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68 N. Ir. Legal Q. 271 (2017)
Legal Object Commentary: Anti-Slavery Medallion

handle is hein.journals/nilq68 and id is 283 raw text is: NILQ 68(3): 271-81 Legal object commentary: anti-slavery medallion OWAIN JOHNSTONE1 Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University -inn-siaveU meaamon C Trustees of the British Museumt Abstract This anti-slavery medallion was cast in 1787, based on the symbol of the London Sociey for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. It was a key object and image within the movement to abolish the slave trade in Britain. The medal/ion convejs a particular understanding of the slave trade as a social problem (such as assuming the vl/nerabiity and passivity of the slave). Consequentl, the medallion speaks to recent literature on the social construction of social problems. That literature, however, has tended to focus on the role of discourse in problem construction - rather than material objects like the medallion. This article interrogates the nature of the medallion as a materialproblem representation, bringing it into dialogue with discursive representations of a related contemporary issue: human trafficking. The afficle suggests ways in which the medal/ion challenges and develops those discursive representations. It concludes that the material dimension of the representation - and construction - of social problems is easily overlooked despite its sign ficance, and that it merits furtber investigation. Keywords: slavery; abolition; human trafficking; social problems; materiality. t <www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection-online/collection-object-details.aspx?assetId= 210453001&objectld=949185&partld=1> 1 PhD candidate at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University, owain.johnstone@law.ox.ac.uk. Thank you to Amanda Perry-Kessaris and to one anonymous reviewer for very helpful comments. NILQ autumn 2017

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