African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica / Jamaica Memory
Bank
The African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ) and the Jamaica Memory Bank (JMB)
began as independent agencies in 1972 and 1980 respectively. In 1990, they were
integrated to complement each other in fulfilling the mission to collect, research,
document, analyses and preserve and disseminate information about Jamaica's cultural
heritage through the utilization of oral and scribal sources. Since its inception,
the ACIJ/JMB has released numerous publications including issues of an occasional
Research Review, which feature articles highlighting diverse aspects of the Caribbean's
Culture.
In striving to fulfill its mandate issued it by its founders the ACIJ/JMB has constantly
engaged in the process of discovery and validation of traditions once little understood
or not generally recognized as having any importance to the sociocultural psyche
of the nation. This has led, throughout the years, to unqualified support for anthropological,
historical and ethnological studies seeking a greater understanding of the cultural
phenomena at the core of the nations social existence, which have for years been
under valued, and hence placed outside the realm of serious and consistent academic
inquiry.
Arising from this work, the ACIJ/JMB has been able to make a significant contribution
to scholarship, and to creating a greater public awareness of the totality of our
cultural provenance.
WHAT WE HAVE DONE...
Apart from staging regular exhibitions on forms of African retention in Jamaican
culture, the ACIJ/JMB has led several research initiatives into areas including
traditional dance forms, language, folk tales, traditional as well as popular recorded
music, social movements, healing practices and the development of villages in the
Caribbean.
WHERE MEMORIES ARE STORED...
The Jamaica Memory Bank: "An Old Man Dies.. .a book is lost" The main objective
of the JMB is to preserve aspects of our heritage by documentation of the memories
of our senior citizens. To date, the JMB has audio recordings of over 1,500 traditional
songs and has also documented the ceremonies, celebrations and activities of several
folk groups on film and via still photographs.
A REPOSITORY OF KNOWLEDGE...
Over the years the research projects of the division have yielded a growing audio-visual
archive of material which is cataloged and stored in the division's library and
is available for use by researches. In addition the library also boasts a rich collection
of books and periodicals dealing with Africa and the Africa retentions in the Caribbean.
PUBLIC EDUCATION INITIATIVE:
OUTREACH...
ACIJ/JMB maintains a vibrant Outreach programme. Outreach sessions and lecture demonstrations
are conducted island-wide on going at schools, teacher's colleges and other community
groups. It is through this medium that the division aims to make the public aware
aspects of culture unearthed through research initiatives.
Contact us at 12 Ocean Boulevard, Kingston, Kingston Telephone: (876) 922-4793/7415
Fax: (876) 924-9361 Email:
acij@cwjamaica.com The pictures will follow this email