SIX MAIN POINTS FOR MOWLAC TO CONSIDER

FIRST: The colonial experience of these states often results in their heritage being resident elsewhere. It may also be scattered, as many of these territories were colonised by more than one metropolitan country. The dispersed nature of the documentary heritage is also affected by the political arrangements that existed during colonial times. Territories linked with each then are no longer connected but the records remain in their original sites.

SECOND: There is an absence of professional expertise. This impacts on a variety of processes ranging from identifying what is relevant to the MoW programme, building up the required in-depth knowledge of the heritage of the community as well as being able to execute all of the professional tasks associated with memory-based work.

THIRD: The institution of preventative/preservative measures/facilities against natural and man-made disasters as well as climatic factors that have a debilitating effect on the intangible heritage are far down on the list of national priorities. I recall reading once that while stand pipes get votes, libraries do not! This captures succinctly the nature of the challenges that we are up against.

Picture from 2008 MOW LAC meeting in The Bahamas

 

FOURTH: Much of the heritage of small states is preserved in non-Western/non-traditional containers. The dominance of oral traditions makes it more difficult to develop nominations for the register, given the prevailing hegemony of the Western canon in heritage work.

FIFTH: Historically socio-politico-cultural knowledge has been governed by north-south and west-east binaries. These create a northern/western hegemony in the culture/heritage sectors. Both the north and the west are considerably less informed and aware of the cultural richness and value of either the south or the east and little attempt is made to privilege such knowledge where it exists in the same manner as accorded to western practices. Indeed, in some instances e.g. during enslavement, deliberate attempts were made to obliterate the culture of the enslaved. Thus, for some societies and cultures deliberate efforts have to be made to re/capture the lost heritage/s.

SIXTH: Because of size, many of the UNESCO National Commissions across the region are hard-pressed and understaffed. Therefore, they are unable to effectively and efficiently cope with the multiplicity of UNESCO programmes and activities in an even handed manner. So this programme gets lost in the myriad of UNESCO documentation received at the local level. Adding to this challenge is that the language of UNESCO and MOW programme (especially the nomination form) can be intimidating to the uninitiated and underexposed.

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