November 29, 2021

Family heritage project "Make the Connection"

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean proudly launches the Family Heritage project “Make the Connection” for all people with their roots in St. Eustatius. The project is part of UCF’s activities to protect the burial ground Golden Rock in St. Eustatius, and the respectful treatment of the remains of individuals of Afrikan descent that were discovered.

UCF Caribbean chairman Kenneth Cuvalay: "Rather than dig up our ancestors from their graves without our consent, analyze their teeth in a lab and then tell us they came from Afrika, we prefer to research archival records from our own perspective. So, the narrative is told from our perspective and no one else's.”

St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance

 UCF Caribbean has formed the "St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance" with several people and organizations. This Alliance will carry out this unique Family Heritage project. The project coordinator and co-researcher is Ms. Nathaley Weyman whose roots are on the island. She lived in St. Eustatius for many years and will return to the island in December. The researcher of the project is Mr. Jack Theuns from Den Bosch, the Netherlands. He is an expert in archival research and in recent months he has collected many archival sources about St. Eustatius from many countries in the world. 

Families of St. Eustatius

This Family Heritage project is aimed at the St. Eustatius community to connect family names in colonial archives (manumissions and so called ‘borderells’) to the people of St. Eustatius as the descendant community. Maritime marronage and inter-island slave trade used to be common because of St. Eustatius’ central geographical position in the Caribbean. As a result, family names may have spread further than realized, and this community project could give more insight into this.

Although the project is not aimed at 20th century genealogical research, it can provide insight into how our ancestors spread around the world and where to. Wealthy European colonizers had many possessions and often our ancestors were forced to travel with them to other islands or countries as servants. We also want to shine a light on stories of resistance. For example, Thomas Dupersoy and other leaders of the uprising in 1848 were exiled to CuraƧao. And some of our ancestors had the courage to swim across the ocean to reach St. Kitts.

Registers and archives

In 1862, at the dawn of Emancipation, a new Slave Register and other documents (so-called “Slaven Borderellen”) were made by the enslavers to ensure that they got their compensations from the government. In these documents (per enslaver) all enslaved African people of that moment were mentioned, with their first name or names, very occasionally with a surname, their estimated age or birth year, sometimes the name of their mother, and if they had lepra or elephantiasis.

Double standards of the Dutch

After 1863, when enslavement was officially abolished in the Dutch colonies, the St. Eustatius government had to start registering former enslaved Afrikan people in the civil registration. But the astonishing fact appears that many decades after Emancipation the civil servants still kept the registration of former enslaved Afrikan people up to date. And as this continued from 1863 till at least 1925 this proofs that the local government kept a double administration:

  • The official civil registration, as ordered by the law;
  • A second registration for those who were once enslaved, plus their descendants.

The discrimination based on race was kept intact by the St. Eustatius government for a very long time.

Make the Connection

Because of many reasons, there are differences in the various registrations, archives are missing, archives were deliberately destroyed, people are missing, people have moved to other islands, names were changed, there were many writing mistakes because of phonetic names writing (which also is a cause for so many very similar surnames), and not so many people could read or write, etc.

Nevertheless, in many cases it is possible to make the connection between the Afrikan descent people mentioned on these documents and present day descendants. By this, we identify the enslaved or former enslaved Afrikan people by giving them back their surname and family relations. For their descendants, it makes them aware of their ancestors, where they lived, sometimes where they died, and were buried.

Furthermore, this goes in two directions: sometimes this effort also makes it possible to identify the parents or grandparents of the enslaved Afrikan people of 1863. So anyone who tells that it is unknown who was buried on which plantation, has not done his or her schoolwork, or possibly has other motives.

There were also former enslaved people who were manumissioned before 1863, and got back their freedom. Sometimes under the condition of adapting the surname the enslaver give to them. The real family histories of these Afrikan descent manumissioned people is also very unclear.

Our approach of Community-Based Research

This is a project for Afrikan descent people helping each other. To us, community-based research means that the community directs the project and is in charge of the project and all the results. This is for and by the St. Eustatius community, thus taking control over our own narrative. 

We have made a start in identifying enslaved and former enslaved Afrikan descent people, and are seeking the participation of the community.

  • This is a project for the whole community. Old and young.
  • Especially the younger generation of Afrikan descent are very welcome to this project. 
  • Anyone who has once made or tried to make a family tree, and who knows almost for sure that their ancestors also lived on St. Eustatius, and were probably enslaved or former enslaved people of Afrikan descent, could participate.
  • People living on St. Eustatius, but also people with roots in St. Eustatius and living elsewhere can participate.
  • All stories about people who have experienced the time of enslavement or lived in the decades afterwards could possibly help.
  • Other volunteers are also welcome to help read the many archival documents to find identifying data of enslaved Afrikan people. Some documents need to be translated to readable text.

With this Family Heritage project we can shine a light on many family histories, and give those who have died a name and a family.

Outcome of the project

During the coming months, we will publicize several milestone documents for and about this project on the website.  We hope we can and may publish other results on a new website. The results of this project will be made accessible for the St. Eustatius community by archiving all found documents, data, etc.

Are you interested in participating?

If you wish to participate in our project, you can leave a message at steustatiusafrikanburialground@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page


November 24, 2021

Archaeologist Dr. Haviser not fit as chair Statia Heritage and Research Commission

As published in the section "Opinion" of The Daily Herald, St. Maarten, Wednesday November 24, 2021, p. 42

 

Dear Editor.

    It came to my attention that a letter to the editor by archaeologist Jay B. Haviser got published in The Daily Herald of November 16. Although my name is not mentioned, Dr. Haviser accuses me of, among other things, racism. He does that in response to my letter to the editor in The Daily Herald of November 12-13, 2021 on slave ship The Leusden. In that letter, I objected strongly to the shift in narrative that the archaeological field and whitestream media were making from the murder of 664 Africans to an adventurous hunt for the West India Company vessel that sank in 1738 just off the coast of Suriname.

    Calling black people racist is a common response coming from people within the white power structure. It’s a racist act in itself. It proves that Dr. Haviser does not understand what racism is or what our arguments are about. The problem is that Dr. Haviser will not understand what racism is throughout his lifetime because he is intrinsically part of the white power structure. As are so many others.

    t becomes worrisome when someone who doesn’t understand racism, is chair of a commission that must investigate accusations of racism at another organization. Dr. Haviser is chairman of the Statia Heritage and Research Commission (SHRC) that is set up by the St. Eustatius government to investigate the malpractice of the archaeological institution SECAR. Earlier this year, SECAR started excavations at an 18th-century African burial ground without any involvement of the descendent community. That is the racist attitude and unethical conduct of the archaeological discipline that UCF spoke about in the earlier published letter to the editor. If the shoe fits … You don’t have to be a scientist to see that the community engagement programs in Dr. Haviser’s book consist largely of organizing archaeological workshops and giving tours on excavations sites to children.

    If Dr. Haviser doesn’t understand what racism is, then how is he able to lead the SHRC to ask the right questions and to come with the right solutions? Why has he not been able to bring about more profound changes in Caribbean archaeology in his 40-year career? No tours or workshops for youth, but ownership, policy-making, holding management positions for people of African descent. If he was serious in making a change, then he would have declined the offer to become chairman in favor of someone of African descent.

    Why was Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) not asked to be part of the Statia Heritage and Research Commission even though it was set up in response to the protests against the excavations? You would expect a scientist to be happy with African-centered critical voices aboard. Other questions come to our minds, as the commission operates all but transparent. What is the goal of the commission? What is the assignment of the government? How does the commission report to the Dutch government representatives of St. Eustatius? Are the commission members being paid by the government? What about selection criteria? Most academic members of the commission have ties to Leiden University, as has Dr. Haviser. The head of Leiden University archaeology department is a member of this commission herself. Leiden University is involved in large-scale archaeological research projects in the Caribbean. Other universities in the Caribbean often depend on Leiden for advanced lab facilities for example. This is at the least an appearance of a conflict of interest and that should have been avoided.

    And what about academic freedom? Speaking out against racism does not generally benefit one’s academic career. The danger of self-censorship for black people in academia is real. Will the academics of African descent in the Statia Heritage & Research Commission feel safe enough to express themselves and if they do, will they be heard?

    To conclude, UCF states that Dr. Haviser is not the right man for the job and the Statia Heritage and Research Commission is not independent. The outcome of whatever result of this commission is therefor already questionable.

 
Kenneth Cuvalay,

Chairman Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean









 

Links to articles:

  • The Daily Herald, November 23, 2021: Jack Theuns responds to Jay B. Haviser: Biased to the bone

November 23, 2021

Biased to the bone

Response to a letter to the editor by Mr. Haviser as published in the print edition of The Daily Herald, St. Maarten, of Tuesday November 23, 2021, p. 31

 
Dear Editor,

    Mr. Haviser responds to another writer who wrote an article, earlier, on November, 12th. It is very strange that Mr. Haviser does not want to mention the name of Mr. Cuvalay. An attitude you do not expect from an adult person.
The suggestive title and how Mr. Haviser formulates his opinions are so severely manipulative and offensive to many people, that a reaction must be made.

What I find deplorable, dishonorable and absolutely not necessary in a discussion is trying to damage the opponent by suggesting or accusing him having some relation to a known violent organization like Q-Anon, which of course does not exits! He also tries to damage the image of his opponent in public by calling him an extremist. Calling names without proof is so very childish!
His letter contains many fallacies, meaning that he uses not-real opinions as arguments. He should know better. This is so transparent and visible to anyone who knows something about debating techniques, that you get the image of a scientist with no real arguments. Instead he tries to influence readers with not-true statements. Whether this also points to his methods of conducting science, I leave to others to judge.

Why address an opponent as “politician” as if this is dirty, wicked and not good? I remember that only 4 years ago, Mr. Haviser and others, using the Orange Foundation, tried to make the Dutch Antilles a 13th province of the Netherlands.
Mr. Haviser thinks that always works: telling that you respect freedom of speech, but then calling the opinion of an opponent: “emotionally-charged”, “blatant misinformation”, and instructing the reader that only the middle-of-the-road opinions are good, and others are extremist.

Mr. Haviser writes about the term “tokenism”. But he forgets to tell that tokenism now generally is seen as bad, and manipulative. The use of tokenism started in the US, where white scientists (asked by the government) investigated means to lure minorities by giving them a sole representative in the societal game. This was called the token. Later Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and many others translated this token-game of the white governments as misleading, discriminating and preventing real equality. In social sciences, this term was widely used after WW2 and especially in the 1960-ties. A ladder was often used to show the grade of participation. Starting at the bottom with no participation at all; to a form where there was no participation of the entire group, only of one-by-the-power-elite-well-chosen-representative, the token; to some small forms of participation; culminating in full participation with decision-making powers. When we look at the history of participation of non-white people in several white-power societies, there were always attempts to lure the non-white people with special arrangements which had the intention to give apartheid or race discrimination an acceptable face. So the ones in power thought.

Concerning is that while a quick internet search reveals many discussions within and about the archeology world regarding incorporated racism, Mr. Haviser does not want to know about this and sweeps the discussion like dandruff off his shoulders. He continues with telling in one sentence that in the early day’s science was “not so good”, but now everything is inclusive, etc. This is an over-simplification of a much greater, still existing problem: If you cover your eyes, you don’t see the problem!

But what about the original article? The writer, Mr. Cuvalay of Statia, compared in his article the misplaced excitement and efforts of the (white) archeologists who plan to desecrate the remains of the murdered enslaved people on the Dutch slave ship Leusden to the way white archeologists did loot the graves of the enslaved ancestors of the Statian people. He also talked about the collaborating kind of scientists that legitimize these white appalling research methods: the non-white token. It is as if these archeologists say: “But we now have a black scientist on board, so it is okay!”

When a WW-2 ship sank with many victims, all nations declared such a wreck, a grave monument. Meaning that nobody should enter this monument, steal remains, artefacts, or whatever. But as soon as the remains are of non-white people, Western white scientists have no problem with opening up graves, cutting bones, removing body parts, or placing skulls in their offices as modern-age Indiana Jones look-a-likes. It seem as if all so-called scientists have no moral at all in plundering graves. 

Let’s turn it around, only in sayings of course. What if people would look for the graves of the ancestors of Haviser or his colleagues Gillmore, Stelten, Fricke, etc. and dig them up, cut them in pieces with the purpose to do laboratory research. “Yes, we want to tell you where they came from”. The white world would protest against such attempts.
Well, descendants of former enslaved people, often do know from which part of Afrika their ancestors were kidnapped. And, to a large extent it is also possible to tell who is buried on which plantation on Statia. The archeologists on Statia did not do any ancestry research to the people who were enslaved on the Golden Rock plantation. And they didn’t do so out of fear for the reactions. People won’t let the graves of their (great-) grandparents be wrecked by so-called scientists. And also not to disturb their profitable business. 

To put all in the right context, Mr. Haviser is director of the St. Martin organization of archeology, one of the six island archeology profit centers, organized by Leiden University. In these centers heritage is monopolized by the mainly Dutch scientists. These people write archeology reports, even about enslaved people from the perspective of the white people. Here you can read things like: slavery wasn’t that bad on Statia compared to other islands, or when talking about growing prosperity, it is always about the growing wealth of the enslavers. Read for yourself! All these reports have the same old-school colonial perspective. And just the use of the word “enslaved” instead of “slaved” does not change that! 

After the many protests against the desecration of the graves of enslaved people at Golden Rock Plantation, Statia Government paused the looting and installed a commission, the Statia Heritage Research Commission. Intended to let the people cool down and stick a new concept of fake community-based research through the people’s throat. Even the wife of the former Government Commissioner stole community money for grave robbers PR. And all with the intention to continue digging as if nothing happened.

If you have read well, you have seen that Mr. Haviser emphasizes “middle-of-the-road-opinions”. This is just planning ahead of what could be expected from these so-called experts: degrees of participation with no freedom for own decision-making or directional powers. Otherwise said: no real participation, only forms of consulting, informing, and sometimes assisting the “very expert” white scientists.
Never forget that for Leiden University these excavations are important for learning experiences, paying digging visitors and other businesses. They are indeed the Golden Rock!
Now you see why Mr. Haviser does not want to understand people who think otherwise, or even people who were born on the island. This is of no importance to western-centric thinking. The tone of his article seems the result of being stung by a wasp. Also an acronym that possibly could be applied to himself? Look it up! 

Unfortunately, archeology is used on Statia, not to discover and preserve information from the past, but as the legitimation for heritage destruction in the name of spatial development and economic progress (for foreign companies and the installed elite).
 

Jack Theuns

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related letters

November 12-12, 2021 - UCF Caribbean chair Kenneth Cuvalay: ‘Murder ship’ Leusden anchored in Statia four times 

November 16, 2021 - Archaeologist Jay B. Haviser responds to the letter: Dutch politician beats emotional drum for votes 

November 23, 2021 - UCF Caribbean coordinator and anthropologist, Derrick Simmons, responds to Jay B. Haviser's letter: Response to letter from Dr. Jay B. Haviser

November 24, 2021 - UCF Caribbean chairman, Kenneth Cuvalay, responds to the letter of Haviser: Archaeologist Dr. Haviser not fit as chair Statia Heritage and Research Commission

 

Response to letter from Dr. Jay B. Haviser

As published in the section "Opinion" of The Daily Herald, St. Maarten, Tuesday November 23, 2021, p. 31

 

Dear Editor,

   Please allow me the rare opportunity to respond to the letter to Editor of November 15, 2021, that was published the next day: “Dutch politician beats emotional drum for votes” by Dr. Jay B. Haviser, Archaeologist. In his letter he is responding to a letter to the Editor of November 12, 2021, “’Murder ship’ ‘Leusden’ anchored in Statia four times” by Kenneth Cuvalay, Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean. What I gather from his response, and using his method to generalize and summarize information is that: our local professionals, persons of African Descent, are “Emotional” and “Racist” when they speak out on matters relating to the atrocities that were done by those countries, including the Netherlands, that made their wealth from the “Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade”; Because of daring to point out the “Bad Reputation” in the field of “Archeology”, in particular as it relates to area of our ancestry, that it is “Misinformation” because it is not in line with the definition as prescribe on paper.

Dr. Haviser, who is the chairman of the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC), and who also fail to mention in his rambling about “a Dutch Politician”, his connection with the St. Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research (SECAR), the same organization of which they are tasked to do an investigation on. It is quite interesting to note, that sometimes when Archaeologist are presenting themselves in forums to the wider community, they sometimes deem it pertinent to mention, that the work that they do, is not as it portrayed in movies, like “Indiana Jones.” In the case of SECAR past, the word on the streets doesn’t support the on-paper’s definition well.

The bottom line is, that there is a lack of factual history, as it relates to the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade of our ancestors, and our cultural heritage. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is a crime against humanity as proscribe in international law. Yet it seems normal that a country, like the Netherlands, who does not feel it is important to muster up an apology, but on the other hand is actively engaging in activities for scientific importance relating to the same era. It also can give merit that criminals have the urge to return to the scene of the crime.

Dr. Haviser, in his emotional letter, seems to over look that the focus of the original letter is on archaeology as it relates to our ancestry. The Jews also played a part, as merchants, during the same period, but I never heard of graves of Jewish burial grounds being desecrated for scientific research to enhance the broader understandings throughout the Caribbean. A 40 years career developing community-engagement programs for heritage research, and it seems, based on his letter, that it might take another 40 years for him to realize, that he might be part of the problem and not the solution. Attacking persons of African descent, for educating other about facts that might go unnoticed, by using popular terms like “Q-Anon phenomena” is the common way of deflecting others from the truth. Even the European Parliament have passed a “nonbinding” resolution calling on the EU to recognize the slave trade as a “crime against humanity”. It was backed by 493 Members of the European Parliament, but with 104 voting against. This put one to wonder which EU countries those descending votes are from.

As Chairman of the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC), and claiming to be evolve in community-engagement in Statia, it might be a good idea for him to first remove the knee off of the neck of our local professional, of African Descent, and do some self-reflection amongst his colleagues in the academia realm.

Derrick Simmons
Anthropologist and Coordinator Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean

 












 

Related letters to the editor 

November 12-12, 2021 - UCF Caribbean chair Kenneth Cuvalay: ‘Murder ship’ Leusden anchored in Statia four times 

November 16, 2021 - Archaeologist Jay B. Haviser responds to the letter of Cuvalay: Dutch politician beats emotional drum for votes

November 23, 2021 - Response to the letter of Haviser by Jack Theuns: Biased to the bone

November 24, 2021 - Response to the letter of Haviser by UCF Caribbean chairman, Kenneth Cuvalay: Archaeologist Dr. Haviser not fit as chair Statia Heritage and Research Commission

November 13, 2021

‘Murder ship’ Leusden anchored in Statia four times

 As published in the section "Opinion" of The Daily Herald, St. Maarten, of Friday/Saturday November 12-13, 2021, p. 33

 

Dear editor,

On Thursday, November 4, news on the search for the Dutch “slave ship” the Leusden travelled the world. Archaeologists were ecstatic at the mere idea of finding the West Indian Company vessel that sank in 1738 just off the coast of Suriname. Within sight of the harbour 664 Africans were killed by the crew.

A French-Dutch expedition has started scanning a large area near the coasts of Suriname and French Guyana with a magnetometer, a drone measuring metal traces. The city of Amsterdam, the Dutch National Heritage Agency and the French Underwater Archaeological Service DRASSM are part of the expedition. The National Heritage Agency thinks the ship is of great scientific importance since a Dutch slave ship was never investigated before. In a report by news agency NOS, Michel l'Hour of DRASSM, and one of the leaders of the mission, says: "Scientists from all over the world are interested in the shipwreck. If we find evidence that the ship is actually De Leusden, then I have found the most beautiful object of my career."

However, I am extremely critical of the approach taken by the scientists. This is exactly what happened when the excavations on the Golden Rock Burial Ground started. Archaeologists were excited at the idea of breaking open an 18th century slave burial ground and analysing bones and teeth in labs. But these bones and teeth are taken from our ancestors, and no one asked the opinion of the descendent community.

In the case of this ship, it involves the murder of 664 African people that the crew knowingly left to drown. For no reason. It is exactly that massacre that should be at the heart of the reporting. Every question that comes to the minds of Africans in de diaspora upon hearing this story must be answered. The atrocity must be officially morally rejected and criminally investigated. We should try to find out who the victims were so that we can commemorate them.”

Conditions on the ship

Historian Leo Balai discovered the story behind the shipping disaster 10 years ago in the Dutch National Archives. He conducted research into the slave voyages of the ship De Leusden and the living conditions of the imprisoned and kidnapped Africans onboard the ships. He obtained his doctorate in 2011 and published the book The slave ship Leusden. Balai is of Surinamese descent, and you notice that in how the book is written and the perspective he takes. He doesn't talk about “slaves” but “prisoners” for example and in the earlier mentioned NOS item he states "it was a huge massacre" instead of “the crew felt like they had no choice”. He also explicitly described all the different steps the Dutch took to dehumanise the prisoners.

Four voyages to St. Eustatius

What many people do not know is that the ship's first four voyages had as their final destination St. Eustatius. It anchored in St. Eustatius in 1721, 1722, 1724, and 1726 bringing respectively 562, 471, 221, 676 prisoners. Many prisoners had died during the journey because of the inhumane conditions on board. The supply of the prisoners to Sint Eustatius was in most cases not intended for St. Eustatius but for owners of plantations on the surrounding islands. The book of Balai notes, however, that a considerable amount of prisoners was sold to people like Simon de Graaf, Joan Donker, Lauren Isnaer, and John Combes, probably with the intention to resell the prisoners at a later stage at a profit.

In total the Leusden made 10 voyages. Balai’s book describes the journeys in detail, including the origin of the captured Africans and the names of people on St. Eustatius to whom they were sold. It also describes the characteristics on which the prisoners in Africa were checked before departure, thus exposing in detail the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade, the crimes against humanity.

Racism in archaeology and Dutch media

So, the archaeologists change the perspective again from black to white, in close collaboration with white Dutch media. Uncritical NINSee guarantees that everyone swallows the spoon-fed story because if a black person confirms the distorted story, they’re covered, the story can't be racist. Unfortunately, there will always be Uncle Tom figures in our community, moving with the oppressor, afraid of losing their subsidy.

Archaeology is per definition a racist academic discipline, and it’s time for that to change. We need more black African-centered historians, black African anthropologists, and black African archaeologist in science. We need to take control over our own narrative.               

Change for the future

We need more black African-centered media and journalists in the Netherlands too. Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) has a Black Agenda that advocates structural change within the systems. We need strong leaders in our community boldly expressing the thoughts, ideas, and feelings of those who are not comfortable or not able to speak up, making sure their voices are heard. My hope is on the future generation. It was Malcolm X who said, Armed with the knowledge of our past, we can with confidence charter a course for our future.

Radio show Nation Wide Jamaica

On Saturday, November 13, Derrick Simmons and I of UCF Caribbean will be talking about the atrocity on board the Leusden on the Radio Show “Talking History” of Nation Wide Radio JM Jamaica, hosted by renowned historian, Professor Verene Shepherd (time 9-10 am with a repeat broadcast on Thursdays at 7pm and on Sundays at 6:15pm).

 

Kenneth Cuvalay

Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Caribbean

 

Update November 16, 2021: Archaeologist Jay B. Haviser responds to the letter: Dutch politician beats emotional drum for votes 

Update November 23, 2021: Our UCF Caribbean coordinator and anthropologist, Derrick Simmons, responds to Jay B. Haviser's letter: Response to letter from Dr. Jay B. Haviser

Update November 23, 2021: Response to the letter of Haviser by Jack Theuns: Biased to the bone

Update November 24, 2021: UCF Caribbean chairman, Kenneth Cuvalay, responds to the letter of Haviser: Archaeologist Dr. Haviser not fit as chair Statia Heritage and Research Commission

 


 

November 06, 2021

Decolonization of Dutch archaeology

Starting a discussion about decolonization in the Netherlands is almost impossible. Therefore, when excavations are started at an 18th-century burial ground of enslaved Africans on St. Eustatius - without any form of involvement of the direct descendants living on the island - not many Dutch people think that is something to worry about. Certainly not when a slick, misleading PR campaign has been unleashed on the excavations.

Images of excavated skulls and complete skeletons went all around the world. School class after school class were shown around the excavation site, student archaeologists happily took selfies among the excavated human remains (my ancestors) and it was enthusiastically explained how much the population of St. Eustatius could learn about their ancestors thanks to these excavations. To ask whether the population wanted this and could even agree to break open the graves of their ancestors had apparently not crossed the minds of the archaeologists. Or they couldn't care less, because what a unique opportunity as an archaeologist to be able to go about your business in a historic African burial ground. Archaeologists flew in from all over the world.

Protests against the excavations

In my role as chairman of the Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) Tilburg and UCF Caribbean department, I started protest activities against the excavations together with two other organizations, Brighter Path St. Eustatius and grassroots organization SEAD. In my own province of North Brabant they understood our indignation (see this article in Brabants Dagblad and a tv broadcast of Omroep Brabant), but the Volkskrant thought it was just a 'woke' protest. As if I had suddenly discovered racism and colonization since the Black Life Matter protests in 2020. You would expect a more inquisitive attitude from a national newspaper.

Our protests against the excavations have started by organizing webinars with experts from the Caribbean, an online petition, and writing to the responsible government organizations on St. Eustatius and in the Netherlands. In addition, we are setting up a network of 'African centered' archaeologists who are willing to initiate us in their field and give advice.

What does colonial archaeology look like?

It proves difficult to explain to many white people why archaeology can be colonial, or almost by definition in the Netherlands. It's a sensitive analogy, but when a group of archaeologists, without asking anyone, suddenly breaks open graves in a Jewish cemetery, exposes the human remains, sends photos of them to the media, samples of teeth and bones are analyzed in scientific laboratories around the world, then everyone understands the fuss that would arise about this. Not when it comes to historic African tombs or tombs of indigenous peoples who have suffered the same sad fate for as long as archaeology has existed as a science.

A lawyer friend we approached in connection with the petition commented: “Archaeology is describing what is found. There is no perspective attached to that.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Rachael Smith's American blog post Decolonization of Archaeology explains this very clearly as far as American archaeology is concerned. She describes archaeologists' disinterest in the culture, feelings, ideals, and practices of the descendants whose ancestors are being excavated. In the 1960s, protests by the indigenous communities changed that, with laws requiring descendants to be involved in archaeological excavations and respect for their faith and spirituality, especially with regard to burials.

Unfortunately, these laws don't go much further and the history of the descendants is still interpreted from a Western, Eurocentric point of view. For objective interpretation does not exist; it is directly influenced by the experience, culture, and ideals in which the individual lives. In the Netherlands, this is laid down in the Heritage Act, but it is not applicable in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reversal of perspective: from Eurocentric to self-writing history

Rachael Smith's blog post concludes with a call for participatory archaeological research: 

“The best way to combat the colonization of archaeology, is not to simply consult with indigenous populations but to directly involve them in the research.  Indigenous populations (and other descendant communities) should ask and influence research questions, guide the excavations, determine what can and cannot be excavated, and play large roles in the dissemination of information.  Participatory research also prevents the descendants from being and feeling like purely test subjects rather than active players in their own history.  They have the opportunity to answer their own questions, not just accept the answers to other people’s questions.  In the end the people who are the least bias toward history are those who are descendant from that history.“

People on St. Eustatius do not like graves to be broken open. The responses under the petition speak for themselves. You let the dead rest, that's our culture. Especially the dead who have been abused and mistreated during their lifetime. The disrespect to dig them up, to disturb their final resting place, without any form of consultation or consent of the descendants, provokes anger and indignation. We receive messages of support from the African community in the diaspora from all over the world. What do those archaeologists think it adds to my life to have scientific evidence that some of my unearthed ancestors came directly from Africa and others were born on St. Eustatius? Our story, the story of the Africans in the diaspora, our suffering, our strength, our history is not even written in the history books from our perspective. Let's start with that.

A critical voice from the Netherlands is Sjoerd van de Linde's thesis "Digging holes abroad. An ethnography of Dutch archaeological research projects abroad" from 2012. He reflects on the role and responsibility of archaeologists in relation to the values of others in society. He puts it very nicely (p. 240-241):  

"[...] archaeologists need to accept that material remains of the past are not solely an opportunity for research, and that they can no longer hide behind a notion of archaeological research as a neutral activity free from political and social responsibility."

Dominant position of the Caribbean Research Group of Leiden University

Archaeology in the Caribbean is strongly dominated by the Department of Archaeology from Leiden University. Either archaeologists from local Caribbean archaeological organizations are trained in Leiden or Leiden is involved in large-scale archaeological research projects in the region funded by NWO. Other universities in the Caribbean also often depend on Leiden for facilities. We will write more about this in another blogpost. The archaeological institution on St. Eustatius responsible for the excavations, the St. Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research (SECAR), is a 'for-profit' institution and works according to the so-called St. Eustatius Model. This model “exhibits minimal aspects of local self-reflection, de-colonization, and selfinterpretations [...].Source (p. 148)

We hereby call on SECAR and the Department of Archaeology in Leiden to look critically at themselves and to get rid of their colonial mindset and colonial approach to archaeological research on St. Eustatius and the rest of the Caribbean region where they work.

Sign our petition here: https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeace.https://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeacehttps://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeacehttps://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsInPeacehttps://www.change.org/LeaveOurAncestorsIn

Kenneth Cuvalay

(This article is also published in Dutch on the website Doorbraak.eu)

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