I can’t think of any subject more boring. Every country has evolved through a wide range of development as far as relationships between people are concerned but that’s ancient history in most lands, something to be studied in terms of text books. Canada is no exception and in fact here the subject continues. There are daily problems recorded in the media, whether it’s aboriginal affairs, French/English concerns, Christian/Islamic confrontation, etc. Luckily we live in a country where such topics are in the news but seldom impact on our daily lives.

Doug Skeates Most momentous events relate more to another country or another time. We were involved with the issue of slavery in the United States, mostly in terms of the underground railway. We experienced invasions from a foreign country such as the Fenian Raids and the war of 1812 where we were in conflict with our ‘friends’ to the south. These events make interesting reading though about what happened a couple of centuries ago.

I have always maintained that most subjects are more easily studied ‘hands on’ rather than through dull text books. I have been especially privileged to learn about social studies first hand. In 2000 I participated in a review of environmental policy in Suriname, South America as a token forest ecologist. This was a unique country with colonial origins. Generally when one thinks about colonization this has been about British, French or German foreign affairs. Suriname was a former Dutch colony with Dutch still the official language of the people. A significant proportion of the population

15%) have come from Holland or Indonesia, another former Dutch

Studies

colony.

My role related not to industrial pollution, land fill, population planning or other matters pertaining to people living in the cities along the Caribbean coast, but to the 90% of the country beyond the cities, the rain forests to the south. Some of the problems seemed vaguely familiar to Canadian experiences where most of the population lives as close as possible to U.S. markets for industrial products. In Suriname I dealt with ‘maroon folk’, normally referred to as ‘bush’ people. In common with Canadian aboriginals they were largely remote from the main population, a completely different culture.

This was a new perspective on the results of slavery and isolation. African slaves and indentured workers from Asia fled inland from a brutal, totalitarian regime. Villages were established up river beyond the reaches of the military where they remain today largely remote from corrupt government in the north. From my perspective the forest villages upriver from the town of Brokopondo and a huge man-made reservoir, van Bommersteinmeer on the Suriname River. would have been ideal for introducing work on Community Forestry, but neither time nor accessibility allowed.

While most of the project time was spent in the capital city of Paramaribo an opportunity was provided to visit one Maroon village, Santigon. This experience reminded me of early aboriginal communities in northern Ontario and grass huts in Kenya. One notable similarity was the proficiency of folk in forest communities in craft work. A reminder of that visit is carved platters of Cedrella in the sun room. The forest had been harvested and replanted with oil palms and lighting and cooking were still based on oil extracted from nuts of residual palm trees in the area.

A real tourist attraction was an abandoned company town, Moengo. At one time this had been the centre of operations for the bauxite mining industry. This was the country’s major commerce, the processing of aluminum of which the manufacturing company ALCOA in Quebec was a major component. Due to unrest in the country, the town was abandoned though remaining intact. The company operates open pit mining plus replanting of indigenous species for rehabilitation of rainforest species. Wildlings and topsoil are removed before blasting for bauxite.

Every country has its own bases for a tourist industry. Most countries have developed sophisticated attractions for visitors and it was a real refreshment to visit a land which was still emerging into the modern world and to see the evolution of people through their early stages of history, a real social studies classroom as well as a unique form of tourism.