Traveling Caribbean heritage

Centuries of intense migrations have deeply impacted the development of the creolized Papiamentu/o-speaking cultures of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. The islands’ asymmetrical relation to the Netherlands begs many questions regarding insular identities. In addition, contemporary migrations have deeply impacted insular demographics and understandings of what it means to be Aruban, Bonairean, or Curaçaoan. Finally, mass tourism became a central pillar of the insular economies, adding to the changes in the demographic make-up of the islands. 

All of this provokes debates about insular identity, and the need to identify and preserve the islands’ literarily traveling cultural heritage – but heritage is as much a contested concept as identity. While scholars emphasize its evasive, constructed and contested character, local workers in the field of culture and education as well as activists search for constructive and practice-oriented approaches, driven by questions pertaining to the fields of nation-building (‘What do we want our citizens, young and old, to know and cherish about our unique insular heritage?’) and to the field of tourism (‘What image of our island do we want to present to tourists, emphasizing our unique heritage without falling into the trap of excessive folklorization and even fossilization, preventing people from seeing all kinds of new cultural expressions?’).

In this project, Caribbean and Dutch scholars and cultural heritage specialists address these questions, identifying and questioning the dynamics of heritage formation, and developing a multi-generational human resource base as well as a digital infrastructure for the preservation of insular cultural heritage, for outreach activities, and ultimately for stimulating the sustainable development of these non-sovereign SIDS.

2017-2022