustrations – leading to further activism – the role of activists is in many ways bound up in heritage-related issues. The physical and emotional environments in which they were immersed as children now stand for many as signifiers of identity, while also exemplifying ‘difficult’ heritage, and as such form key aspects of the movement’s history, while providing focus for continued activism.

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