Decolonising Space in Nassau Bahamas: A Public Health Perspective

by Indira Martin

April 18, 2018

Indira is a Biomedical Scientist based in The Bahamas

Summary

Recent advances in brain research show that our environment has a significant effect on our brains, our health, and our behaviours. ‘Neuroarchitecture’ is a new area of study that aims to design urban spaces that promote productivity and health. However, to date, the effect of historically and culturally oppressive architecture and monumentation has been little studied. Therefore I argue from a public health perspective that this dimension of neuroarchitecture ought to be explored in the post-colonial context of Nassau. The point is also argued visually.

“Change the environment, change the brain, change the behaviour”

- Fred Gage, neuroscientist, Salk Institute for Biological Studies

From laboratory rats to humans in urban environments, brain researchers agree that the space and environment around us has a profound impact on the ways that we act and think. Animals, including humans, possess an internal ‘cognitive map’ in the brain which is representative of and relates to the external space; this map is located mainly in a part of the brain called the hippocampus (1). The hippocampus is involved in stress responses, and controlling depression and anxiety, as well as learning and memory (2).

Importantly, the quality of the external space impacts the brain function; for example, rats living in an ‘enriched’ environment produce more neurons (brain cells) in their hippocampus than rats living in a cage (3). This is a direct demonstration of the role of an enriched environment in maintaining optimal brain health. In short, the brain is to a great extent ‘shaped’ by the quality of the external environment it resides in, and because the brain controls behaviour, this can translate into effects on stress response, mood, anxiety and other critical behaviours.

2. “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us”

- Winston Churchill

In light of these recent findings showing the links between the environment, brain function and behaviour, neuroarchitecture has blossomed as a field dedicated to the design of buildings and cities for optimal human health, behaviour and productivity. Researchers have known for some time that diseases like schizophrenia appear to be aggravated by the urban environment and there are numerous lines of evidence to suggest that ‘green spaces’ can positively impact health and wellbeing. This can be likened to the ‘enriched environment’ that is known to positively impact brain development in lab rats. Additionally, an important factor appears to be creating an environment in which occupants feel a sense of ‘belonging’ and ‘connectedness’ to the external ‘social space’ (4).

An often cited example of the negative effect of poor urban design on human behaviour and health, is the Pruitt-Igoe housing tenement built in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1950s. It was a stark 33-storey building complex that, through its stylistic segregation from the rest of the city landscape, structurally reinforced the existent racial and economic segregation that was a part of life in Missouri. Pruitt-Igoe quickly became notorious as a site of criminal activity, addiction, and poor health, and was eventually demolished (5). Although there are a variety of reasons for its demise, there is general consensus from the neuroarchitecture field that the design itself was one that promoted adverse human behaviours and health.

3. “Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.”

― Frantz Fanon

However, despite these advances in brain research in the last 30 years, to date there is little to no study of the psycho-social and/or physiological impact of historically oppressive architecture on the oppressed. Would positive monuments to Adolf Hitler have an adverse effect on the health and wellbeing of survivors of the holocaust and even their offspring and descendants? It seems like common sense to say that of course it would, and this was presumably why all of the Nazi monuments were removed in the post-holocaust years in Germany.

Given the horrors of slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean including the Bahamas (6), it is therefore logical to ask what if any effect colonial monuments, architecture and urban layout has had on public health of the (formerly?) oppressed? Nassau Bahamas is an excellent example of a place which is inhabited mostly by the descendants of kidnapped and enslaved Africans, and yet the architectural landscape is dominated by homages to colonialism. Downtown Nassau, the national centre of governance and commerce, is the epitome of this; in front of Government House, residence of the Governor General, is a larger than life statue of Christopher Columbus; in front of the Parliament itself is a statue of Queen Victoria. The national hospital is called Princess Margaret Hospital. And all of this in spite of the fact that the Bahamas became independent from Great Britain in 1973!

Even beyond these positive monuments to the Bahamian colonial past, the overall spatial design of downtown Nassau is classically (and proudly) colonial in its layout and architecture. There are well-defined lines in the urban space, such as Collins Wall, and a hill that historically separates the wealthy white and ‘mulatto’ Bay Street merchants from the largely working class African majority ‘over the hill’; these lines have long segregated Black and White, rich and poor, tourist and local, and at times even free and enslaved. These colonial remnants are aptly described as ‘imperial formations’, which are defined as ‘relations of force, harbouring political forms that endure beyond the formal exclusions that legislate against equal opportunity, commensurate dignities, and equal rights.’ (7). These are artefacts of not only imperial deeds, but also of imperial intention, which linger on.

Why does this matter? Does anyone even notice the Columbus statue? In practical terms, it matters because monumentalism is the space in which we collectively construct historical memory, and it is through the lens of this memory that we project our (potential) future(s). This discussion is also of particular relevance to the ongoing movement in the United States to remove Confederate statues. It is known that racism and discrimination are linked to a range of health issues such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes; this has been attributed to the “effects of the contextual social space on the internal world of brain functioning and physiologic response….[including]....unhealthy social spaces in which racial stratification (particularly in the form of residential segregation) serves as a structural lattice for maintaining discrimination.” (8). Importantly, this ‘structural lattice’ can affect us even if we do not (consciously) know of its existence!

The reason why all of this matters is because the Bahamas, touted as a veritable paradise, is counter-intuitively wracked by a plethora of issues of health and wellbeing, including crime and violence, chronic disease, HIV, and drug and alcohol abuse to name a few. And we are not alone- many formerly colonised countries like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and others, have the same issues. Yet, there has been precious little study of the link between these adverse behaviours/conditions and the ‘imperial formations’ in the urban post-imperial environment. And, as we have seen, positive spaces promote positive behaviours. Therefore, my central hypothesis is that, in light of the growing body of evidence from the neuroarchitecture field of study, the revitalisation of Nassau, including the decolonisation of the cityscape and the re-design of the space to engender a sense of ‘belonging’, would be expected to positively impact the psycho-social and/or physiological well-being of Bahamians and visitors alike by creating a healthier space, and more importantly a healthier relationship between the brain and the environment. And this is a hypothesis I would love to see tested!

References

Grieves and Jeffery (2017) The representation of space in the brain. Behav Processes 135:113-131
Snyder JS et al. (2011) Adult hippocampal neurogenesis buffers stress responses and depressive behaviour. Nature 476(7361):458-61
Kempermann G et al. (1997) More hippocampal neurons in adult mice living in an enriched environment. Nature 386(6624):493-5
Techau et al. (2016) Buildings, Brains and Behaviour: Towards an affective neuroscience of architecture. World Health Design
Bond, M. (2017) The Hidden ways in which architecture affects how you feel. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170605-the-psychology-behind-your-citys-design
Saunders, G (1985) Slavery in the Bahamas 1648-1838
Stoler, A (2008) Imperial debris: reflections on ruins and ruination. Cultural Anthropology 23(2):191-219
Mays VM et al. (2007) Race, race-based discrimination, and health outcomes among African Americans. Annu Rev Psychol. 58:201-25.

Americans. Annu Rev Psychol. 58:201-25.