Destroying your bankable heritage
JAMAICA’S HERITAGE is multifaceted, features of Jamaican life we have inherited from our forebears that define our identity as Jamaicans. This heritage has created a powerful brand, recognisable right across the world, and which translates into tourism (and other) dollars. Our heritage includes our language, our music, our foodways, our natural history (wild animals, plants and ecosystems), and aspects of our built environment associated with our history.
The crocodile is on our coat of arms, and is the mascot of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), yet it is a hated animal, stoned on sight. Our wetlands are of global significance, yet we call them ‘swamps’, and dump them up and fill them in almost by reflex.
While in Niger, West Africa, last September, it was a joy to be served by my Jamaican host a meal of ackee and fried dumplings – a welcome taste of home. The ackees were freshly picked in the yard transplanted from a tree from Benin, where it is common. Apparently, even though the species is native to Cameroon, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, it is not much eaten there. Introduced to Jamaica in 1778, when some plants were purchased from the captain of a slave ship by Dr Thomas Clarke, Jamaica’s first island botanist, ackee is now part of our national dish, and is an essential component of Jamaica’s heritage.
COMPLEMENT
Ackee goes well with breadfruit, introduced into Jamaica in 1793 from the South Pacific by the famous Captain William Bligh of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame to supplement the diet of enslaved Jamaicans. What would Jamaica be like without ackee and breadfruit – both imports?
What is it about reggae music that makes it so popular across the world? Yes, the beat produced by the heavy bass and drum combination is part of it, but the fact that many of the lyrics (especially of Bob Marley and his ilk) protest injustice and oppression, resonates with disadvantaged people across the globe. Slavery – an indelible part of Jamaica’s heritage – has placed its stamp on Jamaican culture, especially our musical and religious heritage; Rastafarianism is the ultimate protest against ‘down-pressive’ Jamaican society, requiring hairstyles and dress which violate societal standards, allegiance to a different flag and set of national colours, and withdrawal from employment in the economy of Babylon.
INEQUALITY
So we have this love/hate relationship with our past – our heritage – which has made us what we are, but which appals us with its dehumanising mental and physical violence and its institutionalisation of inequality, much of which persists to this day.
How important is it, then, to conserve or preserve Jamaica’s heritage? Especially heritage which reminds us of slavery? And wildlife we would rather not have near us?
Fortunately, we have government agencies enforcing legislation to protect our environment (the Natural Resources Conservation Act), and our built heritage (The Jamaica Natural Heritage Trust Act); but there is no legislation to protect valuable Taino, Spanish and slave-era artefacts being unearthed and exported by treasure hunters.
Often, the greatest threat to our national heritage is the government itself. The planned destruction of the Goat Islands with their ecological and built heritage resources (a World War II vintage naval airbase) immediately comes to mind; and then there was the destruction of the guango tree near Matilda’s Corner to build a bus stop, which, in the end, was built elsewhere. So many heritage sites are left to rack and ruin in the bush, with trees growing out of the masonry wreaking slow destruction. Fort Augusta – the largest military installation ever built in Jamaica (the movie Papillon starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman was filmed there), has now been scandalously vandalised, which probably suits the present owners.
The latest scheme is the erection of a floating pier near the sunken pirate city of Port Royal, bypassing the due diligence of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.
Yes, Jamaica’s natural and built heritage has inherent bankable value, and as we seek to create jobs, jobs, jobs, we must not destroy our valuable undeveloped assets.