Maroon scholar calls for digitisation of the Maroon story

THE STORY of the Jamaican Maroons is the story of the beginning of the evolution of the Jamaican nation. They were the first people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere to free themselves from European enslavers. Their official Emancipation by way of the treaties of pacification and friendship of 1738 and 1739 predated Haitian Independence from France in 1804, which made Haiti the first black republic to rise from plantation servitude.

Yet, the writers of the Jamaican Maroon story are mainly white academic/historians, or Maroon descendants who do not have the lived experience of being a Maroon. And, most of the papers at the annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival (ICTMCF) are read by overseas Maroons and non-Maroons academics. Dr Brittany Osbourne is one such Maroon academic/researcher living overseas.

She was born in Florida, USA, her father and her family originating from the upper Rio Grande Valley in Portland. Her lineage goes directly back to Moore Town, while her father’s maternal lineage is from the Bernards of Comfort Castle. She is a research lead at Meta University of Florida, and by training is a medical and digital anthropologist.

At the recent 17th iteration of the popular conference and festival, Dr Osbourne talked about digital stewardship and how the Maroons can use user experience (UX) research and design to help preserve Maroon knowledge. User Experience is a user’s overall experience when interacting with a product, system or service, while digital stewardship is the responsible management and preservation of digital materials to ensure accessibility and usability for present and future generations.

While Dr Osbourne is somewhat comfortable that Maroon knowledge is being actively preserved in many ways, such as through the ICTMCF, and researchers outside of the Maroon community, she also said, “So, even though we have these preservation efforts at play, it’s very important that we keep the Maroon voices at the centre of these efforts; if we don’t do that, then we will open ourselves up, and our communities up to various types of risks and leave us vulnerable to various type of risks,” she remarked.

“For example, this can increase our risk of misrepresentation if we are not the drivers of these preservation efforts. Also, it can lead to cultural loss or erosion as more of our elders continue to age and pass. If they don’t pass that knowledge on, then it passes on with them, so that’s a real threat that we have to mitigate.”

Cultural appropriation

There is also the risk of cultural appropriation in which people who are not Maroons assume Maroon identity for self-serving reasons, and are telling the Maroon story from their perspective. “And so when we are on the peripheral, instead of at the centre of these discussions, then that can threaten the sovereignty of our communities,” Dr Osbourne stated,

Thus, in the context of globalisation, in a world increasingly becoming digitised, it is important to ensure that Maroon knowledge continue to remain protected and accessible for future generations wherever they might be.

“And, so in a nutshell, digital stewardship helps us to remember and honour our ancestors while preserving their exceptional wisdom for future generations, and specifically, it allows us to protect our knowledge systems and our cultural artifacts in ways that continue to respect our values regarding sovereignty,” she said.

“And so, specifically UX helps us to focus on how people interact with tools and digital products … and so why does UX matter? Because it helps to create technology that works for people and not the other way around, and so why should we care about UX ? … It gives us the ability to build digital spaces that reflect who we are, and it also allows us to keep our traditions alive in ways that the next generation understand and continue to carry forward.

UX research

In the context of UX, there are two subfields; one of them is looking at UX research or user research. “This is all about taking the time to learn from the people … It requires us to listen, to observe and ask the right questions, and it matters because it makes sure the people who are building all of this stuff don’t assume what the needs of the people are,” Dr Osbourne said.

“Research is one of the tools that can allow us to design products … Testing is another method, so that’s essentially testing out a product to see how usable it is … Last, but not least, ethnographic research, this is all about learning from the people by being in the midst … a sense of immersion … and then we have UX design.”

The other subfield is UX design, which “helps us to organise our cultural knowledge in ways that make sense to our people regardless of age. And so, this specific subfield is all about making sure that the products that we’re developing are welcoming and familiar … and this matters because it ensures that the tools that we’re using aren’t confusing, overwhelming or frustrating. It’s an evolving and ongoing process, and so this requires that our communities continue to define how our knowledge is preserved, shared and safeguarded,” Dr Osbourne said.