In early June 2023 I took part in a transdisciplinary conference on ‘Tourism, Memory and Heritage’ – held at the International Institute of Social History and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam (1-2 June 2023).

The conference was convened by Dr Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong (Assistant Professor in Cultural Geography, Wageningen University & Research) to bring together a diverse network of scholars, heritage professionals, community historians, media specialists, social justice activists and other stakeholders interested in exploring the conceptual, practical and policy questions of the role of tourism (studies) in activating the memories of slavery and colonial heritage. A particular geo-historical focus of the conference concerned the Ghana-Suriname-Netherlands triangle of interdependencies and links arising from the impacts of Dutch imperialism, transatlantic slave trading and colonialism.

The central question under consideration throughout the two-day programme was framed as follows:

“How does tourism (stories) offer a conceptual grasp on the complexity of the memories of the slavery past while building emotional connection between the past, present and future of a shared heritage?“

Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong, conference convenor, ‘Tourism, Memory and Heritage’ (Amsterdam, 1-2 June 2023), & principal investigator of the NWO VENI project: ‘The embodied absence of the past: slavery, heritage and tourism in the Ghana-Suriname-Netherlands triangle.’*

Scheduling this international gathering in Amsterdam in the wake of former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s formal state apology for the Netherlands’ role in trans-oceanic slave trading and colonialism (issued on 19 December 2022) brought the conference’s key themes into dialogue with wider geo-political, socio-economic and human rights considerations about reparative justice, addressing structural discrimination and marginalisation, action against poverty, and 21st century anti-racist education strategies to ameliorate the ongoing negative legacies and afterlives of empire-building and enslavement practices. In the Netherlands’ case, this was specifically in relation to acknowledging the generational impacts of slavery and colonialism for present-day Afro-descendant communities in Suriname, the Caribbean region (such as the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Saba), and other nations and regions of the world impacted by the global colonial exploits of the Dutch West India Company (WIC, West-Indische Compagnie) and Dutch East India company (VOC, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie).

Programme Structure and Overview

A total of fifteen research papers were presented and discussed during four thematic roundtable sessions and two open sessions – scheduled as follows:

• Roundtable 1: Activating memory through tourism
• Roundtable 2: The museum, arts and media dimensions of tourism, memory and heritage
• Roundtable 3: Mapping slavery heritage and memory: tours, museums and public spaces
• Roundtable 4: The future of slavery heritage tourism and cultural memory in the Ghana-Suriname-Netherlands triangle
• Open sessions (x2) – featuring research papers about colonial heritage tourism in regions of the world beyond the Ghana-Suriname-Netherlands triangle: including, for example, a case study about the ongoing heritage conflicts linked to the sacred site of Malindadzimu near the Mapopo Hills of Southern Zimbabwe following Cecil Rhodes’ burial there in 1902; an historical account of Ottoman Empire enslavement histories in Eastern Europe linked to human trafficking along the Venice to Istanbul “Sultan’s Trail”; and research about Dutch colonisation of the Moluccas (historically referred to as the ‘Spice Islands’) of Eastern Indonesia.

Two keynote presentations and two cultural tours of central Amsterdam were also included in the conference programme to stimulate further discussion and debate, specifically:

• Keynote 1: “Making a slavery museum: a bottom-up approach,” presented by curator Peggy Brandon (Kwartiermaker Museaal voor het Nationaal Slavernijmuseum)
• Cultural activity 1: “Memre Waka” (1 June 2023) – a processional tour of Amsterdam’s historic centre, from Dam Square to the Mayor’s official residence on Herengracht
• Keynote 2: “Heritage, Memory, Tourism: Uneasy Mappings in Discontinuous Common Time,” presented by Ghanaian ambassador and academic Abena Busia (Emeritus Professor of English Literature, Rutgers University, USA)
• Cultural activity 2: Black Heritage Amsterdam Canal Boat Tour (2 June 2023), led by cultural historians Jennifer Tosch and Nancy Jouwe.

An overview of the research insights arising from the aforementioned sessions, a synopsis of my own conference paper, and some personal reflections on my conference highlights are summarised below.

Day 1, Roundtable 1: Activating Memory through Tourism

In his opening remarks Dr Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong spoke about the important role of tourism in (re)activating memories of slavery and colonial heritage. As a cultural geographer, his starting point for investigating these issues and themes was expressed in terms of the “primacy of place” and the reciprocal linkages between practices, performativity and “spaces of transformative potential (and conflict).”

Distinctions were also made between the type of tourism that conventionally focuses on tangible, material and observable traces of the past – i.e. the “presences” – and other touristic experiences achieved via techniques and approaches such as narrative storytelling, documentary film-making, the provision of educator-led heritage trails, the siting of monuments, contemporary art installations, and so on, produced to address history’s “absent-presence(s).” Central to Emmanuel’s analysis was recognition of the tensions, complexities and sensitivities that exist between what is physically present and referenced within heritage spaces in relation to past lives, and the multiplicity of absences, erasures and ‘silent/silenced’ voices that have to be brought back to public consciousness, (re-)interpreted and poly-vocalised through creative approaches to storying heritage. The concept of the “embodied absence of the past” was highlighted as a catalytic driver for these decolonial conference dialogues, especially in reference to questions such as:

• How do we account for the memory-making and activation work of tourism in relation to slavery and colonial heritage?
• How do tourism experiences shift dominant narratives and bring hitherto marginalised, hidden and under-researched stories into the mainstream?

Emmanuel’s introductory research paper and provocation was complemented by presentations from Kwesi Essel-Blankson (Museum Educator at Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, and Director of the Museums and Monuments Board in Ghana’s Western Region); Sirano Zalman (Owner-director of Frederiksdorp Plantation Resort, Suriname) and Marvin Hokstram (Founder of AFRO Magazine, Netherlands).

The interconnecting threads linking all these presentations were the speakers’ respective emphases on debunking the myths and falsehoods about the enslavement era – particularly the conventional downplaying of the systemic acts of violence and dehumanisation perpetrated by former European enslavers. All three panelists spoke passionately about the importance of foregrounding resistance-led, freedom-fighting narratives of African agency and fight-back against captivity, as well as the need to make stronger linkages and continuities between enslavement era rebellions and the contemporary expressions of anti-racist activism within 21st century movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) – especially via the heritage work led by African scholar-activists, writers, artists, community historians and other cultural producers from continental Africa and descendant communities of the African Diaspora.

Sirano Zalman’s case study reflections about how the life and leadership of 18th century Surinamese Maroon resistance hero and freedom-fighter Boni (1730-1793) is currently being presented (and further expanded) throughout the heritage awareness trails at Frederiksdorp Plantation were particularly insightful and inspiring. As a direct counter-response to the dominance of false 18th century pictorial representations of plantation life in the Americas that European artists deliberately characterised as non-violent and benign – seen, for example, in the pro-slavery propaganda paintings by Agostino Brunias (c. 1730-1796) – Sirano shared and celebrated the transformative narrative re-interpretation work being achieved via the Boni Heritage Trail, concluding:

“At Frederiksdorp, we want to tell the un-told… we want to create heroes!”

Sirano Zalman (Owner-Director of Frederiksdorp Plantation Resort, Suriname), 1 June 2023

Day 1, Roundtable 2: The museum, arts and media dimensions of tourism, memory and heritage

My research paper – titled, “Nyayito songs and tidalectic flows: Examining Atlantic world memory-making, enslavement histories and heritage narratives considered through the prism of contemporary visual art” [NB: *Nyayito song = a Ghanaian/Ewe term meaning a sorrowful song / elegy] – was presented as part of a three-way panel session that also included presentations by Dutch academic Dr Diantha Vilet (Assistant Professor at the Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University) and Dutch historian and curator Annemarie de Wildt (Curator at the Amsterdam Museum).

As a prelude to discussions about the role of museums and the visual arts when seeking to commemorate the lives of formerly enslaved Africans, I shared two contemporary art case studies, specifically:

(1) The inception and development of the Nkyinkyim Installation and Museum (located at Nuhalenya, Ada (Greater Accra region) on Ghana’s Atlantic coast), founded by Ghanaian (Akan heritage) multi-disciplinary artist and creative director Kwame Akoto-Bamfo (b.1983).

(2) The presentation of selected paintings by Dutch visual artist Iris Kensmil (b.1970, Amsterdam), each one featuring representations in oils of the former slave forts at Elmina and Cape Coast Castle that she visited during an artist’s residency in Ghana throughout 2011/12. The archive of photographic images taken throughout that residency were used by Iris Kensmil to inform an art series first shown in the USA as part of her major solo retrospective “Something Still Comes Back” (Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles, May 12—June 10, 2021).

Although there wasn’t time to present my third case study about the oeuvre of Surinamese (Ndjuka Maroon) artist-curator and community activist Marcel Pinas (b.1971, Pelgrim Kondré), further details about Marcel’s extensive body of work centred on his holistic approach to “Kibri a Kulturu” [“Protect the culture”] cross-arts, heritage and cultural preservation initiatives is available online at https://marcelpinas.nl/.

Dr Diantha Vilet’s presentation during this session focused on the importance of storying hidden histories and traditionally under-represented voices within enslavement history and colonial heritage tourism, especially as a means of “un-learning” prevailing falsehoods about “victimhood” that have been incorrectly assigned to enslaved Africans within Eurocentric narratives about the era of transatlantic slavery. From Diantha’s perspective as a lecturer in media studies and a memory studies scholar, it was also vital not to disregard or downplay the role of the media in shaping contemporary discourses concerned with tourism, memory and heritage. In particular, she emphasised that every anniversary in the cultural calendar – not least the July 1st “Keti Koti” [a Surinamese term translated as “breaking the chains”], an annual series of commemorative events marking the emancipation from enslavement in former Dutch colonies – presents new opportunities to talk about and raise awareness of anti-slavery resistance histories.
A concluding takeaway from Diantha’s commentary was her apposite line: “Memory is history made useful!”

Annemarie de Wildt presented information about her curatorial practice at the Amsterdam Museum, where she has worked in partnership with a number of community ambassadors to address and push back against the Dutch nation’s “collective amnesia” about its enslavement past and its colonial exploitation of nations and regions throughout the global south. One of the most pressing issues in this collaborative process has been providing a space for critical debate about challenging traditional designations of the 17th-19th century period in history as the Netherlands’ “Golden Age,” and instead encouraging revised recognition of this era as “The Stolen Age.”

Among some of the highlights of Amsterdam Museum’s recent exhibition programming that were showcased in Annemarie’s illustrated talk were the images of the Keti Koti Dialogue Table, launched on 5 May 2023, featuring cultural and spiritual objects, such as the Dancing Kabra Mask, a gathering together to share food and conversation and a programme of libation-pouring ceremonials and other activities led by members of Amsterdam’s Surinamese community – including the recitation of sacred stories, prayers and poems performed by renowned winti-priestess and educator Marian Markelo (b. Moengo, Suriname, 1956).

Keynote 1: “Making a slavery museum: a bottom-up approach”

The highlight of Day 1 was hearing curator Peggy Brandon discuss the collaborative work that has been in development since 2017 to establish a National Slavery Museum in the Netherlands. In her senior curatorial role as one of the three research and development co-ordinators she was able to share some of the interim outcomes of extensive public consultations (which are ongoing) that have resulted in the following range of prioritisations:

• The National Slavery Museum (NSM) will be a force for social change and function as a “space for finding common ground” between the nation’s diverse ethnic and religious communities
• The geo-historical focus of the Museum will be on transatlantic enslavement histories, whilst also acknowledging other eras of trans-oceanic enslavement and human trafficking through to present-day experiences of modern slavery
• Narratives about enslavement-generated wealth within the history of the Netherlands’ most prominent institutions will be foreground – including recognition that the Rijksmuseum (the nation’s preeminent cultural venue dedicated to Dutch arts and history) was built on the profits of the sugar manufacturing industry
• The Museum will not be focused solely on object collections, but instead will foreground storytelling that links the past to the present, expressed through the creative and scholarly work of visual artists, writers, musicians, dancers, historians and other cultural producers, using tri-lingual, polyvocal approaches to its outreach and interpretation work.
• In terms of the architectural design features, there will be a “Garden of Heroes” constructed close to a body of water to enable visitors to visit and experience the site as a space of reflective contemplation, remembrance, ancestral veneration, acknowledgement of trauma, healing, learning and truth-seeking.

The Q&A discussions that followed Peggy Brandon’s thought-provoking keynote focused on the importance of “vigilance” so that the Museum’s representations of the horrors and brutalities of the enslavement past – and the ongoing legacies of racism, inequality and inter-generational trauma still felt in the contemporary present – do not cause us to lose faith in humanity.

Post-conference reflections…

On Saturday 1 July at the annual Keti Koti festival of remembrance – held in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark to mark 160 years since legislation was passed making slavery illegal in former Dutch colonies, and also to commemorate the 150th anniversary of full emancipation from enslavement for all formerly enslaved within Dutch colonial territories by 1873 – King Willem-Alexander apologised on behalf of the Dutch Royal Family for Netherlands’ involvement in slavery. As Head of State, the Dutch monarch went much further than former Prime Minister Mark Rutte had done (in his formal apology on behalf of the government, issued on 19th December 2022) to emphasise the importance of working together on shared commitments towards “healing, reconciliation and restoration.” So, the fact that this heart-felt speech came just one month after the Tourism, Memory and Heritage conference in Amsterdam has meant that there has been a significant increase in mainstream media attention on enslavement histories, heritage (re-)interpretation initiatives and awareness-raising on matters of decolonial education. This augurs well for the future, and might also lead to more funded research opportunities and support for international, creatively transdisciplinary collaborations later down the line.

Next steps…

Highlights and outcomes arising from Day 2 of the conference are presented in the event’s ‘after-movie,’ which can be viewed online via YouTube.

Additionally, my afore-mentioned conference paper “Nyayito songs and tidalectic flows…,” presented during Roundtable 2, will be submitted for publication as a peer-reviewed journal article during 2024.

References and Web Links

Adu-Ampong, E.A. (2023) ‘The embodied absence of the past: Slavery heritage and the transformative memory work of tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103590

AFRO Magazine [Online] – https://afromagazine.nl/

Amsterdam Museum – https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en

Iris Kensmil, artist’s website – https://iriskensmil.nl/

Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, artist’s overview of the Ancestor Project and Nkyinkyim Museum/Installation, Ghana – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-48744703

Marcel Pinas, artist’s website – https://marcelpinas.nl/

Nkyinkyim Museum – https://nkyinkyimmuseum.org/

*Footnote: This inaugural Amsterdam-based conference on Tourism, Memory and Heritage was jointly funded via the Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – NWO) and a grant award from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).