The Post colonial Path

The Postcolonial Path

The sugar mills seemed as the most powerful element left from the colonial era. They are visible from every corner of the island and interacting with the locals together with the conducted interviews, it came clear that this was a symbolic landmark that divided the community. This was an element of the visible history that was ignored. It has been hard to articulate the slavery and what the sugar mills represent as the subject is so sensitive and painful. When I asked locals, what should happen to the sugar mills they were enthusiastic and everyone had a strong opinion both negative and positive. These many thematics has kept the project interesting during the semester.

It has been a big project with many elements I felt I needed to engage in. Just the understanding of the sugar mills and its relation to the plantation could have been a project I could concentrate on, but I tried to illuminate a vision and an intervention that could work on three scales. The connecting path across the island, the plantation and then the sugar mills. My Thesis is not a finished project proposal but a way of working and processing our heritage. I see my Thesis as a healing process through an active use of the abandoned ruinous sugar mills. It is important as the architectural heritage forms a symbol of a people’s culture and identity that must be respected and protected (Magliozzi, 2016).

Emancipation once again

Some locals believe that it is wrong to make a use of the sugar mills as they represent slavery and a history they want to forget. I disagree in this statement although I respect and understand their feelings. If the sugar mills in 50 years all are demolished and gone, at some point we will once again forget the history. I see that as a failure of the hardworking slaves that fought for freedom and for a world in which black people are not seen as a subspecies. The Nara Charter describes the importance and influence of our heritage and how this should be preserved:

The diversity of cultures and heritage in our world is an irreplaceable source of spiritual and intellectual richness for all humankind. The protection and enhancement of cultural and heritage diversity in our world should be actively promoted as an essential aspect of human development (The Nara Charter, Article 5)

It is time for a new emancipation. The people of Virgin Island needs to deal with their history and to illuminate and discuss difficult subjects as slavery. In 1980 Bob Marley described some feelings I could recognize on St. Croix today.

In the song Buffalo Soldier, he describes how Africans were stolen from their homelands and brought to America. Parallels can be drawn between the situation he describes and the Virgin Islands today. Buffalo Soldier was a name given to an African American soldier who had to fight in the American conflicts in 1866. It was a nickname given because their dark skin and dark curly hair reminded them of the buffalo (Musicbanter.com, 2017).

I find the song relevant in connection to the situation of many Virgin Islanders. They still feel as a stolen people who was enslaved in heart of the Caribbean. They are still angry as I got to experience described in my interview with Jett Twotees (see appendix #2). The irony of fate would that, the Virgin Islands were sold to USA and the lyrics describe their feelings almost spot on:

Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta There was a Buffalo Soldier In the heart of America Stolen from Africa, brought to America Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival Driven from the mainland To the heart of the Caribbean

Furthermore, in the song Redemption Song Bob Marley encourage a new emancipation:

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds

He describes an emancipation from mental slavery and that is exactly what the people of Virgin Island need. The Postcolonial Path can engage both locals, tourist and for instance schools were parts of the path can be hiked whilst having a discussion of the colonial era, slavery and how to emancipate oneself from mental slavery. As Bob Marley sings: none but ourselves can free our minds and make peace with the history.