Explosive Transformations: Cultural Resilience to Natural Hazard on St Vincent and Montserrat

This project responds directly to Strand 4: Cultural Heritages, Interpretation, and Representation and the Translating Cultures and Care for the Future themes in its examination of the ways in which response to and recovery from future volcanic events on the Eastern Caribbean islands of St Vincent and Montserrat is shaped by the cultural memory and narratives developed through past experiences. The project is interdisciplinary in its conception and design, bringing literary studies together with volcanology, international development, and project partners responsible for future emergency response on the islands, to allow for a thorough investigation of the ways in which resident populations have responded historically to severe natural threat, how crises have been dealt with, and recovery undertaken. In this way the project explores the extent to which knowledge of disaster translates between cultural and scientific experiences of volcanic risk and the extent to which cultural experience of past risk shapes future response by offering a comparative analysis of the literary record, oral traditions and histories, songs, and other artistic expressions, and working with local populations to gain an understanding of the place of the volcano in the cultural imaginary. The PI, Co-Is, and Project Researcher will work closely with the Project Partners, combining our different sets of knowledge and expertise, research methodologies and practices in order to examine the ways that literary studies can be conducive to new models of scientific, social, and political development. The project will combine literary scholarship to explore the place of the volcano in Caribbean literature and oral culture, archival research to search out evidence of experiences of past eruptions that are hidden from the official colonial records, focus-groups and interviews with local communities on both St Vincent and Montserrat as well as the islands' diasporas in the UK, and a three day workshop in the Eastern Caribbean bringing together the Project Investigators and Researcher, the Project Partners, and other invited stakeholders from literary scholars, writers and performers, artistic figures, archivists and publishing houses, and civil and community groups where we will discuss our findings and explore the ways in which they can be put to the most use for the communities affected by volcanic risk.

The aim of our Pathways to Impact plan is to (i) preserve the new knowledge gained from this project for the benefit of the resident populations of St Vincent and Montserrat who have been affected by and are at risk from volcanic activity, and (ii) to share our findings on the extent to which these might inform future preparedness to volcanic eruptions. Thus the individuals and institutions who will benefit from this include:

(1) Managers and Assessors of Volcanic Risk. In the specific context of St Vincent and Montserrat these are: the Seismic Research Centre, University of the West Indies; National Emergency Management Organisation, St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Montserrat Volcano Observatory) and on institutions on other volcanic islands of the Caribbean. These institutions will benefit from the research in a number of ways. They will be involved in steering the project enabling them to have an input into the direction the research takes and to evaluate its usefulness to their own work. The research will provide a deeper understanding of the place of the volcano in the cultural and historical imaginary on the islands and thus will enable them to take these factors into account when planning for future volcanic events.
(2) Communities at risk: The population and civil society organisations within the islands of Montserrat and St. Vincent. The benefits of our proposed research to these communities and organisations is to be able to utilise our findings in understanding the place of the Volcano in the cultural landscape in order to be able to better prepare for future hazard. Local communities at risk will be brought into conversation with other stakeholders enabling them to take an active part in discussions about how best to manage risk as well as preserve cultural heritage.
(3) Caribbean Archivists; writers and specialist publishers: from the University of the West Indies; on St Vincent, Barbados, Martinique; writers and Calypsonians across the Caribbean and in the UK, and those who publish and disseminate their works.
(4) Visitor attractions on St. Vincent and Montserrat who wish to explore and commemorate important facets of cultural history: the St. Vincent and Grenadines National Trust; St. Vincent Botanic Gardens, St. Vincent National Parks); the Montserrat Volcano Observatory; and on Martinique (Maison du Volcan; Musée Franck Perret); tourist officers in the High Commissions for St Vincent and the Grenadines.
(5) UK Diaspora: UK communities from the St Vincent and Montserrat diaspora.
(6) Wider publics with an interest in volcanoes and Caribbean culture

All of these groups will benefit from a new awareness of the ways that people and communities are shaped by the volcanic environment in which they live; and of the many ways in which this relationship is expressed in written and oral culture; these will bring accessible new understandings of how people have coped with past hazard events, and signpost how the communities, agencies and institutions can prepare for future hazard events.

To preserve the new knowledge we will work with groups (1)- (4) to co-design an exhibit that displays and commemorates this information in a way that is both accessible and provides a lasting legacy of the information. We will use a three day workshop to do this where we will articulate and then discuss some of the key components. On Montserrat and St. Vincent we will collate and share all relevant new documents and materials with the relevant archives. At the end of the project we will produce a reflective document written for the first group that reflects on the extent to which the narratives uncovered provide evidence that might help to build future preparedness. By partnering with these organisations they will be able to use these analyses in their ongoing engagement with the communities at risk.