Revolutionizing heritage preservation: a signature oral history project preserving the Matawai Maroons in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, Surinam.
The story of the Matawai started 300 years ago, back to the era when Suriname served as a Dutch plantation colony. Rather than endure the harsh and oppressive life of captivity on the coastal plantations, numerous African enslaved individuals seized control of their destinies and escaped into the dense rainforests of the vast interior. Fleeing along the ascending rivers, they ventured as far southward as possible, eluding and engaging in battles with Dutch soldiers attempting to recapture them. They conducted raids to liberate others from slavery and ultimately compelled the colonial government to negotiate a peace agreement with them. These escaped slaves formed their own communities in the heart of Surinam’s interiors. Today, their descendants, known as Maroons, still reside in these settlements, proudly preserving and sharing the stories of their ancestors' struggles and triumphs. These narratives form a crucial part of their distinct cultural heritage.
Among the various Maroon groups is the Matawai community, which established itself along the Saramacca River in central Suriname. Their history is a testament to their ancestors' determination to create a free and independent life, shaping a unique legacy that endures to this day. For the Matawai, survival in the rainforest has always hinged on specific knowledge of their territory, passed down through generations. The basja of (traditional leader) of Pusugrunu, Tina Henkie showed us some of those distinctive traditions. Place-based stories guide them in locating food or resources and navigating hidden dangers. Above all, these oral histories reinforce their historical and cultural ties to their homelands, shaping their collective identity, instilling a commitment to environmental preservation but also ensuring the future of their children. Without the local knowledge of their ancestors, survival in the deep jungle would be hard - and they will eventually fall into capitalistic practices that are also present out there.
The Matawai community in Suriname is facing a challenge: the loss of the knowledge of their living spaces. We witnessed first-hand the alarming signs of environmental and cultural erosion – from deforestation to the migration of younger Matawai to work at gold mines in the rainforest or to the city Paramaribo. The community are worried about the future of their children and their culture when local knowledge on the environment gets lost. This is why they've reached out to organizations outside their region for help in "writing" there histories for future generations. However, it is not that there is no history at all of Matawai heritage. You can find information on the community in the in the official library of Surinam. But this information is created by the colonial government, not the Matawai people themselves. These records don't really tell us much about the Matawai's everyday life or their society. Plus, these records are usually in languages that many Matawai community members can't read. Which makes the information useless to Matawai people themselves. So, they're looking for different ways to preserve their culture, different from what's commonly done in the Western world.
The Matawai people face a unique challenge in preserving their history, but also showcase a prime example of how historians face a complex task worldwide. The Matawai case is part of a larger, painful history of slavery, where the main records were written by those in power – the same people who enslaved them. Researchers have to rely on the perspective of those in power, understanding their narratives within administrative and legal colonial contexts. These historical accounts often miss the true experiences and perspectives of the Matawai. It's like writing history about a culture with sources created by the people who enslaved that culture.
Rewriting history, navigating complexities, and giving voice to a community's rich heritage against the odds was the task at hand. It's reassuring that UNESCO is addressing this issue. Recognizing that the history and memory of slavery continue to shape multicultural societies and contribute to ongoing racial injustices against Africans and their descendants worldwide, UNESCO initiated the project "The Slave Route: resistance, freedom, heritage" in 1994. This project aims to explore and commemorate the resistance, pursuit of freedom, and heritage associated with the slave trade. The project focuses its efforts on delivering a new narrative that moves the gaze from the slavers to the “slaves” themselves.
This is where the innovative partnership between the Matawai and the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) becomes pivotal. Together, they embarked on a mission to capture the Matawai's stories in their own words. The collaboration led to the creation of Terrastories, an open-source, offline-compatible app designed specifically for the Matawai. The reason why the app is so groundbreaking is that this is made specifically for the communities of the Matawai - not merely for a western audience. It is designed to be user-friendly and fun to interact with, allowing community members to freely explore without needing any technical background. By recording the narrations and memories of the past and making it accessible to their own community, the people will be able to analyze the available written sources and the recorded narrations critically and in the end re-define (shape) their own history. This app bridges the gap between traditional oral histories and modern technology, enabling the community to map over 700 sacred sites and narratives - something becoming ever more important in the future of heritage preservation.
The fascinating process of this project showcases the active involvement of the Matawai community. It all began in 2015 with "krutus" (workshops) held in the villages. During these sessions, community members utilized their extensive knowledge of the landscape to draw and annotate blank maps of the Saramacca River. Three years later, the Stichting voor Dorpsontwikkeling Matawai unveiled a version of Terrastories, fully populated with all the Matawai stories and maps. This presentation took place before an audience comprising Maroon community members, traditional leaders, and Surinamese government officials. The project ignited a national dialogue about recognizing and safeguarding Surinamese Maroon culture as intangible cultural heritage. Under the leadership of the community-based organization Stichting voor Dorpsontwikkeling Matawai, the involved organizations secured permission from the traditional Matawai leadership to initiate the project. Clear roles and responsibilities were defined in agreements between Stichting voor Dorpsontwikkeling Matawai and the Amazon Conservation Team-Suriname (ACT). Community members, both male and female, underwent training by ACT to use handheld GPS units for recording spatial data related to land use, such as hunting routes, agriculture, or resource harvesting.
As we share this article, let it be a reminder of the resilience and enduring spirit of the Matawai Maroons. This project represents more than just the preservation of history: it's a model for how to preserve histories that long have been suppressed. The Matawai's story, now digitally immortalized, serves as a beacon for other indigenous communities facing similar challenges.
Ben Scholtens' "Bosneger en overheid in Suriname," published in 1994 by the Afdeling Cultuurstudies/Minov in Paramaribo and archived on April 4, 2023; Chris de Beet and Miriam Sterman's "People in Between: The Matawai Maroons of Suriname," a dissertation at RU Utrecht, published in Meppel in 1981; "Fosten: A Story about Tradition and Territory (Matawai Oral Histories)," dated October 10, 2018, highlighting the availability of the storytelling map in English and Dutch with future plans for additional language translations; Johan Cateau van Rosevelt's "Kaart van Suriname," a map created in 1880; Matawai: Oral Tradition in Modern Times," featured in Sabaku - Suriname Airways Inflight Magazine, Edition 61, November 2019 - January 2020; Photo from the Edward C. Green papers, housed in the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian Institution; A book review of "Skrekiboekoe" by Chris de Beet on Suriname.nu, archived on September 25, 2022; "Suriname Plantage, Plantage Sonnette," documentation archived on June 3, 2023; An article from the Haagsche Courant titled "Wij lezen in de N.Surin.Crt," dated April 20, 1895, and archived on September 11, 2023; Ursy M. Lichtveld and Jan Voorhoeve's "Creole Drum," published in 1975 by Yale University, New Haven.
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