Fosten: A Story about Tradition and Territory (Matawai Oral Histories) | Amazon Conservation Team

 

The Matawai Maroons of Suriname, descendants of formerly enslaved Africans who fled into the rain forest, have lived in their ancestral territory for hundreds of years. Community elders still remember incredibly richly detailed oral histories about "fosten", referring to the early times when their ancestors first arrived in these strange lands. Today, the tradition of passing on these stories from generation to generation is at risk. The villages are frequently desolate as the youth have left to find work in gold mines or the city, and the elders are gradually passing on to the next life. This film documents a project to try to preserve the knowledge of the elders through participatory mapping and video recording, and using contemporary digital storytelling resources like the open-source application Terrastories powered by Mapbox, to make their knowledge accessible for generations of Matawai to come. Featuring Josef Dennert, Jerrel Bloemhart, Rudo Kemper, and Niradj Hanoeman. Foe buta ondertitelen in a Matawai tongo, buta "Malay" http://www.amazonteam.org/