Elmina Fort Virtual Tour - Cultural Heritage and the
Preservation of African History
Until
five years ago, tours of Southern plantations only led
visitors through the
rooms inhabited by the slave owners. When on such a tour ten
years ago, I was
shushed and glared at by the tour leader. In recent years,
however, things have
begun to turn around. Tours of former plantations in the
American South have
begun to add information about the lives of the slaves who
made the lives of
ease and luxury possible. In some cases, the tours given by
the Historic
Charleston Foundation spend as much time in the slave quarters
as in the big
houses.
Nearly
all the current 3D Digital Humanities historical preservation
projects are
built around widely known and highly celebrated places. For
example, there
exist finished or partial completed 3D digital models of
Renaissance palaces,
the Roman Coliseum, the Biblical city of Tal Afar, and the
ancient city of
Palmyra. Given the time, money and personnel necessary to
complete such
projects, these 3D model builders opted for recreating
cultural heritage sites
with pleasing and appealing histories. Their calculations seem
to have been
correct, since those projects have easily found large funding
from national
organizations. However, these digital historians reconstructed
cultural
heritage buildings in order to regale their audiences with
tales of the wealthy
and powerful who like the southern plantation owners enjoyed
the fruits of
slave labor.
Professors
El Zarki and Seed at the University of California-Irvine saw
the politics of
digital cultural preservation differently. We believed that
with the exception
of the pyramids, African buildings and African subjects were
absent in the
world of heritage initiatives. Since the European world had
profited tremendously
from its overseas colonies, we believed that it was important
to recreate a
building that would serve as a reminder of the colonial rule.
That building should
both represent colonial rule as well as serving as a reminder
of how much of
European and American economic success depended upon the slave
trade. The slave
forts were the places where Europeans and Africans crossed
paths daily. But it
was also the place where African slaves were imprisoned prior
to their removal
from Africa.
Over
the last four years, we built a complete 3D model of the
oldest slave fort in
Africa, a place originally completed in 1482, and which exists
to this day.
Saint George Elmina (originally São Jorge da Mina) is also one
of the largest
forts in West Africa. Our model, complete with interactive era
tours (tour
the fort as it is now or how it was under Dutch occupation),
and augmented
virtuality, is available for inspection on a fast internet
connection, or for
download under a CreativeCommons license.
Sanfoka Game - A Cultural Heritage
Edugame
There are many
ways to learn about another culture,
but the most in-depth method of learning includes the
opportunity to visit a
country and live among its people for an extended period of
time. Such
opportunities remain out of reach for most people and are not
practical when
addressing pedagogy in school aged children.
For most, learning usually entails going to classrooms
and attending
lectures, visiting museums, seeing and reading about people and
objects online.
A brilliant teacher or speaker can communicate enthusiasm and
interest in a
subject, but that learning is restricted to those fortunate
enough to be
present during the lecture. Seeing a folktale staged in a
theater, or watching
it in a movie or even listening to it in a library or classroom
allows for
momentary enjoyment and delight, but the experience is often
fleeting and
quickly dissipates, especially with younger audiences. Seeing
performances,
going to museums, listening to folktales are all valuable
experiences, each of
these has their advantages. but all ultimately fail to draw a
young mind into a
broader understanding of the cultural logics of a society.
Recent advances in the pedagogy of
cultural learning
and communication have created new and unprecedented ways of
getting the attention
of students. One of the most exciting and effective means is to
involve
students in the process of learning through dynamic engagement
using video
games. Immersing oneself in a 3D virtual environment, or
engaging with a space
via augmented reality has a much more profound effect on the
learning
experience.
Using
serious games for cultural heritage education allows students
to follow a
character, solve puzzles and defeat challenges in ways that
are both familiar
and unfamiliar at the same time.
The
ways of moving a character/interacting with a character in
virtual space, are
all intimately familiar to younger generations. Although the
mechanics of game
play remain familiar, the cultural logics needed to solve the
puzzles in
cultural heritage games are deeply embedded in ways of
thinking that would be
found in the communities that are being presented. In effect,
computer games
can provide access to cultural logics in ways that other
methods cannot.