The Project

Operation Legacy in the Caribbean examines Britain’s top-secret removal and destruction of colonial records during the era of decolonization. Drawing on formerly hidden documents, the project investigates how this policy was implemented across the Caribbean, what the surviving records reveal about anticolonial movements and political independence, and how colonial power shaped the histories that could be told.

The research focuses on Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, the Bahamas, and the West Indies Federation. It connects archival research with wider questions about historical knowledge, collective memory, and Caribbean responses to colonial rule.

About the researcher

The project is led by Dr. Audra A. Diptée, a historian at Carleton University. Her research examines the relationship between power and history in Caribbean contexts. Her work in critical applied history explores how historical knowledge can advance social justice.

She has held visiting appointments and fellowships at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle–Paris 3, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center (Italy), Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center, and the University of Toronto’s Jackman Humanities Institute.

To learn more about Audra and her work, click here.