The generation to come needs to know their heritages but in the most accurate and reliable way. Thus, its development needs the collaboration of a cross-section of the community, experts and stakeholders instead of single-entity research.
The National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) announced it would host an international symposium on the theme ‘Gambian Heritage Goes Digital’ from 18th-20th October 2022 at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
The event is to mark the successful end of a five-year digitising project of the NCAC Oral Archives at Fajara. The archive is the repository of 7000 audio tapes and 2000 transcribed files. It is a unique national memory of the history of The Gambia.
Indeed, it’s a unique national memory but documenting national history needs inclusivity, time and research for its accuracy for the betterment of the nation and the generation to come. The institution responsible should at all means engage Gambians from different parts of the country to get first-hand information about the country’s culture and history in particular.
Countries like Senegal made an inclusive search to document their cultures and history. However, the first documentation with the view of the cross-section brought some controversy, as some sections of the community felt marginalised while others believed their stories were not properly documented.
The Smiling Coast of Africa, The Gambia, as called by many in the sub-region and beyond, should endeavour to avoid such incidents in the country. With greater awareness of the potential impacts that these technologies can have, there has been increasing attention on the use and ethics of digital technologies to preserve, destroy or threaten heritage.
Therefore, engaging in a nationwide dialogue will help to protect certain unwanted occurrences in the future of our history.
This, they said was supported by the German project team including Professor Henning Schreiber of Hamburg University and Dr. Katrin Pfeiffer, an Ethno linguist with 36 years of research experience in The Gambia; with Hassoum Ceesay and Siaka Fadera leading the NCAC project team.
Is not bad to have foreigners leading the research on our own history but the cultural godfathers in our villages and towns, who can keep history hundreds of years as passed from generation to generation, should be engaged in their various communities.
Despite NCAC and partners holding a confab of historians, there are lots of unknown historians in our rural areas, thus reaching out to them will be of great use to this endeavour. A quote from our grandmothers and fathers in the rural areas often said that ‘what we've been taught by our fathers will shape our lives.' Therefore, they believed that the history given by their ancestors is the true history that portrays their culture and lifestyle.