Day 4: Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Hello Friends! I am pleased to report that I spent another excellent day in Pointe- a Pitre at another event opening: Memorial ACTe opened its doors today and it was quite the event. 

"Welome to the ACTe Memorial" (in French and Creole)

Part of the Building-- it was too big to get in one shot!

The memorial's full name is "the Caribbean Center for Expressions and Memory of the Slave Trade".  The newspaper articles I read on the subject stressed that this is NOT a museum: it is "a place of contemplation, commemoration, a center for actions and expressions through art, culture, research, and the exchange of knowledge".  (From an article by Andre- Jean Vidal in "France- Antilles", a local paper.)  The center promotes the memory of slavery as a link to the island's past and heritage as well as a way to prevent similar atrocities in the future.  Their slogan appears to be "memory inspires the future". Even though it is a Caribbean Center, the focus is global, with discussion of Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and other corners of the globe.  

Opening day was PACKED.  This memorial is a really big deal for both France and Guadeloupe: President Francois Hollande inaugurated the site in May.  Apparently Hollande does not make it out to Guadeloupe very often because this seemed to be a somewhat extraordinary event.  This should have alerted me to the sheer mass of people that would be present, but I still decided to head over after lunch.  The line didn't look so very long, but it moved oh so very slowly.  I waited for almost 2 hours to be admitted! Luckily, the emcee played music and talked the entire time, so the wait went fairly quickly.  The entire place had a festival like atmosphere, with bands and other events promised later in the day.  In another building, there were free showings of "12 Years a Slave", "Selma", and other movies relateing to the slave trade and race relations.  Once I got to the front, I learned that admission was free-- a big perk (it usually costs 15  euro!) The audio tour was included, which is very cool for someone like me who does not like paying extra for audio tours.

The line once I had exited at around 5:15!

I wasn't allowed to take pictures within the exhibit (sad), so you will just have to trust my opinions and use your imagination.  The exhibit presents slavery chronologically and interactively, thanks to the help of the audio tour, which recognizes where you are in the room and plays the appropriate information (very cool).  It links up with videos throughout the exhibit as well.  Everything was very modern and well laid out. The subject, as you can imagine, is a bit of a downer.  I was surprised by the number of young children I saw there-- and unsurprised when many of them began to cry.  After a 2 hour wait in the Caribbean heat to see mass cruelty and racial oppression, there were some points where I too felt like crying.  (Notably, I did dry heave during the part about the KKK. Unsure if this represents America well or not.) Another highlight was when I had a small panic attack during the representation of the Middle Passage.  You step into a small, dark room and an attendant closes the door behind you.  Then, they pipe in sad music, waves, and the clinking of chains as images of slaves are projected on the walls. Finally, the walls actually close in, making the room smaller and the music gets louder. It lasted for about 2 minutes: plenty of time to make a very powerful statement about conditions of slave ships.  (Shout out to the small girl in the Hello Kitty headband for grabbing her brother's face and telling him it was going to be fine.  She has a bright future.)  Besides these two emotional moments, the exhibit did capture my attention for the entire 3 hours I stayed inside! The sheer amount of information packed into the building is very impressive: I feel like I learned a lot.

However, I did feel like current race relations in Guadeloupe and, more broadly France, were overlooked.  Despite the attention given to race relations in America (please recall the very moving KKK room), very little was said about modern day France and its DOMs.  The exhibit ends with a reminder that slavery still exists in various forms and a work that depicts the diversity of Guadeloupe today.  Both of these rooms felt very rushed to me, like the exhibit was ending too soon.  This idea will be interesting to explore further! I will be heading back to MACTe soon to check out the "Caribbean Festival of the Image"-- the other exhibit housed there.  (To get in today meant another wait and it was already 5:30 by the time I wrapped up!)  I'm interested to see how it compares to my experience today and what kinds of works the Festival shows. 

A nice picture from the bridge that connects the building to an outdoor ampitheatre.  The water is the marina. 

Tomorrow, I will head to the Victor Schoelcher Museum (also in Pointe- a Pitre) to check out some more info about slavery and the slave trade.  I'm excited to keep learning-- the first couple of days have been so fruitful-- and cautiously optimistic that the wait time will be shorter.