Inheriting slavery: making sense of a difficult heritage

Abstract

In 1807, the British parliament decreed the abolition of the slave trade; since then, the places connected with the slave trade have physically ‘inherited’ its material traces and have become emotionally charged with historical memory. This article looks at the material inheritance of slavery and the challenges of its interpretation in historical sites, through the use of sound. Specifically, the article focuses on the Clifton National Heritage Park, an old slave plantation in Nassau (New Providence Island, Bahamas), and its interpretation via soundscapes. We will argue that the inheritance of slavery, as cultural trauma and collective memory, is ‘a form of remembrance’ that impact on identity formation: this can be interpreted, re-appropriated and attributed new meanings, for the benefits of both local and non-local communities.

Keywords:

• heritage
• interpretation
• slavery
• soundscapes
• diaspora

Acknowledgements

Both authors thank Anthony Carey, Managing Director and all the staff of the Clifton Heritage National Park for their interest in our research. Both authors would like also thank Yolanda Deleveux for her great help while doing the preliminary research.

Notes

‘The Bahamas has other national parks, but those seek to preserve only the environment, habitats and endangered species as opposed to cultural, heritage and historical connections to the past’ (Y. Deleveux, personal communication, May 2, 2011).

According to J. Gibson, the Assistant Managing Director (personal communication, December 13, 2010), it is thanks to the advocacy of people (both local and international) that the park was ‘saved’ from abandonment. The park has been a managed facility since 2008, and all the management team changed in 2010. The park opened in 2009, and a small entrance fee is charged.

The Lucayans were the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of Europeans. At the time another ethnic group, the Taínos, inhabited most of the Caribbean islands.

‘The presence of a large number of Loyalists in the southern colonies was due in part to the influence of the Anglican Church and in part to commercial ties between British mercantile houses and colonial merchants’ (Peters, 1961, p. 123).

The CHNP is still trying to acquire the land where some of the ruins are. A local family currently owns this part of the land.

Both in terms of sites and collections displayed in museums.

The Canadian composer Schafer (1969) coined the term ‘schizophonic’ in his book The New Soundscape (pp. 43–47) to refer to the split between an original sound and its electroacoustic reproduction in a soundscape.

According to J. Gibson (personal communication, December 13, 2010), two beaches in the park featured in the following movies: Jaws (1975), Flipper (1996) and two James Bond movies (Casino Royale, 2006 and Quantum of Solace, 2008). Recently, the CHNP held a heritage festival to celebrate the park's 2-year anniversary – there were booths promoting cultural and heritage items, food, games, crafts, jewelry, etc. There is also a festival to celebrate the emancipation day (first Monday in August). Currently there is no museum, although there are plans for one because the park has a large number of artifacts housed at the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, which is government run, and where the artifacts are not on public display (Y. Deleveux, personal communication, May 3, 2011).

In the context of this article, we understand interpretation as a set of different means that communicate heritage to people and add value to it (Howard, 2003).

One of the future initiatives of the park will consist of ‘a series of educational programs which will employ the use of archival documents, photographs, craft, songs, dance, dramatizations, storytelling, electronic lessons, audio and visual presentations, field trips, books’ (http://www.bahamascliftonheritagepark.org/Education/Edu.php, accessed May 3, 2012).

The park has not carried out a comprehensive visitor evaluation. However, through the comment cards available at the park, Y. Deleveux (the Administrative Manager at the CHNP between May 2010 and April 2011) was able to provide a brief overview of the visitors' profile: the largest groups of visitors are students and families, as well as individuals who come to the CHNP to exercise or relax. On average, the park attracts 380 visitors per month. The majority of visitors visit the park during the summer, and they spend 90 min, on average, visiting the whole area (Y. Deleveux, personal communication, October 25, 2010).

Currently the site is mainly advertised via the Internet. This limits awareness of the park both at a local and international level. Most of the visitors, indeed, happen to find out about it only by chance. Furthermore, there is limited public transportation (only two buses) to it: the park is about 30/45 mins' drive from Nassau city center.

House slaves often received Western education and therefore they would be also raised as Christians. This was a mark of status for Loyalist families, as well as a Christian duty. Since 72% of the population of the Bahamas professes a Protestant Christian denomination, religion manifests a significant cultural tie between the site and modern Bahamian life. With regards to the proposed location of the loudspeaker next to the Great House, such a device cannot be installed in the grounds of what is currently an occupied house but the impression that the voice is from behind the wall could be achieved (given relevant approval is preset) by filtering the audio signal with the transfer function of the wall.

The playback of the soundscape composition can pause when a button is pressed for the input of narratives.

Additional information

Anna Catalani holds an MA and a PhD in Museum Studies, both from the University of Leicester. Her doctoral research was concerned with the interpretation and representation of non-Western religious material culture in Western museums. Anna's current research interests are in the fields of museum and heritage studies, material culture and identities and diaspora.

Tobias Ackroyd's doctoral research is in Acoustic Ecology at the Acoustics Research Centre, University of Salford. Tobias holds an MEng from Loughborough University yet his PhD takes a transdisciplinary approach to soundscape reproduction and composition.