The Caribbean nation, which was under British rule until 1962, is considering plans to persuade the UK government and major museums to fund exhibitions devoted to colonialism, according to The Telegraph.
Reparation payments of around £500,000 are expected to be spent on preserving ports, hospitals and courthouses associated with imperial rule. The plans emerged after The Telegraph reported that Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister, voiced hope to preserve Georgian sites, including slave houses, as potential centres of “dark tourism.”
“We are interested in what is called ‘dark tourism’. The built heritage is very, very important, because it tells a story in stone and sticks and mortar. Jamaica, being a confluence of so many cultures and peoples, has a story that you need to connect with, because a little piece [of the British] is really here, a piece of your history, your past.”
In September, countries of the Caribbean Community indicated their readiness to formally demand payment from British institutions, including the Anglican Church and the Royal Family. Jonathan Greenland, the director of the National Museum Jamaica, stated:
There is a debate around reparations, but this is how reparations should be paid. The Government, or museums, could pay into a fund which supports museums and heritage sites in Jamaica. It is not just Jamaican history, it is British history.
Jonathan Greenland suggested that the former British naval base, home to a decaying naval hospital, could benefit from government support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport or direct funding from relevant institutions such as the National Maritime Museum.
The Old Naval Cemetery could also capitalise on funding, as could the courthouse in Morant Bay, which took a central part in the 1865 rebellion brutally suppressed by the British governor.
The projects are expected to familiarise Jamaicans and visiting tourists from the UK with British colonial rule.
“We go to all sorts of lengths to preserve our history in the UK, incredible stuff… English Heritage, the National Trust, amazing things. Then our history abroad, a little less so. The UK is the leading force in the development of museums and heritage – it could be our new export in a sense. That expertise and interest and ability to develop sustainable museums could be marketed all around the world.”
