Discover your cultural heritage

Project Description

Madagascar ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2015. However, the notion of maritime heritage is still unknown to the public. So, after the media coverage of the team of foreigners in Sainte Marie in 2016, maritime remains attracted attention, but with a view to looting them and making a profit in general. “Discover your cultural heritage” attracts the attention of the population and local authorities through an awareness campaign and information sessions to prevent this and strengthen the preservation of maritime archaeological sites. As an essential site for trade in the Indian Ocean and also a privileged refuge for pirates around the 17th and 18th centuries, underwater cultural sites of Sainte Marie must be preserved. The project will be implemented with the local population in two phases. The first one focuses mainly on public awareness. As a support, we will use information panels to describe the archaeological vestiges already identified in their region, their history and other essential information concerning the maritime cultural heritage. They will be made available to a local institute to serve as a kind of information centre to attract visitors and tourists. Collaboration with local authorities, people working in the cultural field and tourism operators will be sought for the installation. To strengthen the event, we will conduct awareness-raising activities in the media (radio, TV, Facebook) and schools. Secondly, the project will encourage and assist local authorities to set up an effective management system to regulate and to control access and valorisation of each site. The project will collaborate with the main stakeholders targeted in the project: provide the training and information they will need to make known the archaeological sites already identified. The establishment of sustainable and responsible tourism will then be possible on these archaeological sites.

Summary

Location: Madagascar

PI: Richard Tommy (University Of Antananarivo)

Co-Is: Oniravaka Annita (The Institute of Civilization – Museum of Art and Archaeology (ICMAA)), Nelas Fanny (ICMAA), Séraphin SUM HEURNG (ICMAA)

Size: Small