The Tribune

By JERVON SANDS

LAST week, Jervon Sands wrote about the idea of cultural maintenance and how it affects Bahamians. This week, he reaches out to fellow Bahamians for their thoughts.

Our further discussion on cultural maintenance opens with insights from Liam Miller. As we know, any endeavour of today’s world requires economic considerations to be made early on. This is especially true in the context of promoting cultural resilience in response to modern challenges.

Miller believes that The Bahamas is at an inflection point, a time when important decisions must be made to ensure a prosperous and secure future. He recognises that our national identity is under threat from external influence due to our proximity to the United States.

It is true that our culture has experienced a diversification in recent years driven by global advancements in information technology. On its own this is not troubling; however, it becomes problematic when it causes the mindset of the Bahamian people to trend towards ideas that our national identity is inadequate and therefore must be supplemented by external influences.

Viewing the issue as an economist, Miller is convinced that much of our problems would be solved by focusing our energy internally to drive Bahamian industries beyond tourism’s purview. Doing so would initiate the process of transitioning our economy from aggregate supply to aggregate demand which is proven to be more sustainable. While tourism may at the surface level appear closely linked to our national identity, closer examination reveals inconsistencies. For instance, tourism as an industry is inherently seasonal yet the Bahamian identity is one of continuous resilience as proclaimed in our national anthem, “steady sunward, marching onward to our common loftier goal”.

The impacts of Hurricane Dorian, the COVID-19 pandemic and the current geopolitical climate all reveal that today’s world is wrought with unexpected external shocks that prolong seasons of economic downturn for small island economies.

Fortunately for us, young Bahamians like Liam Miller are not only problem identifiers but also problem solvers. He offers the following insights and recommendations for achieving sustainable development through a marriage of economic and cultural maintenance. The journey to stability begins with shifting our mindset from one dependent on external opportunities to one that is focused on building up internal actions that encourage growth.

These actions include addressing the faults in our education system so that Bahamian youth are informed about the importance of their national identity and imbued with serious appreciation for their cultural heritage. This foundation will inspire young Bahamians to further their education so that they can safeguard our nation’s future.

Exposing such a crop of young minds to the myriad of niche professional roles vital for the continuous prosperity of our nation will allow us to build capacity and fill the gaps that currently limit us from responding efficiently to the economic and climate crises we face. Moreover, young people are by nature innovative thinkers, encouraging them to pursue entrepreneurship in areas related to sustainable development will afford us access to brilliant and specifically designed solutions right at home.

Another young Bahamian thought leader, Ashawnté Russell operates in the climate action space. Russell believes that action hinges on dialogue. She also shares Miller’s sentiments that children are the future and therefore they should be included, without bias, in the discussions and decisions that will ultimately impact them. Further, it is because of this practice of excluding young people that we are losing them to external influences. Russell explained that intangible heritage like language is easily lost. It is strongly tied to our sense of cultural identity but is continuously being diluted by external influence from the US.

Our school system actively suppresses this aspect of our cultural identity by encouraging students to speak “proper English”. Much of our current threats. Russell compared the climate emergency and global climate response to the case of a serial arsonist who is also a contractor. They torch your property, but you have to go back to them to rebuild it. “We are walking backwards while thinking forwards.”

Russell’s key message is that when a nation loses it sense of self to the point it is no longer attached to its cultural legacy then it becomes easier to ignore the realities of climate change. Without a strong sense of national identity our people won’t see the value in fighting to protect our islands from being lost in the future.

The world stage has been elevated since our debut as an independent nation. We have been left behind in terms of our economic development and our holistic growth as a nation. Achieving independence was only half the victory. We must accept that although our nation became liberated the world itself remains enslaved to conventional ideas that limit our prosperity. Most importantly, as we rush to catch up to the developed world, we must not forget to support young people who are the frontrunners, we must not forsake our sense of national pride nor the main tenants of our cultural heritage. For those are necessary tools for the maintenance of our national identity.

Please connect with these young Bahamian professionals via Linkedin if you have an interest in their work or would like to provide opportunities for them to continue strengthening The Bahamas within their respective fields.

• Jervon Sands is one of the current Bahamian youth climate ambassadors. He aims to connect and engage Bahamian youth innovating in the climate space.