When a Dolphin Is Not a Dolphin

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When a Dolphin Is Not a Dolphin: Symbols, Memory, and the Hidden Infrastructures of Empire

My doctoral research at the University of Sussex investigates how colonial histories continue to operate through everyday symbols embedded in public spaces, institutions, and cultural artefacts. 

The thesis, 'When a Dolphin Is Not a Dolphin', examines how imperial power survives not only through written histories but through civic imagery, heraldic emblems, monuments, and institutional symbols that quietly shape collective memory.

The research focuses on the city of Brighton and Hove as a case study. Through the analysis of the Victoria Dolphin Fountain, the Fountain International plaque, the Wave of Compassion memorial, and the heraldic imagery of the University of Sussex coat of arms, the study reveals how imperial symbolism remains embedded in the cultural landscape of the city.

A key dimension of this work is the concept of white working-class amnesia. Many of Britain’s coastal and industrial communities—including fishermen, dockworkers, shipbuilders, and metalworkers—were historically connected to imperial trade networks through labour in maritime industries, coal extraction, copper foundries, and shipbuilding. Yet these communities are often disconnected from the global histories that their labour helped sustain. The research examines how symbols in coastal towns such as Brighton function as subtle reminders of these maritime imperial networks.

The thesis introduces two key concepts: symbolic harassment and symbolic justice. Symbolic harassment describes the repeated presence of colonial imagery that normalises historical hierarchies and silences alternative histories. Symbolic justice proposes that these symbols should not simply be removed but critically interpreted and transformed into spaces of dialogue, education, and historical reckoning.

Central to the study is the analysis of what I describe as the “Triple Lock System” of empire—the historical alignment of religion, education, and economic power that stabilised imperial authority. This system is reflected symbolically through various artefacts and institutions. One example is the Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) medal, whose imagery depicts St George standing over a defeated Black figure represented as a dragon. The research examines how such imagery continues to circulate within contemporary institutional cultures.

The thesis also situates Brighton’s symbols within a wider transatlantic symbolic geography. The maritime networks that connected British coastal towns extended across the Atlantic to fortified slave-trading citadels along the West African coast, including Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. These coastal fortresses, equipped with cannons and dungeons, formed part of the imperial infrastructure that connected European ports, African trading posts, and Atlantic trade routes.

Material artefacts also play an important role in this symbolic history. The research engages with the Benin Bronzes, which historically functioned as royal archives of memory and authority within the Kingdom of Benin before being looted during the British invasion of 1897. It also examines the role of manila currencies, copper bracelet-like objects widely used in West African trade and deeply implicated in the transatlantic slave trade. These manilas continue to echo symbolically in contemporary Nigeria, including their appearance on the ₦100 Nigerian banknote and in maritime emblems such as the Nigerian Ports Authority logo, which incorporates ships, crowns, and dolphins associated with imperial trade networks.

Through these interconnected case studies—ranging from Brighton’s civic dolphins to West African artefacts and Atlantic citadels—the research demonstrates how symbols function as condensed historical archives. They carry within them layers of power, memory, and identity that continue to shape how societies understand their past and imagine their future.

At the methodological centre of the research is my framework, the EtuPath Six Sense Continuum of Collective Self, which provides a way of analysing how individuals and communities perceive, absorb, interpret, and transform symbolic environments. Through this approach, the research proposes new pathways for understanding and transforming the symbolic legacies of empire.

Ultimately, the project calls for the development of symbolic literacy—the ability to recognise, interpret, and engage critically with the symbols that structure public life.

Key Findings

The research reveals that symbols embedded in public environments are not neutral decorations. They function as historical carriers of power, memory, and identity, shaping how communities understand themselves and their past. Through case studies in Brighton and connections to wider Atlantic histories, the study identified several important findings.

1. Symbols as Hidden Infrastructures of Empire

The research demonstrates that imperial power persists not only through institutions but through the symbolic infrastructures embedded in everyday civic environments. Monuments, fountains, heraldic emblems, and institutional insignia operate as quiet carriers of historical narratives that continue to shape collective memory.

The Victoria Dolphin Fountain in Brighton, for example, appears as a decorative civic monument but is connected symbolically to maritime imperial networks that once linked British ports to Atlantic trade routes and colonial economies.

2. The Persistence of the “Triple Lock System”

The study identifies what I describe as the Triple Lock System of empire, a historical alignment of religion, education, and economic power that stabilised colonial authority. This system continues to be reflected symbolically through institutional imagery.

For instance, the Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) medal visually represents imperial hierarchy through the image of St George standing over a defeated Black figure depicted as a dragon. Such imagery illustrates how imperial narratives were encoded into symbols that remain visible within contemporary institutions.

3. Symbolic Harassment and Everyday Repetition

One of the central findings of the research is the concept of symbolic harassment. This refers to the repeated presence of colonial imagery within everyday spaces that subtly reinforces historical hierarchies.

Participants in the study often experienced affective discomfort, silence, or confusion when engaging with these symbols. While many could not immediately articulate why the imagery felt unsettling, their emotional responses revealed how symbolic environments shape perception beneath conscious awareness.

4. White Working-Class Amnesia

The research also highlights a condition I describe as white working-class amnesia. Many labouring communities in Britain—including fishermen, dock workers, sailors, and industrial workers—were historically connected to imperial trade networks through maritime and industrial labour. Yet contemporary cultural narratives often disconnect these communities from the global histories that their labour helped sustain.

In coastal towns such as Brighton, the everyday presence of maritime symbols such as dolphins and cannons obscures deeper historical connections between local labour, imperial trade routes, and Atlantic colonial systems.

5. Transatlantic Symbolic Networks

The study demonstrates that symbols embedded within British civic spaces are connected to wider transatlantic networks of empire. Maritime trade routes that linked British ports to colonial territories were anchored by fortified trading citadels along the West African coast, including Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.

These citadels functioned as key infrastructures within the transatlantic slave trade, connecting European shipping routes, African trading networks, and Atlantic economies.

6. Material Symbols of Trade and Memory

The research also explores the role of material artefacts in sustaining imperial memory. Objects such as Benin Bronzes, manila currencies, and contemporary symbols such as the ₦100 Nigerian banknote and the Nigerian Ports Authority logo demonstrate how economic and cultural symbols carry layered histories of trade, colonial administration, and maritime power.

These artefacts function as condensed archives of historical memory, linking local identities to wider global histories.

7. The Potential for Symbolic Justice

While the research identifies the persistence of colonial symbolism, it also proposes a constructive pathway forward through the concept of symbolic justice.

Rather than removing historical symbols entirely, symbolic justice encourages communities to reinterpret and contextualise these symbols, transforming them into sites of education, dialogue, and collective reflection.

Through this process, symbols that once reinforced hierarchy can become instruments for historical awareness, healing, and social transformation.

Methodological Contribution

The study also introduces the EtuPath Six Sense Continuum of Collective Self, a methodological framework that enables researchers and communities to examine how symbolic environments are perceived, absorbed, interpreted, and transformed.

By integrating participatory research, reflexive inquiry, and African Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the framework provides a new way of understanding how symbols influence emotional, psychological, and cultural experience.

Towards Symbolic Literacy

Ultimately, the research argues that societies must develop symbolic literacy—the ability to recognise, interpret, and critically engage with the symbols that structure public life.

Only by understanding the hidden narratives embedded within these symbols can communities begin to transform inherited histories and build more inclusive futures.