Description
This guided tour, led by historian Fozia Bora, explores a powerful and often overlooked chapter in Bradford’s history.
Revisiting the 1904 Great Exhibition in Lister Park, the exhibition highlights the Somali Village, where 57 Somali men, women and children were exhibited for six months as part of a colonial display. While the original exhibition celebrated industry and innovation, this event asks how empire shaped Bradford’s cultural institutions, public spaces and collective memory.
Through stories, artworks and archival material, the tour invites audiences to look beyond the spectacle, question whose histories are remembered and reflect on how these legacies continue to shape the city today.
About the Host
Professor Fozia Bora
Professor Fozia Bora teaches and researches pre-modern Muslim and Islamic history at the University of Leeds. She has worked with a collaborative team on the archival history of Bradford 1904 Somali Village since 2019. Recognised for her public engagement with historical texts, she received the University of Leeds’ Women of Achievement Award in 2021. Her book, Writing History in the Medieval Islamic World, delves into the significance of chronicles as archives. Presently, her research focuses on Bradford’s Muslim communities, examining their narratives of migration, acculturation, and settlement, both locally and globally. Bora’s work bridges academia with public discourse, enriching our understanding of Islamic history.
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