Monrovia, Liberia – For generations, Liberia’s historical past lived within the voices of its elders, carried via conversations, ceremonies and group gatherings.
In the present day, these tales are discovering new audiences throughout TikTok, Fb, YouTube, podcasts and digital archives.
Younger Liberians are documenting their historical past, exploring their tradition and reaching audiences at residence and throughout the diaspora. Somewhat than changing conventional storytellers, they’re carrying an age-old custom into the digital age.
Throughout a lot of West Africa, griots, or oral historians, preserved historical past via storytelling, music and oral custom. Liberia by no means developed the formal griot custom discovered throughout the Sahel, however its elders fulfilled the same position, preserving household histories, cultural traditions and the tales that sure communities collectively.
Over time, nonetheless, that custom has come beneath rising strain.
Amongst these main efforts to protect Liberia’s previous is Bilphena Decontee Yahwon, founding father of Archive Liberia, a reminiscence and political training venture that explores Liberian historical past via analysis, archives and public storytelling.
“I didn’t initially got down to inform Liberian tales. I needed to inform my very own story,” Yahwon says.
“Inside my story was additionally a narrative of struggle and migration, one which I felt I may solely contextualise by understanding the story of Liberia, who we have been earlier than the 1800s, what occurred afterwards, and what we grew to become. I realised I used to be inside an internet of tales, and that’s in the end what introduced me to the work I do now,” she tells Al Jazeera.
Her private search has change into a part of a wider motion of younger Liberians utilizing digital platforms to reclaim the nation’s previous and reshape how it’s remembered.
A historical past interrupted by struggle
Elders handed down the reminiscences of households, communities, cultural traditions and the occasions that formed Liberia for generations, however the nation’s civil wars severed that chain.
Liberia’s two civil wars, fought between 1989 and 2003, killed an estimated 250,000 folks, displaced tons of of hundreds extra and disrupted the transmission of historical past, tradition and household reminiscence.
“Liberian societies within the forest belt lacked the skilled caste of griots that existed within the Sahel. However our elders did their finest to transmit historic and cultural information, albeit on an unpaid foundation,” says Patrick Burrowes, a Liberian historian and creator.
“The chain of transmission throughout generations continued in an unbroken vogue for hundreds of years till the struggle. That’s the reason we’re seeing much less and fewer transmission of correct historic and cultural information,” Burrowes tells Al Jazeera.
The results of that disruption are nonetheless felt right now.
As Liberia has change into extra urbanised, many younger folks have moved away from the communities the place oral histories have been historically shared. In keeping with a 2022 report by the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Info Providers, inside migrants account for 46.7 % of the city inhabitants, in contrast with 13.6 % of the agricultural inhabitants.
The locations the place tales are shared have modified. The necessity to protect them has not.
The brand new palava hut
For a lot of younger Liberians, the brand new gathering place is on-line.
A historic {photograph} shared on Fb, a TikTok video explaining a cultural custom or a podcast exploring Liberia’s previous can now attain audiences far past a single group.
Tales as soon as shared between elders and youthful generations now journey throughout cities, continents and the Liberian diaspora in seconds.
Zuleka Dauda, chief programme officer on the Middle for Built-in Options, a Liberian-owned analysis and strategic planning organisation, says the shift displays evolution quite than loss.
“Tradition ought to by no means stand nonetheless,” she tells Al Jazeera.
“Younger Liberians are consuming tradition otherwise, but it surely’s nonetheless being taught and shared. As a substitute of gathering across the palava hut, they collect round TikTok, Fb, podcasts and YouTube. We didn’t lose storytelling. We modified the stage.”
For a lot of creators, these platforms have change into areas to doc traditions, protect household histories and problem narratives about Liberia which have usually been formed from exterior the nation.
Historic pictures, forgotten traditions and household reminiscences are reaching new audiences as Liberians use expertise to reconnect with their previous.
However taking storytelling on-line has additionally introduced new challenges.
Reality and reminiscence
Entry stays one of many greatest limitations.
In keeping with World Financial institution figures, simply over one in three Liberians makes use of the web, limiting who can take part on this rising digital archive.
There may be additionally the problem of misinformation.
Conventional storytellers discovered over a few years, with elders accountable for correcting inaccuracies and defending the information handed between generations.
Social media has opened storytelling to everybody, but it surely has additionally eliminated a lot of these safeguards.
“Traditionally, African griots underwent rigorous coaching, and the recitation of information by younger acolytes was fact-checked by their elders,” says Burrowes.
“However social media is a courageous new world. Particular person customers don’t bear coaching in sifting truth from falsehood. Many customers publish info with out vetting. They usually use their platforms to achieve followers and affect, with out regard to social duty.”
Restricted literacy and restricted entry to archives additionally make it tougher for a lot of Liberians to confirm historic claims. Authorities figures estimate literacy amongst Liberians aged 15 and above at 58.6 %.
For Yahwon, nonetheless, the problem isn’t solely about accuracy but additionally about who will get to form Liberia’s historic narrative.
“For me, one of many greatest challenges in telling Liberian tales, tradition and historical past is undoing the ahistorical account of our previous that has dominated for therefore lengthy,” she says.
“A lot of what has been written about Liberia is formed by narratives that lack an anti-colonial and anti-imperialist perspective.”
Who will get to inform Liberia’s story?
As extra Liberians flip to digital platforms to protect the previous, the problem is making certain these tales stay rooted in proof in addition to reminiscence.
The Liberia Tourism Authority says it’s working with historians, cultural establishments and content material creators to enhance entry to historic sources and assist produce correct, partaking tales about Liberia.
Dauda believes the reply is to not discourage younger folks from telling tales on-line, however to assist them inform higher ones.
“Silence is a far higher risk than dialog. We have to discover methods to encourage younger Liberians to inform higher tales,” she says.
The voices have modified. The duty has not. Whether or not tales are shared beneath a palava hut or uploaded to TikTok, the duty stays the identical: making certain Liberia’s previous is preserved for the generations that comply with.
“Our technology doesn’t simply inherit historical past. We’re creating it and sharing it,” Dauda says.
“Give it some thought. The way forward for Liberian historical past might not be written first in textbooks. It might be uploaded.”
