Maroon Heritage Archaeological PDF
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Maroon Heritage Maroon Heritage Archaeological Ethnographic and Historical Perspectives edited by E Kofi Agorsah G&hOiPitW •BARBADOS ^JAMAICA •TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Canoe Press The University of the West Indies 1A Aqueduct Flats, Kingston 7, Jamaica © 1994 by Canoe Press. All rights reserved Published 1994 Printed and bound in Canada 999897969594 654321 ISBN (pbk) 976 8125 10 1 Cataloguing in Publication Data Maroon heritage: archaeological ethnographic and historical perspectives / E. Kofi Agorsah, ed.; with foreword by B.W. Higman. p. cm. Papers presented at a symposium on Maroon heritage held 18-19 October 1991 at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 976 8125 10 1 1. Maroons - Jamaica - Congresses. 2. Maroons - History - Congresses. 3. Maroons - social life and customs - Congresses. I. Agorsah, E. Kofi F1893.M3M371994 972.92 dc20 Maps: p. 38 - Courtesy National Library of Jamaica; p. 66 - Courtesy UWI Mona Archaeological Research Project (UMARP) Photo credits: p. 115 - Courtesy National Archives of Jamaica; pp. 174-75,177-80 - Courtesy E Kofi Agorsah Book and cover design by Prodesign Ltd, Jamaica Text set in 9/12 Palatine and Dauphin display Printed on acid-free paper: 501b Husky Offset Table of Contents Foreword vii Address by Prof. E. N. Ugochukwu ix Preface xii Acknowledgements xix one Background to Maroon Heritage i E. Kofi Agorsah two Trje True Traditions of my Ancestors 36 36 Col. C. L. G. Harris three Accompany Maroons of Jamaica 64 Colonel Martin-Luther Wright four Maroon Culture as a Distinct Variant of Jamaican Culture 72. Kenneth Bilby five Maroons and Reoels (a Ditemma) 86 Carey Robinson six Maroon Heritage in Mexico 94 Joe Pereira Contents v seven "Resistance Science": Afrocentric Ideo(oa$ in Vic Reid's Nanny Town 109 Carolyn Cooper eight Nanny, Patmares & t^e Carnttean Maroon Connexion 119 Kamau Brathwaite nine Characteristics of Maroon Music from Jamaica and Suriname 139 Marjorie Why lie and Maureen Warner-Lewis ten Maroon Warfare: T^e Jamaican Mo5e{ 149 Albert Edwards eleven Archaeology of Maroon Settlements in Jamaica 163 E. Kofi Agorsah Bibliography 188 Index 2.04 Contibutors 2.09 List of Figures 1.1 Locations of New World Maroons / 3 1.2 West Africa: vegetation and climatic zones / 12 1.3 Ethnic groups of West Africa / 14 2.1 Moore Town in 1782 / 38 3.1 Accompong settlement / 66 6.1 Maroon settlements in Mexico / 95 11.1 The Maroons of Jamaica today / 166 11.2 Accompong Town quarters / 171 11.3 Location of Nanny Town in Blue Mountains / 173 IIA Nanny Town site / 176 11.5 Gold Coast (1655) showing coastal kingdoms and Kromantse / 184 Maroon Heritage v\ Foreword The papers published in this volume had their origin in a conference on Maroon Heritage held at the University of the West indies, Mona, 18-19 October 1991. That conference was memorable for a number of reasons. Scholars often choose to keep a distance between themselves and their subjects of study. The conference on Maroon Heritage was therefore unusual in the manner in which it brought together observer and observed on an equal, mutually reinforc- ing basis. Academic researchers came from Jamaica and other parts of the hemi- sphere, and Maroons came from their main bases in Jamaica— Accompong, Moore Town and Scott's Hall. Papers were delivered by both Maroons and academics, and dialogue flowed freely. Maroons have never been marooned in the sense of being lost, cast up in some isolated, desolate place, without networks to the wider world. They have always been in the world and of the world. An acceptance of this past and present interac- tive relationship is essential for the future preservation of Maroon heritage as well as the study of Maroon peoples and their history. Maroon communities have been studied frequently and intensively by the out- side scholarly world. What scholars have said and written about them finds its way back into the culture, one way or another. This in turn adds to the store of knowledge, whether it be right or wrong, and can enter the oral tradition. Students of oral historiography call this the problem of feedback. The big question here is how far what scholars think they are learning from people as their oral tradition is really a product of exposure to the wider world, including the scholarship of that wider world. No oral tradition is pure, and no written document offers an unblem- ished record of experience. Scholars working with written documents, however, are almost always reading accounts created by the oppressors rather than the oppressed. This carries its own special dangers, as papers in this volume indicate, complicating the problem of feedback. The interface between the oral and the writ- ten becomes extremely busy, and it becomes increasingly difficult to identify and separate the source-origins of the heritage. Foreword v\\ The conference on Maroon Heritage was particularly significant in facing up to these questions, even if in the deliberations the issues were more often implicit than explicit. It was not just a matter of healthy dialogue, but an encounter at close quarters that provided a clearer view of the present state of understanding and some notion of how research and dissemination should proceed in the future. In this volume, the essential character and spirit of the conference has been retained successfully. There are papers by Maroons and papers by academic scholars, papers from individuals with a wide variety of disciplinary alliances. For ensuring this achievement, full credit must go to Kofi. I had the privilege of serving as Head of the Department of History at Mona at the time of the confer- ence, but Kofi was the initiator and the essential energy behind all of the arrange- ments. It was his contact with the Maroons, established through his archaeological and cultural studies, that provided the basis for the fruitful exchange that charac- terized the conference. Beyond any selfish scholarly concerns, there was also the spirit of sharing, the desire to give something back. Kofi was also responsible for seeing that the published proceedings, the contents of this book, maintained this spirit. I am proud to have been his associate. Finally I wish to thank all of the participants to the conference, and particularly the authors of the papers contained in this volume, for their contribution towards a widening and deepening of our understanding of Maroon history and culture. B W Higman University of the West Indies Mona, Jamaica vm Maroon Heritage The Place of the Maroons in Jamaica I feel honoured by the fact that you recognize that as the resident representative of Africa on the island, it is appropriate to associate me with this symposium. I want to commend the organizers of this symposium for their foresight and I have special commendation for the Maroons for their active participation in the analyses and dis- cussion of research results on their heritage. This is a practice that should be encour- aged because it provides the opportunity also for community participation in research ventures at all levels. I am informed that this symposium was originally planned as a local University activity but has now turned out to be an international event with participation of panelists from such places as the Smithsonian Institution and New York Univer- sity, the Institute for Policy Studies, Washington DC, the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies, and other areas. I am also informed that most of the participants paid their way to come to this conference. There is, therefore, a clear challenge to Jamaicans to sustain this interest. When the British conquered this island in 1655 it soon became clear to them that the freedom-fighting Maroons were a force to be reckoned with. Apart from the later rise in the number of black slaves and its attendant complex organizational needs, as a result of colonial economic policy, the colonial power recognized the escapee community as a legacy that was to determine or rather influence the course of events. This is supported by the fact that the British, from the time of Charles 11 in 1658 to George 111 in 1795, had to ceaselessly grapple with the desperate fight of the slaves, who were struggling for their freedom, and escapees also struggling to maintain their freedom. A close examination of the cultural his- tory of Jamaica indicates clearly that the Maroon society provided a cultural link between the indigenous societies of the island and the Spanish settlers on the one hand, and the English on the other. Historically, this is significant because it indicates that the history of the Maroons of Jamaica is not only a link, but has become and remains in its entirety a part of the historical period. The importance Opening Address ix
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