The case

There are currently no professional archaeologists in The Gambia. By area, it is the smallest country in mainland Africa, less than 50km wide at its widest point and extending 320km from the Atlantic ocean along the River Gambia, and surrounded on three sides by Senegal.The country’s economy relies heavily on tourism, and most tourists travel to, and stay at, beachside hotels in the area of the capital, greater Banjul, with few exploring the country up-river.

   

There are two World Heritage Sites in The Gambia; Kunta Kinteh island and related sites, whose significance derives from their role in the Atlantic slave trade (and its abolition), and the Stone Circles of Senegambia. For a time, there was significant heritage-focussed tourism in The Gambia relating to human enslavement – this followed the 1976 publication of Roots by Alex Haley; the protagonist of the book, Kunta Kinteh, was a young man in The Gambia when he was enslaved. In the 21st century, this has declined as a driver of tourism. Typically, heritage sites and attractions are run by local village development committees, and are not managed to maximise economic or social value. 

Basse Santa Su is the most easterly significant town (furthest up river) in The Gambia, a day’s drive from Banjul. Three bus companies in Basse Santa Su compete to sell tickets on international buses. The bus to Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, takes about four days, and costs 60,000 Dalasi (the equivalent of nearly £1,000). That is more than twice the average national salary.

Heritage management in The Gambia is rarely delivered through an Authorised Heritage Discourse – it comes from many individual or group voices; Taka Tiki is a teller of stories, legends and tall tales in the town of Janjanbureh, while Jaliba Kuyateh is the world’s greatest kora player. Both can be considered to be griots, repositories of oral traditions and intangible heritage.

Before 2011, remittances from Gambians working in other countries – primarily young men working in the oil fields in Libya – were a significant component in the Gambian economy. But that was brought to an end by the 2011 Libyan civil war. Tourism remained a significant economic driver in The Gambia, but the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Guinea / Sierra Leone / Liberia affected Gambian tourism badly (despite there being no cases of Ebola in The Gambia, and the outbreak areas in Guinea being hundreds of kilometres away).

And so many people turned to the back way.  Some villages lost a third of their population (almost all young people, particularly but not exclusively young men). And a quarter of those trying to go the back way died.

The political context also has affected the economic decisions people have made. From independence, President Jawara led the country from 1970-1994. He was deposed in a bloodless coup by Colonel Jammeh 1994, who suspended or suppressed democratic institutions and then ruled as President Jammeh from 1996-2017.

But presidential elections were still held – and Jammeh unexpectedly lost the election in 2016, and reluctantly left power (and the country) in 2017 – #Gambiahasdecided was the hashtag that commemorated the election of President Barrow.

The project

With the return to democracy, the European Union is able to actively engage with the Gambian government, and to work with them to support to actively promote ways to create better economic opportunities, especially outside Greater Banjul (where there is tourism). 

HERITΛGE, the Heritage Management Organization, Kent’s School of European Culture and Languages’ Impact Project, have been informed that will get funding from the European Commission’s EuropeAid Fund to carry out work in The Gambia. The European Commission’s funding will cover 75% of the project costs, with the expectation that this will then be able to leverage support from other sources.

The project intends to develop the business skills of heritage and cultural managers working for civil society organisations in The Gambia, outside of the capital Banjul, to establish and support better heritage and cultural enterprises that result in greater community solidarity and by doing so reducing the number of people being lost to The Gambia through ‘irregular migration’.

The project will also deliver training in business & management skills for heritage and traditional cultural workers – in areas where there are distinctively Gambian traditions, such as weaving, leatherwork, music or even wrestling.

After the project proposal had been received by the European Commission, there was another blow to the Gambian economy. Thomas Cook had brought in 40-45% of tourists to The Gambia. With tourism contributes 20% of GDP, Thomas Cook therefore brought in 8-9% of GDP – and the company collapsed just at the end of the rains and the start of the tourist season.

*The project is co-funded by the European Union.

 

 

Dr. Cornelis Stal

Manager of H-digital, The Heritage Management Organization digitization program.

Convenor of the annual ‘Digital Tools for Heritage Management’ executive workshop by The Heritage Management Organization.

Lecturer/Researcher, Ghent University College – HOGENT, Belgium

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools.

The way to dusty death

Shakespeare – Macbeth

Basse Santa Su is a quiet town, more than 300km upriver from the coast in The Gambia. I was there in May 2019 to build partnerships for HERITΛGE – we were looking to develop a project to provide training for Gambian heritage managers, as the European Commission had put out a call for proposals.

I was fascinated by this advert for in bus tickets by the road in the town centre.

A bus to Ouagadougou! In Burkina Faso! Wow, how long would that take!?

My Gambian colleague told me it would take three or four days. He was glad I had spotted this, because that bus journey is the start of the ‘back way’.

The Gambia is a poor country. Tourism, and ground nut (peanut) production are the two biggest sectors of the economy. Historically, remittances from Gambians working in other countries have also supported a lot of families in the homeland, and for a long time the preferred work was in the oil industry, specifically in Libya. But the revolution in Libya in 2011 put an end to much of that.

The Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014, which carried on until 2016, badly affected tourism – there were no Ebola cases in The Gambia, but knowing that it was in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone was enough to frighten away a lot of tourists. And so the economy suffered.

And so the lack of jobs and opportunities has meant that over recent years, many Gambians have decided to risk trying to go the back way to Europe – what is euphemistically called ‘irregular’ migration across the Sahara and the Mediterranean.

The back way is horribly formalised. People travel up-country to Basse, and buy a bus ticket to Ouagadougou. When they get there, a ‘travel agent’ will sell them another ‘ticket’ to go to Libya. And when – if – they arrive at the coast, they will then have to pay for a place on a boat.

It has been estimated that up to one third of the people who try to go the back way die en route, either in the desert or in the sea. Some villages have lost as much as half of their population to the back way.

Thinking back to the bus from Basse to Ouagadougou – it costs 60,000 Gambian Dalasi, the equivalent of just over €1,000 or US$1,200.

In 2017, Gambian GDP per person was $483.02 = 23,885 Dalasi. That one ticket costs more than two years wages. And that only gets to Burkina Faso. The longer, riskier, more expensive legs of the back way start there. People, and their families, are being crushed by debt to pay for this – with little chance of them reaching a ‘promised land’ at the end of it.

In 2017, The Gambia underwent a transition to true democratic rule. The Government of The Gambia, together with the European Union, wanted to make efforts to reduce irregular migration. And this is the logic behind the project I was in The Gambia to develop a partnership for.

If people are better trained as heritage managers, then heritage businesses (whether they are in the private or state sectors) will be better run. Better run enterprises can employ more people, and give them more secure, better jobs. People with better jobs are less likely to be lost to the back way. And so investment in heritage management training can contribute to a reduction in irregular migration.

The Gambia has a history of losing people. Alex Haley’s 1976 book Roots: the saga of an American family starts in The Gambia – the protagonist, Kunta Kinte, is a young Gambian man who is enslaved by Europeans in the middle of the 18^th century, and like Kunta Kinte, thousands of people were transported down the River Gambia and sold in the Atlantic slave trade.

James Island, the site of a colonial fort used in the exploitation of gold, ivory and humanity, was renamed Kunta Kinte Island in 2011, the year before the site was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites. Where there is heritage-focussed tourism in The Gambia, this is largely related to the history of enslavement. It is hoped that now, developing skills and expertise in managing and commemorating the loss of Gambians to the slave trade, will help to mitigate against the loss of modern Gambians to the back way.

 

As I sit down to write a few words about my experience in producing and filming a documentary on landscape archaeology in the island of Naxos, I wonder what could be of interest to us, the heritage tribe…

I am a producer/director with an MA in Heritage Management, working for Greece’s national broadcaster ERT, as well for the Heritage Management Organization.
I specialize in documentaries on heritage, anthropology and on children’s programs.

This documentary came about by sheer chance, actually.
My first intention was to gather information for another heritage production, this one for children. But the latter was at an initial stage of conception and the team consisted of just me and the artistic director.

The documentary on Naxos, on the other hand, would be the result of a research taking place for quite some time on location, conducted by the Mc Cord center for History, Classics and Archaeology of the University of Newcastle, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Oslo and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades.

First point to note:
If you are a heritage manager from the production field, you will be needing a solid research/scientific team to work with; mostly because this is the way to guarantee authenticity and support, scientific and financial. Without those, the road is long and it
won’t necessarily come to fruition, even if it is well researched by the production team and vice versa.

The next step was to bring the McCord center’s scientific team for the research in Naxos, together with the production and management team from Greece’s National Broadcaster (ERT), and form – more than a coproduction- a synergy.

Second point to note:
Funding for heritage documentaries can be difficult these days. Hence, forming some sort of a co-production or synergy is essential in order to get the better of two worlds.

An agreement was established and the pre-production begun, including the values to be communicated, the narrative, the artistic style, days of filming, crew, cost etc. The scientific and the production team worked closely together, to make sure we were both aiming towards the same direction.

Third point to note:
Once the production team is formed and the concept of the narrative is designed, one needs to start thinking of:

1. The target audience
2. The uses for this production (academic, educational, edutainment etc)
3. The distribution (media, conferences, workshops and other venues)

 

This point will guarantee that when the crew is on location for the filming, the human and financial resources available for the production will be used up to the optimum potential in accordance with the desired goals.

Fourth point to note:
Once on location, the production team – apart from filming- is also doing another very important work; namely engaging with the local society. We need to always keep in mind that television production is a popular medium. So these productions, on location and upon distribution, approach the local society, stakeholders and the target audience, in a completely different way. This connection creates another type of bond with the people and should be part of the production design, one of its main goals.

All points completed, and a year later, the documentary was aired twice by Greece’s national broadcaster ERT. The first time was scheduled and the second occurred as a result of the audience’s demand!

On May the 15th a workshop took place at the University of Newcastle, with the title:

“Filming the Past in the Present:  Heritage and Documentary Practice”

It was a collaborative event supported by the   Digital Cultures Research Group and the Research Centre for Film, the Cultural Significance of Place Research Group.

There were three films presented by the research teams and the producers. One of them was Hidden Landscapes of Naxos.

All the films were completely different in artistic style and narrative. However, the main points were evident in all of them.

To conclude, the reason for this blog piece – after reading through my writings a few times – is probably to serve as a brief manual on what it takes to actually pull through an audiovisual production on heritage.

 

What are the roles of museums and cultural institutions in society? Indeed, what will the museums of tomorrow look like? This topic, along with many innovative ideas, was presented Thursday, November 26, 2015 at The Inclusive Museum Conference sponsored by the Benaki Museum held at their Pireos Street Annex in Athens. Attended by 6 current members of the HERMA 2016 class, and several former members from last year, this day long conference included several forward-looking museum professionals from the United States and England.

Karen Wong, Deputy Director of the New Museum in New York City kicked the day off with her visionary presentation. For those of you are not familiar with the New Museum’s collections please don’t be. They don’t have one! What they do have is IDEAS… and lots of them. In fact Ms. Wong co-founded the IDEAS CITY initiative which explores the future of cities with the belief that art and culture are essential to our future. The New Museum sponsors the first museum led incubator for art, technology and design. This incubator serves as a platform for entrepreneurs to collaborate and ultimately launch new ideas for a new world. Many of their innovative young thinkers have used the incubator to launch new cutting edge businesses in the arts and technology fields which have shown real gains to the economy through job creation. This initiative called NEW INC offers membership in return for office space and materials to work and creative license to soar. In the first year, these entrepreneurs produced 22 permanent jobs.

They have also launched “100 Ideas for the Future City.” This is a 6 day workshop brought to cities in need in collaboration with professionals from The New Museum that works to target issues, provide real solutions and then implement concrete actions. This workshop will be brought to Athens in September 2016.
For those more traditional museologists, Esme’ Ward, Head of Engagement at Whitworth And Manchester Museum in Manchester, England spoke about the many inclusive changes implemented by her team at The Whitworth. The museum was transformed into a new space that includes the outdoor park adjacent to the museum. While undergoing development to the museum building the Whitworth team took a calculated risk and moved their collection outdoors! They invited all members of the community to come be a part of ” Whitworth Weekending” which was basically a picnic atmosphere in an outdoor museum combined with innovative exhibitions that delighted all ages. Not only did they enthrall the teenage audiences, but they even allowed those young future museum curators to plan and run the events. It’s risks like these that have won The Whitworth countless awards including Artfund Museum of the Year. A quote from the chair of Artfund, ” The transformation of the Whitworth has been one of the great museum achievements of recent years. It has changed the landscape: it truly feels like a museum of the future.”

Michael Williams:

MA in Heritage Management, University of Kent/Athens University of Economics and Business

Organisation:

Kuruma Marthudunera Aboriginal Corporation (KMAC)

Round: Summer 2015

Stream: Social Science

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Long, empty expanse of red dirt, saltpans, mountainside, coastline, and a small package of civilisation neatly tucked in amongst it all. That was the scenery flying into Karratha airport, coupled with the town’s warm, humid embrace.
And it was pleasant from the beginning. KMAC’s Acting Cultural Heritage Manager Hannah Corbett picked me up from the airport, took me to buy groceries, helped me set up smoothly into my living environment, and drove me to work every day. Hannah was great at explaining the company and the Australian heritage situation at large, and was generally a very friendly person. The KMAC CEO Franklin Gaffney explained his directions very clearly from the outset, and continually offered insightful career advice. Also, all the people I met in the workplace were very friendly and welcoming.
Now to the work. One of the priorities of KMAC is to prevent mining companies taking advantage of the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972, which scan the Act for loopholes that allow them to utilise land that contains Aboriginal sites. One site in particular called the Robe River, has been recently deregistered and will soon be impacted by future projects. Coincidence? I think not. The Robe River is very important to the Kuruma Marthudunera (KM) people, and other Traditional Owners of the land that the river intersects. Its importance is shown not only as a provider for fresh water and habitat for a multitude of flora and fauna (many endangered), but also having spiritual significance of the Warlu (according to traditional owners the Warlu was a giant serpent whose movements through the area a long time ago shaped the landscape), which caused the shape and nature of the river. Without help the Robe River’s ecosystem, values, and significance will fall to the hands of the rich.
Hence, I was given the task of organising a large number of documents concerning the particular clause in the Act (Section 18) that determines the authorisations for land use, which in this case was specifically mining companies who’s work would ultimately impact the Robe River, and Bungaroo Creek. This involved tracking down evidence of: any misinterpretation of the act, mishandling of authority, missing information, and more. It also required the chronological organisation of information into an Excel spreadsheet, describing each piece of information in terms of its typology, content, authorship, and any other important information, including a summary of what each document actually says. It shed enormous light on the logistics of cultural heritage operations, and provided good initial practice working within an office environment.
I was also in charge of writing the KMAC newsletter. This involved tracking down and compiling information for KMAC’s December edition. This required searching through the KMAC information system, talking with KMAC staff, discussing traditional Kuruma language with one of the KMAC Aboriginal Heritage Officers, calling St John’s Ambulance for information and photos, stopping at a Christmas-style decorated tree on the side of a main road, taking photos of artefacts held in preservation with the KMAC office area, and other forms of information collection. Most of my time was spent writing the text and compiling an 11-page text and photos word document, which was sent to the company’s newsletter editor to be put into KMAC’s pre-defined business format.
I was given a variety of other tasks, such as: organising an Australian Archaeological Association membership for the KMAC Aboriginal Heritage Officer, organising reading portfolios for the KM Board Meeting, and copying documents related to the Robe River. Another assignment was to review, comment, and present a condensed report on the environmental impact of the West Pilbara Iron Ore Project mining extensions, and the construction of a Haul Road, by Australian Premium Iron Joint Venture (APIJV).
My last duty was to compile a high level breakdown of KMAC’s major Land use agreements, focusing on: the date the agreements were signed, the parties and people who signed the agreements, when the agreements were/are next up for renewal, the monetary conditions (including the required compensation to KM members) and non-monetary conditions of the agreement. The land use agreements were either “Claim Wide” (land use within the entire boundary of KM owned land) or based on the specific boundaries agreed to by particular projects or land tenements. 
If there is was ever a perfect place to stay during an internship, it was here. I stayed in a separate room within a shared living complex in the beautiful Point Samson area. The room offered: air conditioning (perfect for the extreme heat), wireless internet, TV, bar fridge, large cupboard space, large bed, iron and ironing board, bedside tables, power board, built in bathroom, the works! Even better was the common area upstairs, which had a large kitchen with all necessary cooking apparatus, an even a bigger TV, comfy lounges, washing machine, clothesline, dishwasher, and a balcony with a view of the coast. The locals are all very friendly too, and one weekend we were even visited by a large group of Port Samson locals who were traveling from house to house to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
Initially, I spent my free time working on my MA thesis, or relaxing after a busy day’s work. The place is great to just put your feet up and unwind, and there is a fishing line to use, but unfortunately I really can’t fish! Nonetheless there is a beach up the road at Port Samson, the famous Honeymoon Cove, which has beautiful warm and clear water. There are plenty of fish and coral to see, so it’s a picturesque snorkel.
On the last night of the full moon Hannah, her boyfriend and I went to see the beautiful Staircase Moonlight from a lookout at Cossack. We had a beer watching the phenomena and met a real Aussie character who mentioned some nice pubs and fish restaurants close by. When my thesis was finally done we took trip to Millstream National Park, seeing the Millstream Homestead/museum, and taking a swim in Deep Reach pool along the Fortescue River, passing the Harding Dam on our way back to Port Samson.

The standout was visiting the Burrup Peninsula and finding lots of Aboriginal rock art/petroglyphs throughout an incredible and arduous journey in the 45-degree heat, with great views of the surrounding canyon-like landscape, and coming across many carvings of kangaroo, turtle, lizard, bird, fish, people, and other figures.


I also went to Port Walcott Yacht Club for the last Sunday of the year (and until March 2016) in which they were selling their famous fish & chips, eating them with a great view of Cape Lambert. Close by were the massive stockpiles of iron ore that is kept near the jetty from which almost 20 large carrier ships wait their turn to transport it to their respective countries.
The last week featured KMAC’s Christmas party, and I was invited to come along. I was given a free three course meal with a couple of drinks included, which I enjoyed very much with the other friendly KMAC workers.
All in all, it was a great experience and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone.

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Should you want to find out more about this project, or would like to enquire about an internship, please get in touch, using the information below:
Aurora Internship Program website:  http://www.auroraproject.com.au/aboutapplyinginternship
Applications for the Winter 2016 round of Aurora internships will open online from 9am AEST Monday 7th March through to 5pm AEST Friday 1st April 2016.

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Michael Williams, BA in Ancient History, GDip in Maritime Archaeology. Particularly interested in Maritime Heritage of the ancient Mediterranean. I have worked in Indigenous Aboriginal sites around New South Wales and in underwater sites in Port Macdonnell. Experience with archaeological drawing.