The network has just published our research agenda in the open access Heritage Journal. This paper outlines the aims of the Rising from the Depths and describes the co-creation of a challenge-led research and sustainability programme for the study of Marine Cultural Heritage in eastern Africa.

You can access the paper here:

Heritage | Free Full-Text | Rising from the Depths Network: A Challenge-Led Research Agenda for Marine Heritage and Sustainable Development in Eastern Africa (mdpi.com)

https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/4/3/57

Scoping meetings with a wide range of academic, community and marine stakeholders including (from bottom right clockwise): academics and researchers based in the UK; UNESCO officials, NGOs and government representatives at a State Parties session in Paris; community leaders at the Ilha de Mozambique; the Bidi Wa Kasi women’s group in Mida Creek, Kenya; ocean scientists at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute; lawyers from the Nairobi Law School; as well as school children in Kilwa, Tanzania (centre).

The history of Kanga is implicitly bound up in the history of slavery. Slave women were forbidden to wear colourful, printed or decorated cloth, forced to wear plain, uncomfortable, very durable, but very hot white canvas. The kangas on sale today in Tanga and Zanzibar reflect along historical deep embrace of life, and freedom.

Photograph C. Samantha Reinders, from the blog ‘Woven Voices’

The international trading of Slaves began to diminish long after it was formally made illegal in (1833 in GB, 1865 in the US).  Locally made and imported colourful fabrics, called Kanga, were a deliberate rejection of the dull, heavy canvas cloth ‘Amerikani’ that colonial subjects were forced to wear and a strident statement of freedom and autonomy. Like the Capulana fabric in Mozambique, women’s rebellion and resistance to colonial rule in Tanzania took the form of wearing bright colours. the early kanga were hand printed. This is one of the earliest photos of women, the servants of the Zanzibar Princess Salma, wearing hand decorated kanga:

Floral motifs on the patterned clothing of free Swahili women. Here the servants of Princess Salma of Zanzibar proudly model their clothing. As concubines of the Sultans and mothers to princes, royal servants were entitled to dress and be treated as free Swahili women. Photo: Compliments of Zanzibar National Archive, AV 31.32

Modern kangas reflect floral patterns and contemporary designs, and come in a variety of qualities (of material).

As well as dance, song, poetry, and literature, smart colourful clothes (kanga) are key to Swahili cultural heritage. There are a number of behavioural attributes (politeness, discretion, being quiet, hospitality) that are also considered very important to Swahili life.

Tanzania, Tanga. Washing clothes, compound of Mwanamvua Salehe December 2019. None of thes fabrics are kangas, but Chinese polyester fabrics, again which are beginning to replace kanga. Copyright Jenny Matthews

Kanga comes in many colours designs and can be wax printed on heavier cloth, or directly printed, but kanga is always two pieces of material. The kanga is often decorated with proverbs, sayings, strong beliefs or personalised insults. This dates back to the British colonial government, who in post abolition East Africa, favoured members of the Swahili society, reserving certain types of privileges and rights only to them. To access such rights, many ex-slave women claimed Swahili identity. So they learned Kiswahili and adhered to Islamic ways of behaving involving piety, discretion, politeness and a ‘gentle tongue’. Kanga was one of the few ways women could express ‘unIslamic’ thoughts, and is therefore an integral part of Swahili society, and women continue to use kanga to challenge social, religious, and political ideals within their society.

Swahili women chide bad behaviour through the publicly acceptable medium of kanga cloth. In this example, a well known proverb advises people to beware when someone speaks ill of others. By wearing this kanga around a well-known gossip, a disparaged victim exacted revenge.

MBAYA HASEMI LAKE ANASEMA LA WENZAKE

 “An evil person does not talk about her evil deeds; she talks about other people’s evils”

For a very detailed look at this period, please download the British Empire in East Africa teachers pack (suitable for A-level and University students) HERE and watch this space as we upload more material.

By the end of the 19th century, MPs and civil servants of every hue in Westminster and a bewildering collection of lobbyists were questioning the rationale of supporting  extensive foreign spending, and British role overall in its imperial colonies, including Tanzania. There was a vigorous and growing movement of Africa political figures, freed slaves such as Oloudah Equiano and white philanthropists who felt slavery was morally repugnant. But as ever propaganda was at work: many of the horrific scenes, photos and etchings were to serve a political point: that Britain was no longer squandering its money on failed colonial experiments, and this was the impetus behind the determination to end the slave trade. There certainly were passionate and dedicated groups in UK such as quakers who opposed slavery on moral and religious grounds, but enormous dissent in liberal society about whether African and Caribean people were equal to Europeans. The ‘mainstream’ regency and Victorian intelligentsia and scientific communities appear by 21^st century standards as disagreeably racist and accepting for obvious bias and lies. (See Das and Lowe 2018, and Olusoga 2015 and Olusoga 2018 for further information).

1822, the British signed the first of a series of treaties with Sultan Said to curb this trade, but not until 1876 was the sale of slaves finally prohibited.

The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a large portion of the African Great Lakes Coast, known as Zanj, as well as trading routes extending much further across the continent, as far as Kindu on the Congo River. However, from 1887 to 1892, these mainland possessions were lost to the colonial powers of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy, with Britain gaining control of Mombasa in 1963.

Zanzibar was famous worldwide for its spices and its slaves. Tanga, 27 miles away, and Pangani and Bagamoyo were departure points from the mainland to Zanzibar, and from then on to Europe, US and Brazil. Zanzibar was the Africa Great Lakes’ main slave-trading port, and in the 19th century as many as 50,000 slaves were passing through the slave markets each year. British early interest in Zanzibar was motivated by both access to commercial resources, taking advantage of the opportunistic trade winds and strategic advantage, much as it is today.

However, supporting the British Empire was a messy and vague business. The British, under William McKinnon who directed the British Imperial East Africa company, ‘oversaw’ 240kms of East African coastline with an ‘imperial charter’- which remains today undefined what it means. The IBEAC oversaw an area of about 246,800 square miles (639,000 km²) along the eastern coast of Africa, its centre being at about 39° East longitude and 0° latitude. Mombasa and its harbour were central to its operations, with an administrative office about 50 miles (80 km) south in Shimoni. It granted immunity of prosecution to British subjects whilst allowing them the right to raise taxes, impose custom duties, administer justice, make treaties and otherwise act as the government of the area. This obviously went down very badly indeed with local Tanga residents and other coastal citizens, who had in no way agreed to this arrangement. There were a total of 44 uprisings and resistances (that we know about) in this time. See the teachers pack HERE for more detail.

In 1893 the IBEAC transferred its administration rights of the territory to the British Government. The territory was then divided to form the Uganda Protectorate in 1894 and East Africa Protectorate (later Kenya) in 1895.

In reality IBEAC seems to have been concerned with stopping Middle Eastern traders from disembarking and getting access to gold and ivory, and to a lesser extent cotton, cloves, spices sugar and coffee. The IBEAC fell apart in 1893, as the egos between colonial partnerships clashed. “Brewing conflict between rival factions ultimately prevented the company from investing the necessary time and money into this venture. The four groups involved in Uganda, the Kabaka, French Catholics, Protestants, and the Company, could not resolve their squabble amicably and civil war broke out in January 1892.”

Mackinnon overwhelmed with debts of over £10,000, including commissioning a ship in kit form he wanted named after himself, backed down from IBEAC’s directorship, having bankrupted it. Only to mysteriously reappear to personally fund the ill-fated expedition to ‘rescue’ Emin Pasha a few years later.

“IBEAC was already struggling financially due to customs issues but the money spent funding this skirmish all but bankrupted it. This also made clear that the company would be unable to continue its poorly executed attempt at colonizing eastern Africa”. (Source 2021)

Tanzania, Tanga. Mama Mefaki , coffee seller. The custom of taking coffee or chai on the barazza (terrace/pavement) with a small sweetmeat is hundreds of years old, and an important Swahili tradition of discussing, reflecting and relaxing in the year-round humidity. Photo Jenny Matthews February 2020

This project documents intangible cultural heritage and skills that are disappearing in Tanga. We talked to farmers and fishermen, about their lives, hopes and knowledge. This AHRC project began in December 2016 with chats on the beach, under the baobab tree, with a group of 6 older fishermen. There were also 3 women there, not on bicycles, there to buy fish for their (extended) families. They cooked a small amount of surplus, to sell later in the evening in Tanga market, about five miles away. There was a confident outspoken woman (Zawadi) who never mentioned a husband: I liked her, she was there every day, on the tides, buying up fish and really knew her species, her markets, and how to present the best cuts to get maximum profits (about £1.50 a day).

Zawadi Jumanene, 35, mother of 3, working as a fish collector and seller since the age of 15 when she left home and started up alone on the beach in Michokeni (photo Copyright Jenny Matthews)

Our research took place in a small coastal hamlet Mwambani/ Mkocheni, of about 3000 people, just outside Tanga town, Tanzania. Tanga town is situated within Tanga region;  Mwambani/Tanga village in Tanzania is the end point for the $1.5-billion  Chinese funded, (Hoima/Uganda- Tanzania) pipeline.

Zawadi and her colleagues go through the scraps left in the nets for smaller, young fish which are fried immediately and sold my the roadside as cheap snacks. Michokuni, November 2019. Copyright Jenny Matthews

Satellite map of Tanga to zoom in on: https://satellites.pro/#-4.549046,41.610718,7

Google maps Tanga: https://www.google.com/maps/@-5.093822,38.111839,532351m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-GB

Using the material: talking about painful and dehumanizing issues

Another element of this project, is understanding how centuries of looking at slavery from a European perspective has fundamentally moulded our reactions in the UK.
Our research team- all Tanzanian- took copies the photos above to a group of people in Tanga.

We knew that slavery is taught in very little detail as part of the Tanzanian curriculum, but our interviews reveal that large chunks were missing. You can listen to some of the interviews HERE.

Many conversations emerged, over three months using participant observation, and the following prompts:

(Thanks to Aaron Jaffer at Royal Museums Greenwich)

• Have you seen an object/photograph/picture like this before? If so, where and when?
• Can you tell us anything about what is show in the photographs/pictures, including anything about…
  …the buildings?
  …the people
  …the clothes
  …the hairstyles
  …the places
  …the objects
  …the plants
• How do they make you feel?
• How do you think our museum should display these objects? What stories would you use them to tell?

These and other objects/images relating to East African history can be viewed online for free HERE.

Of the photographs that elicited most reactions – tears, sorrow, stunned silences were the ones of the young person chained to a block of wood he had to carry. Many of our interviewees had relatives that walked hundreds and sometimes 1000’s of miles to get to Tanga for work. One of our interviewees recounts his grandfather telling him stories of walking from the interior HERE.

But crucially, also, Tanzania’s historical role in slavery informs us why and how people were keen to disassociate themselves from the trade- either as slavers or traders- by establishing their Swahili identity, which is a shortcut for saying that they were not forced to be on the coast, they were not traded, but were established here. Equally, one woman who has Omani ancestors felt unable to talk about her family’s business as slave traders, too upset and embarrassed to go into detail.

Slavers Revenging Their Losses, mid-late 19th C. (c) Royal Museums Greenwich collection

For downloadable teachers pack on how to use this material HERE

For a downloadable toolkit on how to undertake oral history about really sensitive issues, HERE

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH

After speaking to the fishermen and women, I had a preliminary discussion with an experienced Tanzania land rights lawyer, about the poverty and lack of land deeds in the Tanga coastal region, and the impending construction of a port and pipeline to process and transport liquid natural gas and oil.

Evictions and construction began in Tanga in 2013 and 2018 respectively, although the enormous projected gains from oil and liquid natural gas from Uganda to Tanzania, carried down a transport ‘corridor’ are yet to materialise. Mooted as one of the largest projects, ever, in Africa, the belt and road initiative includes maritime – road shipping lanes, railways, roads, a new port, an oil processing plant, and linked media, education, mining and military policies. At present however (June 2021) only the port in Tanga has been dredged. There is uncertainty about whether this ambitious massive Chinese international development initiative will happen within the projected time frames, if it happens at all.

There was so much about this small world that fascinated me: how did men get work every day? Were they unionized, in co-operatives? Where did they learn such in depth fishing skills? How did they remember where the fish were and which moons they would rise with? Who was still making these old boats? Why was there no place that celebrated the incredible knowledge and experience they had? Why was there no proper market place, it was all done on the floor, on the beach.

After every fishing trip the net has to be detangled, repaired and laid out for the next trip. This method is called long net fishing: two boats cast out the nets and gradually draw closer, bringing the nets, and the fish in with them. The holes are relatively large, so all young fish escape, making this much more sustainable than the EU and Chinese trawlers that also (illegally) fish here. Mzee Peter, Mwambani 2019, copyright Jenny Matthews

How many people were involved in this informal, precarious lifestyle, and how could it survive, if the trees that were used for boat-building were being pulled down, if the fish in the seas were so dramatically depleting, if the port and oil processing plants were scheduled to be built where they fish?

In June 2019 we finally received an AHRC grant to document the stories of a small village on the Tanga coast. I know this area very well, I’ve been going to the same house (which is opposite the baobab tree) since 2012. Now I was living in it, and listening to the calls, jokes, arguments of the fishermen leaving on dawn tides, and sounds of boats being weather-proofed.

Boats are weatherproofed by burning eucalytpus or other oily trees below the hulls. This draws out the natural resins in the wood, but also closes up the porous holes in the wood. Copyright Jenny Matthews

The focus of our research has seven strands:

• To document the skills and knowledge in this small community and look at how they inter-connect, so for example how boat-building, rush-weaving and fishing are all interlinked, as they all support each other.
• To start with land and sea as resources, and look at how they are used by people in material ways. From there to draw out the cultural and symbolic practices, behaviours that are unique to the Swahili coast. For example unyago, medicinal healing, witchcraft and kanga.

Sophia Kinogo cutting up spinach she’s grown in her garden for supper, 2020, copyright Jenny Matthews

• Tease out the stories and knowledge stored in people’s heads (not written down) in the area and think about positive ways to honour them, draw constructive attention to them and feed some of it back to younger members of the community.
• Explore what modernity and modernising (Mandaeleo) means in this context to people living in this area.

Mzee Namna, fisherman, Mchokuni beach January 2020, making rope out of a thick reed, that is time consuming and water-hungry to grow. It has largely been replaced with nylon ropes. Sisal, grown widely in the area, was also spun into ropes, and 1000’s of people lost their jobs on the sisal plantations when nylon factories emerged in the late 60’s and 70’s in Tanzania. Sisal ropes- made in homes- were on sale in the markets as recently as 2012. Copyright Jenny Matthews 2020

• To work proactively with organisations involved in Swahili marine cultural heritage (other NGOs, the museum sector) to find ways to celebrate Swahili cultural heritage, over and above buildings. Influence policy and decision making and promote ICH.

Mama Mwamvua, who’s in her 80’s collects a particular type of thin rush that is now harder to find (because it’s very thirsty and this land is now being used to grow rice). To make this food cover takes several weeks, and is very labour intensive. None of her kids want to learn this skill. Mwambani 2020, copyright Jenny Matthews

• To focus on women’s stories. Too often research projects mainstream the male experience, without even realising it. It’s slightly harder to get women to collaborate in Tanzania, however our small research team was predominantly female, run by women, and we went out of our way to find younger and older women to listen and talk with. We also tried to work as much as possible in Swahili.

An undated and untitled photo from the sisal plantations, in Tanga province, with the railway tracks in the foreground. Sophia Kinhogo says they remember their parents having good memories of working on the plantations: work came with housing and was secure, reliable and relatively well paid.

• To explore the history of the area (slavery, the use of ‘uchavi’ and witchcraft, the groundnut and sisal schemes) through the eyes of people who still live there, and can recount their experiences. Currently the history of Tanga is mediated predominantly through a colonial lens, or prisms of white European knowledge production, when in fact there is a huge amount of information, knowledge and discussion alive and kicking in Tanga.
• To create a series of policy recommendations that can be used by UNESCO that will start the conversation to create much greater appreciation, funding and recognition of Swahili intangible heritage. You can read the UNESCO document HERE.

Youth unemployment, disillusion and depression is rampant in Mwambani; fishing and boatbuilding are dying trades, so are thatching and farming. Many young people tell us they want to be mganga – traditional healers. There’s few vocational training opportunities in the locality, and a chronic lack of jobs since the fish processing plant shut down. Elders talk a great deal about the poor opportunities for work, education or training for the majority of the population who are under 30. Copyright Jenny Matthews 2020

What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?

Physical cultural heritage is stuff we can hold, touch, look at: baskets, beads, pottery, jewellery, mosques, historic ruins, tombs, gold and sculpture. Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is harder to define. At its most basic, it’s stories, ideas, knowledge, experience, the stuff in peoples’ heads. It can also be habits, rituals, practices, dances, ‘the way things are done’ so that it includes behaviours like hospitality or discretion that are particular to a certain group. ICH is often more fragile, and more contested, and more political, because it’s harder to define, and often it’s dominant elites who determine ICH, at the expense of those unable to access books, writing, official record keeping and institutional cultural sites.

‘Ngoja ngoja, inaomiza matumbo’

A long wait hurts the stomach

Gathering information about intangible heritage is time consuming, labour intensive, and therefore slow. Immaterial or intangible cultural heritage is defined as

“[…] The practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history(ies).

[…]Emphasis is not only placed on the objects, but also in the context that grants them meaning, including the information of ecological, economical, climatic and geographical type of the archaeological area, which allows for an interpretive framework of the culture and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity” .

Our research took intangible cultural heritage to be interpreted as any one, or combination of many, of the following:

1. Languages and oral expressions.
2. Knowledge and practices on nature and the universe.
3. Culinary knowledge.
4. Traditional medicine.
5. Elaboration of objects, instruments, wardrobes, constructions and corporal ornamentation.
6. Musical and sound expressions.
7. Dance expressions.
8. Ritual, scenic and ceremonial expressions; festival acts, games and sports.
9. Traditional forms of social, legal and political organization. (Baron 2008)

Zawadi (27) also left Arusha to start a new life as a taxi driver when he was 15. He wants to start a poultry business. He was our driver for this project and part of the team.

The Rising from the Depths Network cooperates with UNESCO Nairobi Regional Office and the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH) in the organization of the Online Training on Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection and Management addressed to African countries. The workshop, which is supported by the UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trust, will provide the necessary basic theoretical knowledge to understand the main concepts and processes around the research, management, and protection of the maritime and underwater cultural heritage.

The workshop follows the UNESCO Foundation Course Manual on the Management and Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, supplemented by additional theoretical and practical themes believed to be important in strengthening local capacities. Projects from the Rising from the Depths Network will present their advances and results, illustrating with clear case studies the contents delivered.

The Online Workshop will have a duration of six days, distributed over three weeks (16-17, 23-24 & 30 June – 1st July 2021). Each day will be composed of lectures and debates with the participants and observers.

The workshop is open to country-elected participants, and observers from the region. The online workshops will count on a variety of international experts, most of them recognized members of ICOMOS-ICUCH.

For more information, please address the Organizing Committee at uchworkshop2021@gmail.com and arturo.rey@ed.ac.uk.

The Rising from the Depths network is excited to announce the award of £178,749 funding from the Honor Frost Foundation to create two posts at the University of Edinburgh – a three-year PhD position and a two-year Post-Doctoral position. The funding bring two major marine initiatives together, the Rising from the Depths network (RftD) and the Honor Frost Foundation (HFF), to maximise the impact and reach of both.

A central aim of both RftD and HFF is to demonstrate to developers, policy-makers, NGOS and governments, the essential role that Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) can play in ethical and sustainable coastal management and offshore development. The coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean and eastern Africa share the same challenges: an increase in offshore development; intensified coastal infrastructural development; a background of political instability; and a lack of expertise and legal structures relating to MCH.

The PhD position will be advertised soon but we are thrilled to announce that the Post-doctoral position – the Honor Frost Scholar in Marine Cultural Heritage – has been filled by Dr Arturo Rey da Silva who starts at the University of Edinburgh this week.

Arturo running a UNESCO capacity building mission in Madagascar

Arturo is a maritime archaeologist and international cultural heritage expert who worked at UNESCO Paris as part of the Secretariat for the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. He recently completed a PhD at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne looking at the institutionalisation of underwater archaeology within international cooperation schemes.

Arturo post-doctoral research over the next two years will involve analyzing the outputs and outcomes of the Rising from the Depths Network projects and applying this knowledge base to the Honor Frost Foundation work in the eastern Mediterranean. As well as the preparation of policy papers from RftD activity, Arturo will use this information to help build a clear strategy for the role of marine heritage in the sustainable development of the eastern Mediterranean coastal and marine zone.

Andrinjarisoa Heritiana RABEKOTO

According to history, several ships were wrecked in the maritime territory of Madagascar. There are among them which were already located in the maritime space of the South-West Region, in particular in the Salary bay, of the township of Tsifota, such as the wrecks of Winterton (1792), Nossa Senhora do Carmo (1774) and Surprise (1885), by a team that carried out prospecting missions.

As part of a project for the survival of the underwater cultural heritage of southwestern Madagascar which began towards the end of 2019 (https://risingfromthedepths.com/innovation-projects/marovany-1/), the establishment of a network of actors of the fishing people at the community level has been started. This activity was carried out, at the beginning of February 2020, by the civil society organization member of the Regional Platform of Civil Society Organizations of Atsimo Andrefana and the Regional Direction in charge of Culture of Atsimo Andrefana, through a training of 13 representatives including 7 men and 6 women from the vezo community of 6 fokontany in the rural commune of Tsifota, namely the fokontany of Tsifota, Tsandamba, Salary Nord I, Salary Nord II, Bekodoy and Andravony. This project is funded by a Rising from the Depths network and promoted by the Marovany Association with technical support from the Maritime Archaeological Trust (MAT) on digital wreck documentation.

Following the training of these representatives on the 2001 Unesco convention on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage which was ratified by Madagascar, as well as themes relating to communication for behavior change (https://risingfromthedepths.com/innovation-projects/marovany-3/), some objectives (Table 1) and awareness plan have been designed to mobilize the fishing community of each village on the protection of wrecks in their maritime territory.

Despite the preventive measures on the spread of covid 19 in Madagascar, some objectives have been achieved (Table 2) and several people have been made aware (Table 3). Indeed, 3 looting attempts have been interrupted by the local population since the start of 2020 (https://risingfromthedepths.com/innovation-projects/marovany-2/).

At the end of the project following the opening of the Malagasy territory in relation to the fight against the spread of the coronavirus in Madagascar, a network of fishermen’s actors is already in place for the protection and management of the underwater cultural heritage in Salary bay. Then, digital models of the underwater archaeological sites of Winterton, (1792), Nossa Senhora do Carmo (1774) and Surprise (1885) will be available to help promote tourism in Madagascar.

Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome, in sending to me by email:  andrinjarisoa@gmail.com

Table 1: Setting of objectives by type of awareness raising

Table 2: Results by type of awareness (Dashboard March 2020 – February 2021)

Table 3: Number of people sensitized per month by type of sensitization

Join academics from Eduardo Mondlane University as they discuss how arts, culture and heritage contribute to African Heritage Day. Within the presentation, the panel will be discussing several Rising from the Depths Projects, including WITH Coastal Style.

The panel will be conducted in Portuguese with English translation.

You can join the event directly through Zoom or follow this link at 9am British Summer Time or 10am Central African Time.

Meeting ID: 91285064712

Password: 169076

We invite collaborators and members of the Rising from the Depth network to submit an abstract to the special session Secrets exposed by coastal change: Promoting the role of marine and coastal heritage in climate change adaptation strategies of the international conference ECSA 58 – EMECS 13 – Estuaries and coastal seas in the Anthropocene that will happen online live and on-demand on 6-9 September 2021.

Past and present populations have gathered along coasts and estuaries shaping the world’s marine and coastal (cultural and natural) heritage (MCH), a finite and irreplaceable resource. Rapid coastal change threatens the preservation of (known and hidden) heritage of (local to global) cultural and economic value. Research and policy developments on climate change adaptation and risk reduction are ubiquitous, but few address the sustainability of MCH, particularly in less developed countries. This session seeks to identify ways to better promote MCH into coastal management and planning and climate adaptation policies. Rather than a passive resource to be protected, how can the data and perspectives gained from considering MCH help define these strategies? We would like to invite presentations that address the opportunities or impacts created by new exposures or the loss of MCH and the related socioeconomic-cultural-environmental implications, including for the most vulnerable people.  Topics may include but are not limited to emerging frameworks, tools, methods for assessing and reducing risks/vulnerabilities to diverse MCH (e.g. landscapes, buildings, archaeological sites, traditional practices, oral histories). An open discussion at the end of the session will seek to build connections between researchers, coastal managers, planners and others interested in the sustainability of MCH worldwide.

Session Conveners:

Sandra Fatorić, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Delft University of Technology

Luciana S. Esteves, Associate Professor, Bournemouth University

Jon Henderson, Associate Professor, University of Edinburgh

Reharbouring Heritage

As part of the Festival of the Sea, local musicians wrote a variety of songs to express their relation to the sea. You can hear them below, and read a transcript of their lyrics on the Festival of the Sea’s web page.

A blog post from Amber Carter, second year PhD student at University of Edinburgh

Fig 1 Pirogue at sunset, southwest Madagascar

Southwest Madagascar is home to the Vezo people: a traditionally semi-nomadic group whose cultural identity is strongly tied to the ocean and who are highly reliant on the marine ecosystem for their food security and income.

Owing to a combination of climate change, rapid population growth, coastal development and overexploitation from industrial and foreign fishing fleets, the livelihoods of the Vezo people are increasingly under threat.

Recognising these threats, the local communities became motivated to proactively manage their marine resources. With support of non-governmental organisations, the Vezo people have created a locally managed marine area (LMMA) named Velondriake (meaning “to live with the sea”).

Measures implemented through the Velondriake LMMA, such as no-take areas, fishery closures and gear restrictions, have had some success, with studies demonstrating increases in fish biomass in protected areas. However, despite local action, the impacts of climate change – in particular coral bleaching and tropical cyclones – remain a threat for the degradation and destruction of marine ecosystems at a regional scale, and for the livelihoods of the Vezo people.

Fig 2 Seaweed farming creates a sustainable addition to income in some villages of Velondriake

My PhD Research

To support coastal communities to best plan and adapt for future climate conditions and extreme weather events, it is important we understand the potential impacts of climate change on the local social and ecological systems.

For my PhD, I am using a combination of marine ecology, social research and climate science to assess the vulnerability of the Velondriake socioecological system to climate change.

The project is highly interdisciplinary, using several years of coral survey data, fisheries data and social survey data collected by the PhD project partner, marine conservation NGO Blue Ventures. This data will be used to produce locally relevant social and ecological indicators of vulnerability. These indicators will be assessed in conjunction with climate analysis of latest International Panel on Climate Change projections (IPCC CMIP6) to investigate current and potential future vulnerability to climate change in the communities in the Velondriake region.

Although this research is specific to the Velondriake region, it is thought its findings will be relevant to reef-reliant communities throughout the Western Indian Ocean. Furthermore, in light of the recent impacts of COVID-19 on coastal fishing communities (e.g. breakdown of seafood supply chains, major decline in tourism, and job losses) it is thought this research could not only be relevant to climate-related disturbances but other global disruptions such as a health pandemic.

Fig 3 Bringing in the daily catch in Andavaoaka

Futures through underwater pasts was carried out amidst Covid 19 pandemic where major sports, including football, were restricted for sometime. Following research, football and exercise were allowed and declared a tool to battle the pandemic. The project utilised this opportunity by organising soccer games between different groups of children and youth from Mgao village. Soccer was organised with the research team and against each other in the Mgao community. Together with soccer, the research team managed to interact with the local community to understand the significance of maritime heritage and its proximity, sustainability and significance to the maritime heritage to the community.

Mgao sports day

Reviving a Maritime Past: Architectural and ecological heritage of Chinde, Mozambique – Roberto Mussibora, Joaquim Campira, Francis Massé & Manuel Chigarisso

Sawing Cutting Mangrove Trunks for Wood, August 2019

Like other coastal communities, the population of Chinde has a heavy reliance on mangrove ecosystems for their livelihoods. In Chinde, this dependence is having harmful results, even threatening the physical integrity of the village due to coastal erosion caused not only by the indiscriminate felling of mangrove trees and the extraction of clay for house building, but also by sea level rise and reduction of water in the Zambezi River.

Effects of Coastal Erosion in Chinde, August 2019

As part of our field survey throughout Chinde village, we witnessed the increasing levels of erosion and consequent degradation of the socio-ecological surroundings of ​​Chinde. Communities in the area are unanimous in stating that today, Chinde is in its 3^rd city phase. The third phase refers to the newest phase of city building as coastal erosion will have destroyed what would be the original two phases of city construction, known as the 1st and 2nd city, including much of the original infrastructure and architecture from those periods. The 1^st and 2^nd city also represent the original centre of the city  of Chinde.

Throughout our survey we see evidence of the central zone (1st and 2nd Chinde) in the form of remains of structures and artefacts (roads, locomotive debris, coffers and boats) along the coastline and in the mouth of the river Chinde / Zambezi River.

We kicked off our workshop by introducing the Reviving a Maritime project: Architectural and Ecological Heritage of Chinde-Mozambique (RMP: AEHChinde-Mz) and Rising from the Depths and its funding partners, Global Challenges Research Fund & Arts & Humanities Research Council.

Being smaller in size, our Workshop in Chinde had a main target of training a group 10 people (6 females and 4 males) on how to document, manage and disseminate the existing Architectural and Ecological Cultural Heritage in Chinde. The presentations were subdivided into two sections: Ecological Heritage and Architectural Cultural Heritage.

Workshop Participants, August 2019

Ecological Heritage

Local fisherman on the shore of Micaúne, Chinde August 2019

Ecological heritage plays an important role in the culture, economy and social aspects of the community, shaping their lifestyle and livelihoods in ways where the community depends on their natural surroundings, including elements of biodiversity and ecosystems that the local environment offers. The purpose of focusing on ecological heritage in the workshop was to empower and instill in local students the knowledge and tools for identifying ecological heritage, the processes involved in ecological identification and ways of preserving heritage in a time of climate change and unsustainable exploitation of biodiversity and its ecosystems. The workshop also emphasized the relevance of coastal erosion and its impact on the architectural and ecological heritage, including the socio-economic and cultural dynamics of Chinde.

Boat made from mangrove trees, August 2019

After the end of the ecological heritage section of the workshop, students expressed interest in voluntarily collaborating on data collection in the field for the RMP: AEHChinde-Mz project. They saw the project as presenting issues of social and cultural importance. They also expressed concerns of open fecalism on the beach, and through discussions have challenged themselves to set up a student club at the local school (Chinde Secondary School). Such a club will aim to raise awareness of the importance of preserving local heritage and the risks posed by some unsustainable exploitation practices of the elements of local biodiversity and ecosystem on local heritage and socio-economic and cultural aspects associated with climate change.

Identification of mangrove species and likely areas of higher incidence with help from the local community, August 2019

Two members of local institutions (Environment and Forest and Wildlife technicians) also participated in the workshop and made themselves available to continue data collection. In addition, technicians benefited from basic training on coastal erosion risk zone mapping techniques and their importance, as well as the enhancement of some basic local ecosystem services, and the creation of a database to better understand the dynamics of erosion. They also learned basic skills for using photography and film to document a continually degrading coast.

Architectural Cultural Heritage

The architecture and cultural heritage focus examined the built urban environment of Chinde, from the pre-colonial era, British concession, to the present time.

Participants were actively involved and together reflected on the issue of sustainable conservation of maritime cultural heritage, with more emphasis on architectural heritage, in order to preserve and repurpose existing structures.

Abandoned property in state of deterioration in Chinde, August 2019

The workshop focused on training participants on basic techniques of surveying, inventory making and documenting buildings that may be classified as national cultural heritage. This included specific training on the use of plaques and photography in preserving, documenting  and promoting this architectural heritage. The survey work and training was conducted on maps.me, a free smartphone app, that can work offline (without any network connection), and is capable of storing over 500 points, as well as including notes to these points. The maps.me accuracy error is less than 10 m, and is accessible to all smartphone devices, since gps is expensive and inaccessible.

Photographic illustration training for real estate with students, August 2019

Photographic illustration training for real estate with students 2, August 2019

Points (real estate) extracted by maps.me on Chinde, August 2019

Students taking pictures and coordinate extraction of the ruins of the likely former navy prison , August 2019

Students taking pictures and coordinate extraction of the ruins of the former warehouse, August 2019.

At the end of the workshop, we took the students to survey the properties located in the risk zone, while the other group of students photographed the properties for the documentation and inventory process. We were able to feel the enthusiasm and participation of the students throughout the sections and training sessions. Several related discussions emerged about the sustainability and symbioses between architectural, cultural, and ecological heritage.

Workshop Participants 2, August 2019

Our workshop and training received strong and enthusiastic support from the local community and the Chinde District Government. They welcomed us warmly and provided us with the necessary room and equipment for the presentations. In the course of the fieldwork, the Chinde Government provided us with a boat to cross to the Micaúne (opposite Chinde) and motorbike for areas without car access. We therefore take this opportunity to reiterate our thanks to all officials of the Chinde District Government, in particular Administrator Pedro Vírgula, for the support offered.

Photo with workshop participants, August 2019

MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek partners, Bidii na Kazi Women Group, have been honoured by National Environment Trust Fund (NETFUND) at the NETFUND Green Innovations Award Phase IV Awarding Ceremony held on 26/2/2021. They were, among 21 nominees, recognized and awarded for our efforts in enhancing environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation and adaptation in Kenya. The medal award came with a cash award of 200,000/=

MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek partner, Afra Salim Baya, presented in an international panel titled “Women in Leadership.”

MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek

National Government Minister for Environment Mr Keriako Tobiko visited the MUCH to Discover team, promising to gazette wetlands to prevent their destruction from human activities. He also planted mangroves with the group. The visit was covered by local media:

Bronagh Corr McNicholl – Visiting Artist

Festival of the Sea – Madagascar

The following images were taken by Bronagh at the Festival of the Sea in Madagascar. You can read her reflective blog on the event here.

Bronagh Corr McNicholl – Visiting Artist

Festival of the Sea – Madagascar

I have been living in Derry City for the past 20 years working as an artist, artist facilitator, Arts Care artist in residence in Western Trust, patient/environment arts consultant and cultural programmer. I am currently working as a PHD researcher at Ulster University looking at harnessing photographic dialogue as a participative tool for critical reflection and change towards inclusive masculinity in Derry/Londonderry

Whilst as an artist, I work predominantly in photography but I also create and facilitate on a multidisciplinary level using traditional and new media including oils, acrylics, digital Imaging,  film, audio, literature, printmaking, textiles or creating with sculptural and found elements. My photography documents the small narratives and moments in both people and nature, observing small detail in a fast-paced changing world. Film, nature, travel and sense of place and time influence my photographic works.

I was invited by Jonathan Skinner, (whom I had worked in the past in my role as Arts Care artist at Let The Dance Begin, a community engaged Arts Care festival,  Strabane, NI) to work with SEED, festival organisers and other visiting artists engaging in a cultural exchange  at the ‘Festival of the Sea’ Sainte Luce, Madagascar in 2019.

The project resonated with me as I am originally from Tyrone, and the shores of Lough Neagh and whilst my family are not from a fishing community, I am aware of how mass industry has changed the traditional methods of fishing which had been so much part of the vibrant lived cultural life of rural fishing areas for generations.

As an artist who has primarily worked across healthcare areas, I was conscious of creating a project that would both relate significantly to, be sensitive of, and add to, the cultural value of the community: advance meetings, ethics training and safe practices with the team further developed this understanding. My brief involved designing and delivering a participatory arts project involving 20 women and also with over 300 school children from across three coastal fishing villages.

Initial research and an introduction to Sarah Brown, (a textile artist and founder of the women’s STITCH embroidery project) who was familiar with the community and the accessibility of materials, enabled me  to identify what was and what was not possible.  I was then able to develop the idea of making Lambahonys / lambas. Lambas, are a traditional garment associated with festivals, ceremonies and also as daily practical use, often as a means of carrying children on mothers’ backs. Teaching the women, ‘Shibori’ a traditional Japanese resist dying technique involved different ways of tying the cotton, resulting in a variety of textile pattern designs for the lambas, the indigo colour reflecting the sea theme.

With the children, I decided to create windsocks  that they could use in the procession, using materials such as paper, paint, tissue paper, string, again sensitive to the environment, identifying what we could buy in Madagascar and those I needed to bring with me.

Arriving in Fort Dauphin and meeting the team helped get an idea of what I was to expect, but to be honest no descriptions or photos could have fully illustrated the beauty, warmth, and rich culture of the people and the communities or the landscape I felt privileged to be invited to work in.

On the first morning I woke at dawn and watched the fishermen push their boats out to the dark choppy waters of the Indian Ocean, I later found out that  most fishermen couldn’t swim and only a few had life jackets among them.  As my own Lough Neagh community has a strong tradition of fishing, I relayed back to it the fact about the fishermen not being able to swim, I was surprised to learn that  most traditional Lough Neagh fishermen, also rarely are able to swim.

The Malagasy Fishermen were keen to be photographed beside their boats, which I felt linked them to their heritage, labour, lifestyle, tradition and sense of place.  They really enjoyed seeing their own images on the  camera LCD.  This experience has directly led to a project I am currently working on, I recently received some funding from Derry City Council towards creating photos celebrating the relationship between fishermen and sense of place, around Lough Neagh, Lough Swilly and the River Foyle.

Over the next couple of days at the Festival, I worked with the women and then the children with help from the team to create twenty beautiful Lambas and over two hundred windsocks, in addition I facilitated other women’s and children’s painting workshops against the background of music, dancing workshops and festival atmosphere. The children would proudly come up and show me their beautiful paintings. I was surprised at the skilful anatomical correctness of so many of the depictions of marine life within the paintings.

The day of the procession, I felt very humbled to see the self-titled ‘Lamba Ladies’ proudly wear their creations as they joined the procession dancing their way to the beach and festival grounds. As the time went on amid the lively atmosphere, I would catch glimpses of the distinctive ‘Lamba Ladies’ in their indigo hues, as they went around their normal business, sometimes with a baby wrapped snugly on their backs. I was delighted to see that the garments were practical as well as beautiful. Whether through misunderstanding or experimentation, the children had decided to wear their windsocks as head pieces which added to the spontaneity, creativity and joy of the procession.

The richness of the experience has stayed with me and has had a major part in my own return to academia and as I want to explore further how I can use photography as a participative tool for critical thinking and making the unseen visible towards cultural understanding.

Alongside the Festival of the Sea, the project organised a procession to promote water safety for fishermen. View the video of the procession below:

Using fishers’ traditional maritime knowledge to improve small-scale fisheries management in northern Madagascar have produced two children’s books looking at the importance of sea turtles in Madagascar.

They launched the books by giving out 200 copies to local schools in Madagascar.

You can download the books here.

Sea Turtle Story Book Launch

Using fishers’ traditional maritime knowledge to improve small-scale fisheries management in northern Madagascar have produced two children’s books looking at the importance of sea turtles in Madagascar.

You can download the English book, “Monie, the Green Sea Turtle” here.

And you can download the Malagasy book, “Lala ilay Lambohara” here.

Wycliffe Omondi, PI of Mtwapa: Utilisation of Marine Cultural Heritage by a Multicultural Community shares images taken during his initial fieldwork at Mtwapa Beach:

Video footage from Mtwapa: Utilisation of Marine Cultural Heritage by a Multicultural Community showing the use of the beaches and how this has been impacted by COVID-19.

In August 2020 with COVID restrictions:

Protecting the Past, Preserving the Future Team

The PPP-Future team finalised their report on the human rights implications of the Lamu Port Project in Lamu, Kenya. The report reflects on interviews and a focus groups with local communities and various  stakeholders, aimed at ascertaining the impact of the project on their everyday lives. The report highlights clear tensions between the community’s desire for employment opportunities and sustainable development in the area, and the risk that the project poses to the Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) of Lamu, in particular its intangible MCH. Research findings also show the scarse public participation surrounding the project and a failure to engage with indigenous peoples to obtain their Free Prior and Informed Consent, as provided by international legal standards.

You can read the full report here

Reviving a Maritime Past: Architectural and ecological heritage of Chinde, Mozambique – Roberto Mussibora

Panoramic view of Chinde Zambeze River Landim Beach Chinde

Old Colonial Square and Administration Building

Under national precepts (Mozambique), the inventory appears to be a primary technical procedure for the conservation of cultural heritage. Therefore, the inventorying process aims to know, document and evaluate the state of conservation, as well as define the cultural significance of real estate for local communities.

Former Port Authority Building “Capitania do Porto’’ (office)

The lack of inventory generally translates into the lack of conservation, protection and even the inexistence / lack of knowledge of heritage assets which, despite having high heritage values ​​evidenced by their history or, even their architectural and cultural significance, cease to exist because there is nothing listed, and often interpretations of such properties end up being arbitrary and changeable.

Chinde District Government Building

Old Chinde Library

Therefore, our project “RMP: AEHChinde-Mz” aims primarily to document the architectural and ecological cultural heritage in the village of Chinde in southern Zambezia province in Mozambique. The study is based on documentation by photography, maps, structured and semi-structured interviews with the local population in order to understand the challenges and threats of this type of heritage and ways of mitigation.

Chinde is located in a region with an abundant hydrological network, resulting from the Zambezi delta. The location of Chinde appeared to be an imperative for the emergence of this place as an urban center of port and corporate curries of the time, where it attracted several exogenous peoples, including the Arabs, British and Portuguese.

British tombstone dated 1892 and 1984 respectively. Time of the British Concession.

Despite the historical importance of Chinde, the cultural maritime heritage of this village is mostly in an advanced state of degradation and ruins, without even an inventory of local infrastructure, whether of interest or not. Most of the properties are in a state of abandonment, and without any use, appearing to be a city of ruins.

Abandoned property in Chinde

Famous boat-shaped building from the Senna Sugar States Lda era “mezingo” in abandoned status, Chinde.

The importance and potentiality of Chinde is not only illustrated by its architectural countenance, but also by the dense mangrove forests all along the river course of the Chinde River (one of the branches of the Zambezi River) to the village of Chinde, where along the Upon our arrival at the Chinde River crossing, we were presented with lush landscapes and an exquisite display of hippos and birds of various species.

Chinde Anchorage, Chinde River Mouth.

Hippos along the Zambezi River

Flamingos along the Chinde River, at the confluence between the salty and sweet waters.

Chinde Mangrove Forest (Chinde River Bank)

Chinde Mangrove Forest (Chinde River Bank)

Arriving at the village, we witness the excellent symbioses between the maritime and river landscape that are aided by its location (mouth of the Chinde River) and lush architectural goods explicitly displayed and the long and well-defined streets, incorporating several buildings of great architectural, historical and expressiveness importance.

Panoramic view of the buildings of the former company, Senna Sugar States Lda located at Av. dos Heróis Moçambicanos

Apart from the state of conservation and lack of functionality of many properties, it should be noted that one of the biggest problems that has threatened not only the properties, but the village in general, is the coastal erosion that is at alarming levels, and which according to the population has destroyed the embryo of the Chinde village; ”1st Chinde and 2nd Chinde”, which currently from the mouth of the Chinde River mouth, which was much smaller in size.

Main street and Aspect of the old embryo village (currently nonexistent part of the Chinde River). Source www.act.iict.ptd, Photo Santos Rufino

Old Chinde City Hall. Source www.act.iict.ptd, Photo Santos Rufino

All interviewees (natives) were unanimous in stating that coastal erosion originated initially from mangrove cutting along the banks of the Zambezi River, on the side of Chinde village, after the rural exodus from Luabo to Chinde in the Civil War period, where Luabo will suffer armed attacks. Thus, without conditions, refugee populations in Chinde saw the mangrove as a support, where they used the mangrove for logging, building their new homes for sale, to make firewood and charcoal.

RMP AEHChinde-Mz (Roberto Mussibora and Joaquim Campira), in an interview with Mrs. Ema (native and resident of Chinde)

It is important to reiterate that according to native respondents, mangrove slaughter before independence was a serious crime, and mangrove use as firewood was only done by picking up dry branches, and never by slaughter.

Mangrove tree sawmill in Bairro Amarelo, Chinde

Large-scale felling (1980s after rural exodus in the Civil War period) and small-scale (at present) contributed significantly to the clearing of mangrove forests on the Chinde River bank on the village side. Another factor that has contributed to the deforestation of mangrove forests and coastal erosion is the reduction of the waters of the Zambezi River (main river) / increase of sea waters, which causes seawater penetration and the consequent salinization of the river Chinde.

As a result, all these factors end up affecting not only the coastal vegetation, but the entire coastal and fluvial ecosystem of Chinde.

In the years ago, there was a willow replanting programs as a way to curb coastal erosion. The measure was positive, but had counterproductive effects due to salinization of the waters.

Coastal erosion on the bank of the Chinde River in the village of Chinde

Situation of vulnerability of local communities due to coastal erosion

Another factor that contributes negatively to coastal erosion is the extraction of “lodo” mud in the mangroves for use in the construction of local houses, causing no support for willow plants.

Extraction of “lodo” clay by women for towing walls of local houses. In Chinde, towing is an activity usually done by women

Houses of local architecture made of pau-à-pique, made of mangrove sticks and mud “lodo”.

Clay extraction site. Mouth of the Chinde River

Another major constraint is the destruction of abandoned properties for the construction of local houses, as in the non-quarry village for extraction of construction rocks.

Property under destruction for the extraction of broken pieces of the walls for vernacular buildings (pau-à-pique houses).

It should be explicitly stated that Chinde communities are dependent on the mangrove forest and its ecosystems.

Access roads to Chinde village

Access roads to Chinde village

In addition to the various constraints raised above, it should also be noted that Chinde has very degraded access roads and lack of direct access (as it is remotely divided by the Zambezi delta). Therefore, the access roads to Chinde do not have sufficient and safe conditions for the circulation of vehicles, as they have no asphalt, are very narrow and have many holes. Therefore access to Chinde village can only be done by boat or barge crossing.

Despite the constraints attached to the conservation of this heritage, local people are filled with glory to describe how important this “forgotten” place was in the past, where on the basis of a significant sample, I can say that the population is unanimous in recognizing the urgency and necessity of preservation of its architectural heritage of Chinde. In addition, we have received numerous congratulations and active collaboration from local communities on the initiative of our project, where like us, we also believe that our inventory is a primary measure of conserving and envisioning the potential maritime cultural heritage in Chinde.

Joaquim Campira (co-researcher of the RMP AEChinde-Mz) identifying the species and current mangrove slaughtering areas.

Joaquim Campira and Manuel Chigarisso (RMP AEChinde-Mz co-investigator) identifying the species and current mangrove slaughtering areas.

Marine Cultural Heritage in Norther Mozambique – Wes Forsythe

Our Rising from the Depths project in northern Mozambique has been concerned with understanding the natural environment as a context for marine and underwater cultural heritage. A large dataset of geophysical survey results captured around Mozambique Island (Ilha de Mozambique) allows for new insights and features to emerge demonstrating the long history of sea-level change and its relevance for today’s communities in the context of climate change. In this blog we provide some of the first imagery derived from the survey work, which was conducted with colleagues from Centro de Arquelogia Investigção e Recursos da Ilha de Moçambique (CAIRIM) and the local community in Mozambique Island and marine heritage practitioners from the region.

Global sea level was -120m to -130m lower than present at the height of the last Ice Age (roughly 20,000 years ago) because vast quantities of ocean water were locked up in ice sheets. The coastal landscape inhabited by prehistoric people was therefore very different to today. Away from the large continental ice sheets the fall in sea level exposed large tracts of land, allowing rivers to cut across what is now the continental shelf and pushing coastlines out towards the shelf edge. Over time, global climate warmed, the ice melted and sea level rose. These landscapes, and any archaeological evidence they contained, were flooded and now lie on, or buried under the seabed.

Previous studies in Southeast Africa have identified remnants of these submerged landscapes. These types of evidence have been found off the KwaZulu Natal coast of South Africa and as far north as Maputo in southern Mozambique. The evidence includes former shoreline complexes, incised valleys and their sedimentary fills and shallow water/lagoonal sediments found at depth on the continental shelf.  The resulting evidence has also been used to provide insights into the timing, pattern and rate of the post-Ice Age sea-level rise. However, elsewhere on the East African coast, investigations of submerged landscapes and sea-level change are few and far between. The new evidence from northern Mozambique therefore represents a step towards filling this gap.

Consequently, the main aim of the December 2019 marine geophysical survey of Mozambique Island was to see if we could find any evidence of past sea level in this area. We chose to focus on two main areas. Firstly, the outer edge of the shelf fronting the Baie de Mozambique. Secondly, the channels which form the bay’s deeper entrances and allow access to the shallow waters behind the Island [1]. By using both multibeam echosounder (MBES) and sub-bottom profiler (SBP), we hoped to capture the geomorphic expression of relict landforms exposed on the seabed as well as features and stratigraphy which are currently buried under the seabed. The acquired data are still being analysed, but even so, a preliminary examination has been able to identify a number of features of geological and archaeological interest.

[1] The survey area at Ilha de Mozambique. Red lines indicate location of SBP data shown in subsequent figures.

Our main area of MBES survey covered the outer shelf fronting the Baie, an area of ~13km². The resulting Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has a spatial resolution of up to 1m and shows a steep shelf which descends from ~-20m at the Baie entrance to almost -200m within a kilometre offshore. Several features of interest are visible on the MBES, the clearest being a narrow channel cut into the seabed between the Ile de Goa and Ile de Sena. At face value, this seems to provide a great example of a former river valley which was incised when sea level was lower [2]. Also apparent on the MBES are several submerged breaks in slope. The clearest one forms a distinct cliff line both north and south of the incised channel (but is absent in front of the channel). Where the base of the cliff is clearly visible, its depth is at ~-65m. At least two other low ridges/breaks in slope occur landward of the cliff line at depths of ~-35m to -40m. It is presently unclear whether these features represent former palaeo-shorelines. The depth of the submerged cliff line superficially matches palaeo-shoreline complexes (-60m) from KwaZulu Natal, but further analysis is needed to conform this. Fortunately, there was also enough time (and budget!) to acquire smaller patches of MBES around the northern end of the Ilha. These give glimpses of the inner parts of the Baie showing in particular the deeply incised nature of the channel between the Ilha and the mainland [3]. These data also captured some of the historic shipwrecks which are known to lie here and which will be the subject of future blog posts.

[2] Potential submerged landscape features visible on the offshore part of the MBES data

[3] Detail from the inner Baie de Mozambique showing the main channel to the NE of the Ilha

Meanwhile, SBP acquisition was arranged to give a series of profiles running offshore from the coast to the shelf edge and across and along the channels. These were sited to establish the wider stratigraphic sequence and provide targeted data over the channels which could demonstrate how they responded to sea-level change. Starting with the outer shelf, the SBP profiles clearly show that the channel visible on the MBES is actually incised to a considerable depth below the seabed and was later infilled [4]. In fact, the SBP data also show that it extends seaward of its surface expression as a completely infilled valley. The SBP data also confirmed the existence of the distinct cliff line on the outer shelf, and also suggests that its base is buried, and in some cases there may also be a deeper buried break in slope at ~-92m [5]. In the outer part of the Baie, channels are also clearly visible on the SBP data, incised below the seabed and subsequently infilled [6]. In all cases, the nature of these infills requires further analysis. Other potential features of interest include terraces cut into the flanks of the channels and secondary channels paralleling the main channel [6]. Finally, the stratigraphy becomes more complex in the inner part of the Baie behind the Ilha. Whilst the seabed surface appears to be relatively undulating, the SBP results show a more rugged, buried topography. These include high points with an acoustic character suggestive of reefs and basins which have been infilled by horizontal or gently-dipping layers sediment, possibly suggestive of deposition in lagoonal or sheltered water conditions.

[4] Buried palaeo-channel cut c.78m into the seabed. Top image shows uninterpreted SBP data, bottom images shows data with interpreted features indicated.

[5] The underwater cliff line and suggestion of a buried deeper break in slope. Top image shows uninterpreted SBP data, bottom images shows data with interpreted features indicated.

[6] Buried channels in the outer Bay with secondary features. Top image shows uninterpreted SBP data, bottom images shows data with interpreted features indicated.

All the above is still work in progress, with interpretations to be confirmed by additional processing and analysis. However, even this preliminary glimpse has shown us the potential of these data to contribute to our understanding of sea-level change and palaeo-landscape evolution on the coast of East Africa. The survey work will form a component of the training on the tools and techniques used being delivered to the community on the Ilha and will inform new exhibition materials for the CAIRM facility on the island.

See the outputs from The Festival of the Sea – Sainte Luce, Madagascar here!

Jonathan Skinner

(University of Roehampton)

Images of the Sainte Luce conservation area

The ‘Festival of the Sea’, Sainte Luce, Madagascar, is an example of cultural translation, of conservation and cultural politics practice relocated from the Caribbean to East Africa. A festival, whether international, national or local, is the ideal capacity builder in the community – a concept that can be applied just as effectively in the countryside as it is in the city (cf. Frost 2016). It is where both tangible and intangible cultural heritage can be realised, developed, and celebrated and agency and ownership of cultural practices established (Ohri 2016). This blog examines an innovation project using the model of the festival event as an opportunity to build capacity, as well as develop critical policy and UN SDGs, and highlight urgent sustainability issues in a region targeted for social development. Specifically, with AHRC/Global Challenges Research Fund funding (2018-2020) we established a Festival of the Sea to “reharbour heritage” and highlight sustainable development goals in one of Madagascar’s poorest conservation zones. The Festival took place in lobster fishing community Sainte Luce, June 2019, and used the participatory arts to research, test, challenge and apply marine cultural heritage as an intangible resource and vehicle for developing sustainable livelihoods with vulnerable Antanosy coastal people in the south east Anosy region of Madagascar.

This was a collaboration between the University of Roehampton and local NGO SEED Madagascar, and a team endeavour involving local community workers, a governance group, and dedicated festival co-ordinator at SEED Madagascar developing planning from the end of 2018 to June 2019. The inspiration for this project came from work in the Caribbean (Skinner 2001, 2015) on the islands of Montserrat and Anguilla where carnival festivals are themed and celebrate the community and tackle important local themes such as sustainability and conservation practice such as sea turtle conservation around Anguilla. ‘Festivals of the sea’ are used on the island of Anguilla to engage promote sea turtle conservation and to assist local fishermen in their work with tourists. This innovation project has been to translate and travel this festival model from the Caribbean to Madagascar, specifically to the Sainte Luce conservation reserve in southern Madagascar where SEED Madagascar have a history of long term community and conservation development work. Theoretically, this is an illustration of transculturation: of cultural practices in one destination being applied in another, of ‘culture on tour’ to invoke anthropologist of tourism Ed Bruner (2004). Though the concept travelled, the nature of the specific Sainte Luce festival was co-produced. Social anthropologist Nicola Frost (2016: 573) makes the point that without such local involvement the festival becomes devoid of social meaning.

Though a rich biodiverse environment with key marine, mining and rainforest resources, the approximately 300,000 Antanosy people in this Anosy region live in extreme poverty: literacy is under 20%; income from fishing is approximately $1.50/day; only 1 in 10 residents have access to sanitation; hunger is a regional problem; malaria is rife; 80% of coastal community households – such as those in Sainte Luce – rely on fishing for their primary income, managing a dwindling lobster stock. This region – for all its beauty – has become the epicentre of escalating tensions between traditional and modern fishing practices. Sainte Luce has strong community governance, a fishermen’s community group and local agreed regulations of animal husbandry (dina) – principally lobster fishing in restricted ancestral places, only during open season and not with the use of harpoons or snorkels. One of the consequences of the festival here has been to showcase this village practice to neighbouring communities so that they buy into it.

This project draws attention to the ‘habits of heritage’, to heritage as intangible as well as tangible, to the idea of heritage as a human capacity – as a resourcefulness and means of resilience during difficult times. It is heritage embodied as skills, with the people having living ‘social capital’ (Arcodia and Whitford 2006) that they can harness to weather hardships from food supply to education to earning an income based upon their fishing skills, their ability to weave and braid, to sing and dance, “to make” stitch and song of adversity – quite literally. The suggestion is that carnival and festival is the unique mechanism by which to draw attention to these community strengths, to the marine cultural heritage of these Anosy people. Through focussing on the reharbouring of heritage we were able to share and disseminate best ‘traditional’ lobster fisheries management practices.

These are the three core objectives for the project.

• establish an international partnership of artists between the UK and Madagascar working creatively together on a living MCH with Antanosy coastal fishing communities to fulfil UN social development goals
• creatively engaged in the community on the subject of community resilience, and MCH as a resource for sustainable livelihood
• research, test and disseminate best practice of innovative practice-based arts research methods

We spent 4 months preparing the teams, risk and ethics. Dr Skinner visited in April for a week to negotiate access into the community with local chiefs, hold auditions for the bands (Skinner 2019), a link with SEED and a team of Community Liaison Officers. We returned in June 2019 to work as a team of festival organisers and artists: Bronagh Corr-McNicholl (Arts Care artist), Paul Antick (photographer and film maker), Jonathan Skinner (project and Roehampton coordinator and dance instructor) and Tom Gammage (SEED Madagascar festival coordinator).

Textile artist Bronagh Corr-McNicholl working with women and children of Sainte Luce

We held a free two-day festival in Sainte Luce lobster fishing community and put on events that had been co-decided with the community. We filmed the lobster fishermen at work and played footage at night alongside band performances on the stage. We held dance classes and art classes with the school children. We held tie-dying workshops with the local women’s group. We filmed and documented the festival bands as they performed, and we swapped dance moves with the local dancers. We held speed weaving competitions with mahampny reeds that are used to make hats, baskets, mats as well as lobster pots. During the two days, community events used the stage for community education in environmental awareness, best fishing practice, and a puppet show on boat safety that then went onto domestic violence, HIV and sexual health issues. At night 53 local and regional dancers and musicians performed traditional songs and dances and specially commissioned material encouraging conservation and sustainable practice in the marine environment. They played for hours to an audience of over 2000 spectators.

Dance instructor Jonathan Skinner leading a children’s dance class

The highlight of the festival was a parade through the villages to the sea on the second day. The bands, women’s groups and children danced their way down to the sea and the Festival of the Sea stage. The Festival area we built by the sea held weaving competitions, bands, public fishermen community meetings, tales and stories from elderly fishermen. This oral tradition is strong in Madagascar (Bloch 1989, Astuti 1995) and illustrates how the festival was internal, inward-looking for the community and not for exogenous visitors. It was not a commoditisation of culture and, though taking place on a stage, did not constitute what MacCannell (1989) considers to be a variant of ‘staged authenticity’.

We were fortunate to have Bronagh liaise with the local Project STITCH embroidery group before visiting for the Festival. She was able to gauge needs and abilities and put on a series of tie-dye workshops with the women making lamba wraps to wear in keeping with local tradition; and wildlife paintings with the children and lots of paper windsocks for the procession down to the beach. Predictably the local wildlife predominated in the images – lobsters but also dolphins, fish and octopus. The children also had a best lobster painting competition.

Community education and murals at the Festival of the Sea

Art Workshops and Live Music at the Festival of the Sea

Weaving Competition, Procession and Speeches at the Festival of the Sea

In conclusion, the Festival of the Sea was an outstanding success. The local community became festival stakeholders (cf. Crespi-Vallbona and Greg Richards 2007), established ownership of the event and expressed a desire to develop the conservation zone adding new villages to the regional partnership on marine resource management. Small businesses benefited from the festival, and entrepreneurs sold their weaving and wares. Local awareness of the work of the agreed laws and customs – the dina – was consolidated and spread through all sectors of the community form the very young to the very old. The singers, dancers and musicians gained regional exposure performing on a stage to an audience of several thousand. For some of the local bands, this was their first large scale performance. Each group tried out their new Festival of the Sea material (a sample of these can be heard here with translations of the lyrics). Some of the bands subsequently recorded their songs in a recording studio in Sainte Luce to create a compilation CD from the Festival. This was the first time some of the groups had had their material recorded and is giving them key music industry experience, and the opportunity to market and promote their bands regionally – to tourists and local tourist industry organisations (hotels, restaurants, clubs). This exposure adds an important income stream to the musicians’ small scale entrepreneurship. The community have recently been ravaged by the affects and implications of COVID-19 with illness and family suffering but also a loss of lobster trade and restricted travel to regional markets. This festival currently plays a small part in the community resilience to this on-going adversity.

Festival of the Sea Logo

Credit to Daniel Wood for the Festival of the Sea film which we have used for stills. The film can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni06OL76SVs&t=16s.

Festival of the Sea Team

References

Arcordia, C. and M. Whitford (2006) ‘Festival Attendance and the Development of Social Capital’, Journal of Convention & Event Tourism 8(2): 1-18.

Astuti, R. (1995) People of the Sea: Identity and Descent among the Vezo of Madagascar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bloch, M. (1989) Ritual, history, and power: Selected papers in anthropology. London: Athlone.

Bruner, E. (2004) Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of Travel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Crespi‐Vallbona, M. and G. Richards (2007) ‘The Meaning of Cultural Festivals’, International Journal of Cultural Policy 13(1): 103-122.

Frost, N. (2016) ‘Anthropology and Festivals: Festival Ecologies’, Ethnos 81(4): 569-583.

Ohri, L. (2016) ‘Political Yields from Cultural Fields: Agency and Ownership in a Heritage Festival in India’, Ethnos 81(4): 667-682.

Skinner, J. (2019) ‘“Scoping” Maritime Cultural Heritage: A visit to SEED Madagascar and Sainte Luce to prepare for June’s Festival of the Sea’, AHRC Rising from the Depths Webpages, 25 July 2019, https://risingfromthedepths.com/blog/innovation-projects/scoping-maritime-cultural-heritage-a-visit-to-seed-madagascar-and-sainte-luce-to-prepare-for-junes-festival-of-the-sea/.

Skinner, J. (2015) ‘The Ambivalent Consumption of St. Patrick’s Day amongst the Black Irish of Montserrat’ in J. Skinner and D. Bryan (eds) Consuming St. Patrick’s Day. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp.186-208.

Skinner, J. (2001) ‘Licence revoked: when calypso goes too far’ in, B. Watson and J. Hendry (eds) An Anthropology of Indirect Communication. London: Routledge, pp.181-200.

Caesar Bita (MUCH to Discver in Mida Creak) and Elgidius Ichumbki (The Kisima Project and Musicalizing MCH) have contributed chapters to a new book: Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Management on the Historic and Arabian Trade Routes, Editors: Parthesius, Robert, Sharfman, Jonathan (Eds.)

Caesar’s chapter explores ‘The Role of the National Museum in MUCH Management and Regional Capacity Building: Current Research in Kenya.’

While Elgidius’ chapter looks at ‘Methodological Approaches to Researching Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Along the Swahili Coast in Tanzania.’

The publication is a great exploration of themes around Underwater Cultural Heritage, congratulations Caesar and Elgidius!

You can buy the book here.

The Rising from the Depths Team were saddened to hear of the partial collapse of the House of Wonders in Zanzibar on 25^th December 2020. All of the RftD team wish to express our solidarity with colleagues at the Department of Antiquities in Zanzibar and our sadness at the tragic loss of life and injury among the conservation team.  The House of Wonders is an iconic heritage landmark of Zanzibar’s waterfront. Built in 1883, it was the palace of Barghash bin Said, the second Omani Sultan of Zanzibar. The site also housed the Museum of History and Culture in Zanzibar. As such, it was an important monument that both embodied the colonial heritage of Zanzibar, based on maritime Indian Ocean trade, and was central to the heritage infrastructure of Zanzibar town. Colleagues at UNESCO and the government of Oman are working with Zanzibar’s Department of Antiquities on the restoration of the House of Wonders, which suffered earlier collapses in 2012 and 2015.

Dr. Elgidius Ichumbaki, Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology & Heritage Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, in collaboration with popular Tanzanian rapper Chemical, has written a ‘Bongo Flava’ song entitled ‘Bahari Yetu’ (Our Ocean) outlining the importance of Marine Cultural Heritage and its relationship to the challenges currently facing Tanzanian coastal communities.

The song is intended to raise awareness of Marine Cultural Heritage in the region in a local style (Bongo Flava is a popular East African music genre) and has been widely featured on radio and television in Tanzania as well as on social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube).

The song builds on two research projects funded by the Rising from the Depths network – ‘Bahari Yetu Urithi Wetu’ in Bagamoyo and ‘The Kisima Project’ on Kilwa Kisiwani – as well as the ‘Digitizing Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Preservation and Development in Tanzania’ funded by Scottish Funding Council GCRF.

It is sung in Kiswahili (with English sub-titles) and has been widely played by Swahili radio stations and televisions channels beyond Tanzania including Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda.

As well as Tanzania the song makes reference to the other counties included in the Rising from the Depths project (Kenya, Mozambique and Madagascar) and, as a result, has become an anthem for the aims of the network as a whole.

The ‘Musicalizing Marine Cultural Heritage in Tanzania’ team are now working on a short documentary covering the making of the song and the issues it addresses. The documentary will aim to cover a behind the scenes production of the music video but also addressing the wider themes discussed in the song.

Find out more:

MUSICALIZING MARINE CULTURAL HERITAGE IN TANZANIA

BAHARI YETU, URITHI WETU (OUR OCEAN, OUR HERITAGE)

THE KISIMA PROJECT: HISTORIC AND FUTURE WELL MANAGEMENT ON KILWA KISIWANI, TANZANIA 

Chemical YouTube channel

The Rising from the Depths Network is hiring two Post-Doctoral Research Assistants to work with us in the final stages of the project.

The first role is a one year contract looking at monitoring and evaluation of the projects it is funding in East Africa. The PDRA will have specific responsibility for bringing the tools and methodologies used in the funded project together to create a coherent set of policy statements on how engagement with marine cultural heritage can enhance sustainable marine development strategies. These statements will ensure the lessons learned and successful approaches created by the network can be utilised by a range of marine stakeholders from heritage professionals and national governments to local communities and industry. This will involve working with research teams in the region to help identify and create links between the projects completed and funded to date. The candidate will also assist in running dissemination events and creating online content for the Rising from the Depths website. The full advert can be found here.

The second role is a two year contract, working alongside Rising from the Depths and the Honor Frost Foundation. From the start of the contract the researcher will work on HFF and RftD activity – helping to bring the contacts, lessons learned and outputs from the RftD network into an eastern Mediterranean setting and, in turn, building a clear strategy for the role of marine heritage in the sustainable development of the eastern Mediterranean coastal and marine zone. The PDRA will also help to organise workshops and events in the eastern Mediterranean and the UK linking the activities of the HFF and RftD and ensuring an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders in both regions. As well as identifying and consolidating the outputs and impact of the RftD funded projects, the PDRA will do the same for all funded HFF projects to help create a coherent policy statement on the overall impact of the HFF. Policy papers will be created on the essential role of Marine Cultural Heritage in sustainable coastal development; offshore infrastructural work; coastal management; climate change resilience; legislation; promoting tourism, and in creating viable income streams for local communities. The full advert can be found here.

Thembi Mutch – Hidden Histories

The Hidden Histories team have produced a UNESCO Briefing on the role of intangible cultural heritage in coastal Tanzania. It covers the research undertaken within the project and sets out recommendations for further work. You can read the full briefing here.

Bi Peris, at work on the seaweed fields – Image by Jenny Matthews

And you can read the full Hidden Histories Blog here.

Heritiana Andrinjarisoa – Study and Implementation of Network System by Fishers’ Community Actors for the Marine Cultural Heritage Survival

Communication of research results to the scientific event: ” Université d’été Mahajanga 2^ème édition”

Organized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESUPRES) and the University of Mahajanga of Madagascar, having one of the objectives of publicizing the results of research carried out by researchers from universities, national centers and / or in collaboration with international researchers, the scientific event called: “Université d’été Mahajanga 2^ème édition ” was held at the Ambondrona Mahajanga University Campus from November 17 to 21, 2020, in particular in the School of Tourism. This second edition is under the theme: ” Développement inclusif, durable et gestion des risques naturels”.

To follow up on the invitation of the President of the University of Majunga for the purpose of attending this conference and participating in the oral communication, with 10 minutes of presentation followed by 5 minutes questions / answers, we have the opportunity to present the results of our research concerning the study on the implication of the indigenous people in the protection of the marine environment of the villages of Soariake in the South-West Region of Madagascar, from where the main objective is to observe and describe the mobilization of the fishing people in the co-management and protection of natural resource reserves.

Indeed, the establishment of an organizational strategy relating to the protection of the marine environment could be justified by ecological, economic and socio-cultural issues. Thus, the social and cultural contexts of the vezo’s organizational structure constitute a favorable framework for the mobilization of fishers’ communities on the protection of the marine protected area Soariake. In its system, several actors present various logics of actions allowing the reasons for the success and / or failure of protection activities. These deserve to be described in order to be able to identify directions for recovery in relation to the relationship problems observed within this protected area. Nevertheless, the participation of the fishing community promotes the conservation of natural resources. Their involvement in the system presents various logics of success in making decisions suitable for a given situation, hence the “dina” is a social convention suitable for the governance of the marine protected area. This entire article will be published in ‘Revue des Sciences, de Technologies et de l’Environnement (RSTE) volume 2’ of the University of Mahajanga. The power point presentation in French version in pdf is available here.

Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome, send us an email to andrinjarisoa@gmail.com

The Environmental Conservation journal are accepting papers looking at ‘Conservation implications of social-ecological change in Africa south of the equator.’

Papers must be submitted by 1 May 2021 by the journal’s website.

Full information can be read in the call for papers

Nancy Rushohora – Futures through Underwater Pasts

The Futures through Underwater Pasts have been carrying out fieldwork and surveys in Mgao where they have conducted a tide survey as well as an excavation where they found 16th-17th century beads as well as observing the ruins at Mgao, associated with the French Slave Trade in Tanzania.

You can read more about the project here.

Onshore/low tide survey of Mago being carried out

Team recording site in Mgao

Beads collected during the excavation of the Mgao settlement about 16-17th century

Remains of the ruins at Mgao associated with the French slave trade in Tanzania

MoBeCo – Monitoring Beira’s Coast

MoBeCo is the latest project to join the Rising from the Depths network partners, a consortium of coastal researchers and SMEs based in the UK, working for the first time in Mozambique. The project has great synergy with other projects in the network focused on coastal monitoring.

The MoBeCo project will attempt to use novel remote-sensing data collection techniques to increase the efficiency of dredging operations at Beira, Mozambique. Keeping the port of Beira navigable is a vital task for the continued growth of the Mozambican economy and the welfare of its citizens (1). Beira is a key export point,  not only for Mozambican goods, but also exports from landlocked Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi (2). The current cost of maintenance dredging is high. This combined with the high siltation rate and unpredictable movement of sandbanks in the estuary has resulted in numerous, extremely expensive emergency-dredging operations (3). The situation is not helped by the partial sinking of the state-owned dredger vessel Macuti in 2016 (4), which is still under repair, resulting in expensive outsourcing of these dredging operations.

Beira is also extremely vulnerable to coastal hazards, highlighted by the devastation of cyclones Idai and Kenneth (5). Coastal managers in Beira require better situational awareness and access to up-to-date data so that they can design cost-effective coastal protection interventions. Hard engineering solutions such as seawalls and groynes are not cost-effective outside of the port area due to the increased pressure from rising relative sea levels and potential increased storm frequency. Therefore, managers must find more cost-effective measures such as beach nourishment and utilisation of native mangroves. Yet, unfortunately, these solutions are viewed less favourably by many authorities and local citizens who prefer the security and investment of hard engineering. A dedicated data dissemination and education campaign is required to encourage working with natural processes.

MoBeCo focuses on collecting local morphological and hydrodynamic data for coastal managers, academics and dredging authorities to use in the pursuit of more efficient management operations.

It is a 9 feasibility study funded by Innovate UK and led by Marlan Maritime Technologies (6) and the National Oceanography Centre (7).  The consortium will be working with local partners INAHINA (Instituto Nacional de Hydrografia e Navigação, the government agency for safe navigation) and members of AMS – Associação Mar Sustentåvel (Sustainable Seas Association) based in Mozambique. Their aim is to monitor the channel near the port of Beira using a set of relocatable tide and met gauges and a marine radar monitoring system (https://vimeo.com/340389947). At the end of the feasibility phase, an application will be made for continuation of the funding for phase 2, which will run for a further two years (2021-2023) and see the initial project consortium expand to included local academics and dredging authorities.

Effective coastal monitoring systems can support response planning and mitigation to safeguard economic activity and improve plans to protect coastal communities, increasing their resilience. Consequently, this will serve to improve the lives of people living at the coast.

Dr Cai Bird, director of research at Marlan and project manager for MoBeCo had this to say about the project:“The ultimate goal of this ambitious project is to dramatically increase the sustainability of the port of Beira, and greatly increase the knowledge and resilience of the local community through improved monitoring and coastal management practice. We’re really excited to be working in East Africa for the first time, despite the challenges and travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic making the installation and operations more difficult. We have been delighted to not only meet a new group of talented Mozambican coastal managers and academics, but also to join the Rising from the Depths network. We view this as the first step towards introducing ubiquitous, cost-effective coastal monitoring systems to the most dynamic coastal environments in East Africa.”

Relocatable marine radar coastal monitoring system and an illustration of the different datasets it produces. The area of chart highlights the region of interest in Beira

Find out more about MoBeCo by following them on twitter.

References

1 https://www.reuters.com/article/mozambique-beira-port-idUSL6N0BI3S320130218

2 (https://theconversation.com/malawis-dream-of-a-waterway-to-the-indian-ocean-may-yet-come-true-124718)

3 https://clubofmozambique.com/news/beira-port-emergency-dredging-completed/

4 https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/collision-partially-sinks-suction-dredger

5 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/12/climate/mozambique-climate-change-protection.html

6 https://marlan-tech.co.uk/synoptic/

7 https://noc.ac.uk/

Synoptic 4D from Marlan Maritime Technologies on Vimeo.

Caesar Bita – MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek

The Mida Creek project team are making great progress in reopening after COVID restrictions. Following government relaxation of Corona restrictions, Bidii na Kazi AAL are slowly catching up. Sales from the Dhow house restaurant, canoe are picking up.

This week they ran a financial training session with Gede National Museum. Mr. Saidi Mondo, an accountant at Gede museum took the ladies through book keeping and financial management. This took place at the Dhow house.

Caesar Bita – MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek

Our MUCH project continues to attract greater attention. A national fundiing organization / Network called NETFUND (Environment Trust Fund (NETFUND) have expressed interest to support our project. Yesterday their officers visited Mida MUCH to explore areas we can collaborate. This is indeed great.

NETFUND is a State Corporation established by the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999. Our mandate is “To facilitate research intended to further the requirements of environmental management, capacity building, environmental awards, environmental publications, scholarships and grants”. NETFUND’s vision is “Sustainable financing available for environmental management in Kenya”. Our mission is “To mobilize, manage and avail resources for; environmental awards, capacity building, research and publications, scholarships and grants.

Rising from the Depths Co-I, Luciana Esteves will be presenting a keynote at the Coastal Hazards in Africa 2020 Conference. The conference will be presented virtually on the 27th, 28th and 29th of October and registration is available on their website.

Lu says:

“Very pleased to have been invited to be a Keynote Speaker at the Coastal Hazards in Africa 2020 online conference. I’ll present results from the Index of Vulnerability to Coastal Change developed for East Africa. The conference will bring together researchers and managers interested in African coasts to discuss our understanding of current natural and human-induced risks and hazards and how they might change in the future due to climate change and human activities.”

Register here.

This week, we have a guest blog from Miza Alex, an MA student who has provided a blog about their research in Bagamoyo.

Miza Alex, University of Dar es Salaam

Introduction

My study details research carried out at Mkadini village in the Pwani (Coastal) region of Tanzania from February to May 2019. The study focused on the linkages between tangible and intangible heritage, whereas some of the research questions I envisage to address included why the management of several heritage sites in Africa have failed to link the two, hence, a failure to achieve intended goal of ensuring heritage sustainability (Chirikure 2013; Schmidt and Pikirayi 2016). Despite the inseparability of heritage sites and the spiritual attachment local people have for them, the management of several heritage sites particularly by government officials, antiquities and heritage professionals, have failed to recognize the intangible heritage embedded in these sites which local people value most (Ndoro 2001; Munjeri 2002; Ichumbaki 2015). Cultural heritage studies conducted in Tanzania have contributed to our understanding of the existence, management, conservation and protection of various cultural heritage assets in the country. However, these studies and management institutions have placed more emphasis on the tangible cultural heritage, while intangible cultural heritage has attracted less attention. Consequently, local people, heritage professionals and government officials have developed uses of tangible cultural heritage that is not linked to the intangible. As part of an intervention, my research intended to evaluate the perceptions of local people of the intangible heritage embedded in monumental ruins and the surrounding landscape against those imposed by the government and heritage professionals using Mkadini village in the historic town of Bagamoyo as the case study.

The study was conducted in Mkadini village, UTM 0482919/9294976. This is a fishing village located about 13km north of the 19th century historic port town of Bagamoyo in the Pwani (Coastal) region of Tanzania. There are two means to access Mkadini village. From Bagamoyo town, the village is accessible by two ways which is either by road or boat. By road it takes about one and half hours. By boat it depends with the type of the boat one opts to use. With a traditional boat that uses a sail, locally known as dau (dhow), it takes about two to three hours depending on the direction of the wind. On the other hand, the boat with an engine, it takes the maximum of two hours to reach the village. The selected study area provided an ideal case study for the following reasons. First, preservation of cultural heritage sites is heavily dependent on local taboos the management strategy implemented and practiced by the local people called Wakwere reveals power relations that silences, manipulates and uses local epistemologies to achieve sustainability. Second, compared to many other ruins and sites along the coast of central Tanzania, Mkadini has not been exposed to domestic or international tourism, and there are no associated businesses that generate income from it. This means that, the local people have not attached economic value to heritage sites that are located in their area. Third, the ruins and baobab trees in Mkadini village are close to one another and, as noted previous studies at the site (e.g. see Ichumbaki 2015), both the ruins and the baobab trees are used for spiritual practices. Therefore, the area provided the researcher with viable settings for applying the theoretical and practical methodology.

Analysis of the data obtained through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, physical survey and mapping as well as observation and participation, revealed that local people value the, reef crest, baobab trees, the ruins of stone-built tombs not because of their external appearance but because of the spiritual practices (healing, rituals, offerings, etc.) they undertake either within or around these sites. In addition, local community in Mkadini Village believe that spiritual practices done at these sites, resolve community problems.

Some of the site with spiritual value recorded during physical survey includes the reef crest, locally named Binti Chanuo. The area is known in Kiswahili as Mzimu wa Binti Chanuo (the spirit of Binti Chanuo), Mzimuni (the spirit) of Kijiwe Mtu (reef looking like a person). The reef crest is located in the southern part of Mkadini Village and its UTM point is 483302/9295606. It is located on the western side of the sea and is at the northern end of the Ruvu River. This site is accessed by walking along the beach or, during high tide, by a dhow along the shore from Mkadini Village. The reef crest is 17m long and 8m wide. It is the most visible feature at the site, although there are other smaller reef crests. In the vicinity, there is a thick mangrove forest and a perennial stream called Chalawe River.

The local people interviewed said that Binti Chanuo is visited by people from the villages of Mkadini, Winde, Kijitokamba, Chalawe and Utondwe, as well as from Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Kibaha. According to the local guide at the site, Mzimuni is mainly visited during what is locally known as Mfungo Tatu, which is when visitors clean all the spiritual sites so that their ancestors dwell there free from dirt. Some spiritual practices are also conducted to honour the ancestors and request their intervention to resolve various community problems. As in the case of other sites found in the village the visitors to the reef crest bring animal sacrifices with them, which are accompanied by traditional medicines, food, cooking vessels, fragrances and many other things to enable them to say prayers and offer spiritual practices. Locals’ narratives are supported by the cultural materials which were recorded during the physical surveys. The materials recorded from around the reef crest included white bottles, some of which contained liquids, scatters of coconut shells with some marks, coins and local ceramics. Other cultural materials included incense sticks, green and brown glass bottles, matchboxes, chicken feathers, plastic bottles which local communities identified to contain spiritual medicines.

Figure 1: Figure 1: Binti Chanuo reef crest where spiritual practices are conducted

The results of my study contradict the Government of Tanzania perceptions of what constitutes heritage whereby Tanzania’s Department of Antiquities legally mandated to protect the cultural heritage which values the monumental and aesthetic importance of heritage sites at the expense of their spiritual value, which local people greatly respect. Hence, it is where this study concluded that in order to achieve the sustainable conservation and management of heritage sites, government officials and scholars should consider the importance of the intangible heritage associated with monumental ruins and the surrounding landscape.

Mark Lamont – MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek

Inter–tidal ‘wreck’ survey in Mida Creek

Many disused boats can be found hauled up onto the beaches of Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. These are testimonies to the coast’s rich maritime cultural heritage, but their potential value to local communities has been largely overlooked. Although they are no longer being used for transportation, fishing, or hauling cargo, such vessels remain part of the region’s heritage and can be a diverse source of value.

MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek commissioned a survey in May 2019 to create an interactive map of the ‘wrecks’ within the creek’s inter-tidal areas. One purpose of this mapping exercise was to document the kinds of marine vessels used throughout Mida Creek’s tidal channels. Another reason for carrying out this map of disused boats was to create a record in light of ongoing purchases of such ‘abandoned’ boats for the purpose of making furniture and other objects for sale in the tourism industry. From many places along the East African coast where there is a significant tourist economy, a new taste for chairs, mirror frames, and other kinds of furnishings made from disused, beached vessels has created a market for this heritage.

In the shadow of the dhow

Boat building and maintenance is characteristic mark of a maritime culture (Prins 1965). The iconic ‘dhow’ is a symbol of Swahili maritime culture par excellence. Dhow building and sailing has occupied academic interests and continues to drive significant debate about the Indian Ocean world, its histories, its global connections (see Gilbert 2004; Sheriff 2010; Prins 1965; Villiers 1940). Indeed, Lamu’s Dhow Festival is testimony to the allure of these large ocean- going vessels among local peoples and foreigners alike. Yet resting in the shadows of such larger vessels are the many different kinds of smaller boats. This mapping exercise sought to draw attention to the significance of small maritime craft used for inter-tidal or inshore fisheries and transportation. It was hoped that MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek might inspire visitors to participate in the living traditions of the creek’s communities, including boat- building, taking a trip in such boats, as well as contributing to an online project of documenting ‘wrecks’ as artefacts of significant historical and cultural value.

Mida Creek Boat Map

Visitors to the MUCH to be Discovered at Mida Creek project will be invited to ‘see’ the maritime cultural heritage as they move around the creek and its channels. A Google Earth Project, the Mida Creek Boat Map, can serve to guide visitors around the various sites, most of which are fishing villages or landing sites.

You can access the site here.

Field activities in May 2019 led to the identification of many disused boats specifically adapted to the environment and activities found in Mida Creek.

Mida Creek’s vessels in context

Mida Creek is currently situated within three important gazetted areas: (1) Watamu National Marine Park; (2) Arabuko-Sokoke Forest; and (3) Gede National Monument. Restrictions in economic activities apply to all of these sites. The creek itself is part of a bio-sphere reserve and certain restrictions are in place on how local residents may use their natural resources.

Fisheries continue to be a significant, although threatened, resource for making a living. Small dugout canoes, mtumbwi (or dau as they are known locally) are all-purpose boats for most inter-tidal fisheries and, on occasion, for ferrying visitors to sites of special interest in the creek. The boat-building activities that took place with this project in 2019 were commissioned to build new mtumbwi that visitors can experience.

Mtumbwi – dugout canoes made from mwembe wood (mango) trees, or msufi (kapok), used extensively in the inter-tidal zones of the creek. They are propelled, or punted, through the water using poles (kafi).

Notice how this mtumbwi (dau) is propelled through the water using a punting pole (kafi). This dugout canoe is the same variety as those built by the community during the MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek project. [Photo credit: Field Activity, May 2019]

This boat at the landing by Uyombo was identified as hori, significantly wider and longer than
most mtumbwi, having a morticed feature for a mast (it is called a mast thwart). This would be a likely harbour for larger, ocean-going cargo vessels, especially those involved in the trade of mangrove poles (boriti). [Photo credits – Field Activity, May 2019]

This ngalawa is still being used by fishermen in Uyombo. These craft are quite rare today but would have been used to sail around in lagoons, creeks, and inshore fishing zones. [Photo credit: Field Activity, May 2019]

The Mavuvi 2 was built as part of a community project and now lies beached at Uyombo. A typical mashua, a vessel of this kind had many uses, including cargo haulage and pelagic fishing. [Photo credit: Field Activity, May 2019]

The saline and coralline environments takes a toll on wooden boats. While these vessels are mainly made from mango wood or mwembe, as well as msufi (kapok, or cotton-tree), the availability and costs of this wood has become a challenge for most craftsmen. As boat- maintenance has been changed by the availability of new materials and techniques, the

‘fibreglass revolution’ within boat-building traditions has been applied also to repairing these smaller inshore and inter-tidal craft. Most significant landing sites near villages in the creek have boat-sheds  constructed  of straight mangrove poles (boriti) and  palm-frond thatch (makuti) to provide craftsmen and their assistants with shelter and shade while they are working. The MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek ‘dhow-house’, where experimental archaeology activities will take place, is an example of this local, indigenous architecture.

Boat-house at Uyombo. Note the architectural features replicated in the MUCH to
Discover at Mida Creek ‘dhow house’ [Photo Credits: Field Activity, Uyombo, May 2019]

Several factors have led to the adoption of fibreglass as a new material to repair dau or mtumbwi. One of these factors is the scarcity of timber (mainly mwembe or mango wood), but the other factor is a rise of fibreglass boat-building techniques and skills. Fibreglass is rigid and strong, ideal for repairing cracked hulls, but if not prepared properly, it can also be fragile. It is also very expensive. [Photo Credit: Field Activity, Sita, May 2019]

Conclusions

Until there is a wide understanding that small inter-tidal and inshore boats are of significant cultural heritage value, their looting will continue. As such boats become replaced by fibreglass vessels, some of their unique manoeuvrability and handling in sheltered, inter-tidal channels will surely be lost. Boats like mtumbwi are perfectly adapted to reach deep inside tidal mangrove channels to exploit resources only found there. Whether it is fishing or taking tourists into the mangrove, such vessels are an important, central part of the maritime cultural heritage of the creek’s communities.

By creating a map of the existing disused boats, MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek creates an opportunity for local people to document the stories of each of these boats. The hope is that an intriguing record of mtumbwi, hori, ngalawa, and the larger mashua will inspire new research and programming into Mida’s fascinating maritime traditions. Not only will an interactive map bring about a record of such boats locations, it also curates them digitally and may start a process whereby local fishermen and their owners value them for something other than the small amounts of money that collectors or looters will pay for them. A map can educate school children, as well as being a source of potential fun as they explore other aspects of the creek’s rich marine and maritime heritage. As biocultural artefacts, such boats tell an interesting story about the special adaptations and history of Mida Creek within a wider world.

Suggested and Further Reading:

• Falck, W. E. (2014). Boats and Boatbuilding in T anzania (D ar-es-S alaam and Zanzibar). International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 43(1), 162-173.
• Gilbert, E. (2011). The dhow as cultural icon: heritage and regional identity in the western Indian Ocean. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 17(1), 62-80.

• Gilbert, E. (2004). Dhows & the colonial economy of Zanzibar: 1860-1970. Oxford: James Currey.

• Pollard, E., & Bita, C. (2017). Ship engravings at Kilepwa, Mida Creek, Kenya. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 52(2), 173-191.
• Prins, A. H. J. (1965). Sailing from Lamu: a study of maritime culture in Islamic East Africa.
• Sheriff, A. (2010). Dhow Culture of the Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, Commerce and Islam. Columbia University Press.

• Villiers, A. (1940). Sons of Sinbad: An Account of Sailing with the Arabs in Their Dhows, in the Red Sea, Round the Coast of Arabia, and to Zanzibar and Tanganyika, Pearling in the Persian Gulf, and the Life of the Shipmasters and the Mariners of Kuwait. Hodder & Stoughton.
• Weiss, E. A. (1973). Some indigenous trees and shrubs used by local fishermen on the East
• African Coast. Economic Botany, 27(2), 174-192.

Marine Cultural Heritage in Northern Mozambique 

Northern Mozambique formed part of the Indian Ocean trade network from the 7th century, which gave rise to a vibrant maritime culture of settlement, travel and exchange. The most well-known site is Mozambique Island, a major port of significance for East African maritime trade from the 14th century. It became the capital of Portuguese colonial government from 1507 and its architectural diversity was recognised by UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in 1991. Despite the wealth of archaeological sites located in the waters around the Island, Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) has not received the attention and protection it deserves. Pressures on the resource have ranged from damage by salvage operations, insensitive development, to poor fishing practises and pollution.

In response the Centro de Arquelogia Investigção e Recursos da Ilha de Moçambique (CAIRIM) is vitally important in providing a focus for the study and conservation of marine cultural heritage on the island and for efforts to reach and engage with the local community. An initiative of Eduardo Mondlane university, CAIRIM has been a key partner of the Northern Mozambique project as it develops new ways of exploring, understanding and celebrating Marine Cultural Heritage.

One such effort to develop new dimensions for MCH is a major campaign of underwater survey touching on themes hitherto unexplored in the region. The Mozambique coast is little studied from a coastal geomorphology perspective and very little baseline information exists on fairweather processes, storm impacts, or sea-level change, all of which shape the landscape and influence livelihoods. The coast and continental shelf contain important indicators of past sea- levels, including former shorelines now submerged. The nature of the geomorphic record provides indications of coastal response to former sea-level change and, taken in conjunction with the contemporary coastal morphology and projected future sea- levels, provides an insight into likely future conditions and the challenges they pose to inhabitants, the local economy and the cultural and biological heritage.

Survey work underway on SV Bom Dia at Ilha de Mozambique

Toward the end of 2019 we deployed a range of geophysical equipment in the waters adjacent to the island. In total over 100km of seismic data and c.25ha of multibeam sonar imagery were collected. The seismic technique is capable of penetrating the seabed and thus detecting buried features that reveal the changes to the environment, for example former river channels which were submerged by sea-level rise and now infilled with sediment. The multibeam sonar measures depth with great accuracy enabling a high-resolution 3D model of the seabed to be produced which includes natural and cultural points of interest. Mozambique Island lies within a large, shallow embayment with deeper channels approaching its anchorage to the north. These exit into the Indian Ocean where the bathymetry deepens swiftly at a submerged shelf that runs parallel to the East African coast. Work concentrated on this area of the shelf which can reveal ‘terraces’, palaeo-channels and other relic geomorphological features suggesting the presence of earlier shorelines and former landscapes under lower sea-level conditions.

Survey tracks and colour-coded multibeam imagery of the seabed in the environs of Mozambique Island superimposed onto a recent Sentinel-2 satellite image. Warm colours indicate shallow water, shading to colder colours for deeper water

An offshore channel meanders toward the deep-water shelf at the edge of Mozambique Island’s embayment.

Seismic data line revealing the presence of a submerged palaeo-channel (right) within the bay. Such channels demonstrate the former morphology of the bay and the environmental regime that produced them.

Survey data is still under analysis and will form a key element of the training and materials the project will be delivering on its return to Mozambique Island. The survey team’s field visit coincided with a UNESCO training workshop hosted by CAIRIM on the Island. This allowed not only CAIRIM personnel and community volunteers to join the survey vessel but also maritime cultural heritage practitioners from the wider region. In addition, we joined the workshop back at base to deliver training insights on the geophysical techniques employed and their display and interpretation. Once all data is processed a further set of interpretative and training materials will be developed to conclude the surveys findings.

Onboard training to UNESCO delegates, CAIRIM personnel and community volunteers

As fascinating as the emerging survey results are, they are not undertaken in isolation of the broader aims of contextualising past climate change in order to meet the challenges of current sea-level threats and other pressures. The project’s return to the island was disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis, however this involves an ongoing programme of training, community engagement and ethnographic survey. In addition work in partnership with CAIRIM will involve returning to shipwrecks imaged during the survey in order to enhance our understanding of them and assess their vulnerability.

Running a photogrammetry workshop in preparation for the second phase of fieldwork

Caesar Bita – MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek

MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek is a project that aims to promote community development through engagement with maritime heritage. Located in Mida Creek, in Kilifi County in Kenya, it sought to make value out of Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) by helping locals learn about its potential. By developing a number of economic generating community initiatives relating to MUCH, the project has created outstanding ‘living heritage’ activities that are generating far-reaching interest and investment among the locals. Through forest surveys in the Arabuko Sokoke forest, the project has revealed how local communities use and continue to use the natural forest and Creek for settlement and subsistence as well as maritime activities such as boat building.

Within the project, communities have been involved in maritime archaeological research and surveys; the establishment of a Mida Maritime Heritage Interpretive centre in the archaeologically significant Mida Creek; building a dhow-house and fishermen boatyard using locally traditionally available materials; as well as training in ecotourism and climate change mitigation through mangrove reforestation. Additional alternative livelihood initiatives have been developed in the creek, that will not only help local communities but also help conserve the maritime wider cultural and natural landscape.

The project has demonstrated how MUCH (Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage) can be used to create pathways to sustainable community development and resilience.

To begin to share their activities, the Biddi na Kazi Women’s Group at Mida Creek have worked with the Documentary Institute of East Africa to co-create an interactive website:

The website can be accessed here.

Professor Annamaria LaChimia participated in the conversation on COVID-19, IEL and the right to food, together with Luis Eslava (Kent Law), Clair Gammage (Bristol Law) and Michael Fakhri (Oregon Law), the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. They explored the impact of COVID-19 on food security, food distribution, trade, and the right to food. they emphasized the importance of local food production and of heritage in understanding the different patterns of production and subsistence. Follow the link below to listen to the conversation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG-791H-60k&feature=youtu.be

CoastSnap Mozambique – Caridad Ballesteros

CoastSnap Mozambique encourages participants to take photos of the coastline so that changes can be mapped. See a selection of images below from the CoastSnap locations in Tofo and Ilha.

You can follow the progress of CoastSnap on Twitter (@CoastSnapMOZ) and on Facebook.

Study and Implementation of Network Systems by Fishers Community Actors for Survival of Marine Cultural Heritage

The blog below by RABEKOTO Andrinjarisoa Heritiana and Jeannette Faranirina (Marovany Association) shares information on their training programme for local community actors.

Stolen objects from site

On March 14-15, 2020, we started as part of our study project for the survival of the underwater cultural heritage of Southwest Madagascar, the establishment of a network of community actors through training of representatives of the vezo communities. They come from the 6 fokontany in the rural commune of Tsifota, namely the fokontany of Tsifota, Tsandamba, Salary nord I, Salary nord II, Bekodoy and Andravony. He was a focal point and 12 village animators including 6 men and 6 women who were elected by the indigenous populations at the level of these fokontany. Each fokontany already has an association of fishermen and also of women, these gave us an opportunity to adopt the gender approach in this project.

Beforehand, Solondrainy Ernest, the focal point of our association called Marovany, went down by village to organize election meetings for these mixed village leaders who raise awareness among the fishing people in their village. The appointment of these agents was justified by the minutes of the meetings and endorsed by the Fokontany Chiefs. It was the first time in the history of the protection of wrecks in the Southwestern coastal region of Madagascar that an initiative to involve the vezos was launched from a capacity building workshop for their representatives. on the themes in the plan below and carried out in collaboration between the organization of Malagasy civil society and the Regional Direction of Communication and Culture of Southwest.

For the beginning of the workshop which was held in the hall of the Regional Direction of Communication and Culture of South West in Tsienengea Toliara, the Regional Director of this institution took the opening speech, specifying the will of the Malagasy State since 2014 on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage by ratifying this 2001 convention and it also encouraged effective collaboration with the local population on the fight against the illicit traffic of wrecks.

I started the training proper by sharing knowledge on the 2001 UNESCO convention which led us to speak about underwater cultural heritage. The training of Arturo Rey da Sylva from Unesco in 2015 and my experiences as trainers of community workers within Medical Care Development International (MCDI) Madagascar allowed me to adopt the plan of this training. In addition, REMEKY Eric Emilson, member of an association in the Regional Platform of Civil Society Organizations of Southwest, an expert trainer of community agents provided training on topics relating to communication as well as management tools report.

The 13 participants were all active and were very interested in the subjects. They set annual global objectives by type of awareness such as 3,120 interpersonal communications, 624 home visits, 156 group discussions and 2 sketches. That is to say, each facilitator should carry out 240 interpersonal communications, 48 ​​home visits, 12 group discussions and 2 sketches that they will do together during the events marking the commune. So, each village leader has had his working document and the focal point will go on field trips to collect data on the reports of monthly awareness activities by fokontany or village. Then, he will send me this encrypted data so that I can feed the network awareness dashboard. All these tools will be available as an appendix in our final report at the end of the project. Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome, send me an email to andrinjarisoa@gmail.com

TRAINING PLAN

1st day

1. UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

– What is Unesco?

– Definition of underwater cultural heritage

– Potentials of the underwater cultural heritage

– Threats to the underwater cultural heritage

– Why is an international treaty necessary?

– Benefits of ratifying the 2001 convention

2. Presentation of the 3 wrecked ships in the maritime territory of northern Salary

– Shipwrecked vessels in the maritime territory of Madagascar

– Brief history on the 3 wrecked ships: Nossa Senhora do Carmo (1774); Winterton (1792) and Surprise (1885)

– Activity carried out and current situation on the 3 wrecks

3. Management of underwater cultural heritage

– At local level

– At regional level

– On a national level

– At an international level

4. The village animator at the population level

– Definition of the village animator

– Role of village animator

– Behavior of a village leader

5. Communication

– Definition

– Elements of communication

– Structure of an effective message

2nd day

6. Awareness

– Objective of awareness

– Different types of awareness: interpersonal communication, home visit, group discussion and sketch

– Steps to follow for each type of awareness

7. Action plan, monthly report and target setting

– Development of the action plan

– Completion of a monthly activity report

– Calculation of global and individual target setting

8. Signing of employment agreement

– Drafting of the engagement agreement

– Convention signature by village leaders

Study and Implementation of Network Systems by Fishers Community Actors for Survival of Marine Cultural Heritage

The blog below by RABEKOTO Andrinjarisoa Heritiana and Jeannette Faranirina (Marovany Association) explores the issue of thefts from heritage sites.

Stolen objects from site

A team of twenty men with professional divers from MARIO MATTEO DIEGO DIVE (Père &fils) would like to steal the wrecks of one of these 3 ships in the maritime territory of Salary North but had failed. This team was accommodated by the head of the landing at Salary North I by installing their tents in the courtyard of the landing and started to take some samples.

In this regard, we contacted and moved the representatives of the Regional Direction of Communication and Culture from South-West as well as the regional platform of civil society organizations from South-West of Madagascar to observe the situation in place on January 06, 2020. They were Mr. RANDRIANAMBININA Bertrand, Head of Heritage Division within this Regional Department, then Mr. RANDRIAMALALA Bonhomme Elysé, Journalist and cameraman of RNM / TVM within this Department who also provided media coverage of this mission and also Mr. VICTOR, member of the board of the platform of civil society organizations in the thematic environment of land and sea, called FAMARI.

The mayor of the commune was not aware of this situation, the chief of Fokontany said that this group did not appear to him before settling in the village of northern Salary. One of the leaders of this group told us that they have carried out a feasibility study for their fish farm project which is going to be financed by the Malagasy state and he showed us a request which contain an authorization that allow them to dive. We have understood that this authorization is illegal because it is a request for a diving authorization on behalf of the applicants which is addressed to the Regional Chief of Fisheries and Aquaculture. While this request bears the logo of the Malagasy state and that of the ministry responsible for fisheries which is signed by the regional head of the fisheries and aquaculture department.

We explained to this group the commitment of the Malagasy State on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage following the ratification of the 2001 UNESCO Convention and told them that, following their authorization letter, they had no right to take objects from wrecked ships. Then, we also explained that the Ministry in charge of Culture is the competent authority to give a research authorization on terrestrial and underwater cultural heritage. In this regard, we have said that they committed an act of looting.

So, in relation to this situation, we made the decision to tell them to stop their search, then bring the wrecks back to the site and this activity was accompanied by the members of the Soariake association, and finally to follow the procedure legal before continuing their study by passing to the Ministry in charge of Culture too. All these decisions were written down in minutes and signed by the representatives of each entity present. The file (photos, video of interview, minutes, and mission report) is currently under the responsibility of the Regional Direction of Communication and Culture of South-West Madagascar.

This month of February, our activity continues and focuses on the establishment of a focal point and training of village leaders. The latter concern two mixed leaders (man and woman) per village who represent the fishermen and who are appointed by themselves by taking minutes of a legalization meeting of their choice. They will benefit from capacity building on the basic communication technique and knowledge of the 2001 UNESCO convention as well as the benefits for the protection of underwater cultural heritage.

More on this in the next blog! Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome, in sending to me by email:  andrinjarisoa@gmail.com

Study and Implementation of Network Systems by Fishers Community Actors for Survival of Marine Cultural Heritage

The blog below by RABEKOTO Andrinjarisoa Heritiana and Jeannette Faranirina (Marovany Association) outlines the communities that their project will engage with.

Started in the end of December 2019 until the beginning of January 2020, we carried out this field work to collect data in the villages of the vezo communities within the rural commune of Tsifota, District Toliara II, located in the coastal area of ​​the Southwest region of Madagascar. It includes six fokontany from north to south such as Tsifota, Tsiandamba, Salary nord I, Salary nord II, Bekodoy and Andravony. This research was carried out to have the observation and description of the mobilization of the fishing people to co-manage and protect the marine environment in order to draw lessons for the establishment of a system of protection and development of value underwater cultural heritage, namely the wrecks of Winterton (1792), Nossa Senhora do Carmo (1774) and the Surprise

The indigenous population, represented by the Soariake association, has integrated into the process of our research in order to achieve the objective. This local civil society organization is co-manager with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as promoter, between 2008 and 2010 and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) since 2011, of the marine protected marine area Soariake of category VI of the classification of International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Through the establishment of seven community marine reserves managed by the social convention called DINA, WCS intervened to support local communities in the sustainable management of these natural resources which are part of one of the great reef systems of the world and located in 80 km north of the city of Toliara. The overall management objective is to ensure the long-term protection and maintenance of biodiversity, cultural heritage and ecological services and to promote the sustainable use of natural resources to contribute on poverty reduction.

The data collections were carried out with the various members of the ethnic groups of the fishing people, tourism actors, basic community organizations as well as stakeholders in relation to the conservation of natural resources such as fishermen’s associations and women in the village. , the private company Ocean Farmer, which supported local communities to ease the pressure on natural resources through the development of seaweed farming in fishing communities.

More on this in the next blog! Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome, in sending to me by email:  andrinjarisoa@gmail.com

Reharbouring Heritage

RAI RESEARCH SEMINAR

SEMINAR SERIES AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

Reharbouring heritage with Madagascar’s ‘Festival of the Sea’:
a celebration highlighting sustainable development goals, promoting marine cultural heritage, and developing practice–based research

Dr Jonathan Skinner (University of Roehampton) and partners

Wednesday 25 March 5:30 – 7:30 pm

A festival, whether international, national or local, is the ideal capacity builder in the community. This evening presents findings from a practice-based research project run by the University of Roehampton and NGO SEED Madagascar. With AHRC/Global Challenges Research Fund funding (2018-2020) through the AHRC funded Rising from the Depths Network, we established a Festival of the Sea to “reharbour heritage” and highlight sustainable development goals in one of Madagascar’s poorest conservation zones. The Festival took place in lobster fishing community Sainte Luce, June 2019, and used the participatory arts to research, test, challenge and apply marine cultural heritage as an intangible resource and vehicle for developing sustainable livelihoods with vulnerable Antanosy coastal people in the south east Anosy region of Madagascar.
This evening features the findings of this partnership that resulted in a two-day festival of skills sharing and knowledge exchange. There will be a talk, and exhibition of film, photography, music and dance from the festival.

This event is free, but tickets must be booked. To book tickets please go to: https://jonathanskinner.eventbrite.co.uk

Tsimihantaravye Tandroy dance audition (https://youtu.be/6RBmhlbIzVA) – J. Skinner, April 2019

Caesar Bita – MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek

At MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek, Climate Change impact mitigation through Mangrove reforestation is now serious business! The Bidii na Kazi women group mangrove nursery is approaching 100,000 seedlings. Many thanks to the project’s partnership with KEFRI!