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17 Patrimony or Patricide? William F. Keegan and Winston Phulgence Introduction Our title is purposely provocative, and our targets are diverse. We are reminded on a daily basis that oil is a finite resource, and that providing clean water is a major problem in much of the world. Thanks to Bob Marley, few in the Caribbean now deny the importance of history: “If you know your history,then you will know where you’re coming from.” The problem is that heritage resources are even more endangered than polar bears.Once they are gone, there is no bringing them back. The Caribbean, however, is not a homogenous entity. Any study of heritage legislation in the Caribbean must take into account the varied political statuses of the various islands. In the Anglophone Caribbean most islands are independent nation states. Islands such as Montserrat and island groups such as the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands are overseas territories of the United Kingdom. We were asked to address the situation on islands with “underdeveloped” cultural heritage legislation. In our opinion it is not appropriate to place the entire burden for heritage management on government (i.e., legislation and enforcement).We prefer a pragmatic approach in which the competing interests of the various stakeholders are balanced.In this regard we consider the roles of the public, government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), developers, and archaeologists. All are equally responsible when it comes to heritage management (Phulgence 2008).The key question is,who then takes responsibility to bring all of the stakeholders to the table? The Public We need to start with the public. Most people today trace their history back a few generations or to some “mythical” ancestor (e.g., Lovelace 1996). In many cases they see no connection to the Amerindian peoples who inhabited 144 / William F. Keegan and Winston Phulgence the islands, and in some cases are embarrassed by their slave heritage.The Indians are long gone,and the physical representations of the vestiges of slavery need to be destroyed. In school most people are taught the history of Europeans ,with little regard to their local history.The importance of connections to the past is lost because they have no affinity to this “history.” Peter O’B. Harris has been an inspiration. Harris recognized that support for heritage management had to come first from the people. In 2003 he convinced an oil company in Trinidad to sponsor an archaeological field school for nonarchaeologists. Most of the participants were schoolteachers, who hopefully brought his message back to their classrooms.The goal was to educate doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others about the importance of prehistoric archaeology and cultural heritage. Without the support of the public, heritage management is a nonstarter. Until the public values these resources as public property these resources will continue to be swept away in development projects. The significant role of the public is especially clear in the case of the Clifton Heritage Park (Pateman ,this volume).The property was slated for a gated development,but public outcry convinced the government to create the first national heritage park in The Bahamas (Keegan et al. 2007). On Grenada, there have been issues concerning the preservation of the Pearls site.When the international airport moved from Pearls to Point Saline, this part of Grenada suffered an extreme economic downturn. Many of the local people turned to looting the site to collect artifacts to sell to tourists. The archaeological site was a source of income,and the fact that the local police station was within sight of the looters demonstrates the lack of interest by the local government in stopping these practices. Henry Petitjean Roget and Gerard Richard held a workshop sponsored by the International Association of Caribbean Archaeologists in 2001 to teach people how to make replicas of pre-Columbian artifacts that they could sell,instead of looting the site. Impacts to cultural resources also can be indirect. Sand mining for construction on the Grenadian island of Carriacou has accelerated the erosion of the Grand Bay site (Fitzpatrick and Keegan 2007:41).This situation reminds us of earlier situations in which fishermen used bleach to capture fish,and in the process killed portions of the reef.Their behavior met immediate needs but extinguished the potential for future gain. People need to feed themselves and their family, and the only way to counter their destructive actions is to engage them, give them alternatives, and make them aware of the longterm consequences...

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