Curaçao Suffers from Institutional Memory Loss

Curaçao Suffers from Institutional Memory Loss

20 November 2025

What do I mean by that? Institutional memory is the knowledge held by institutions, organizations, and society as a whole — an understanding of how things work, how they are supposed to work, and where they come from. On Curaçao, much of that is being lost.

I had suspected this for years, but it became undeniable this year. There was a heated debate about whether 2 July is Flag Day, while the correct name has always been Flag and Anthem Day. Those who pointed this out were insulted. Only after deep digging and solid evidence did people finally accept the correct version. The fact that such a basic piece of information can fade says a lot.

There are several causes. We document very little, despite the efforts of the social-historical archive and other institutions. We are also an oral culture: we pass on knowledge through stories. But once those stories stop being told, the memory disappears. Add to this a growing dismissive attitude toward the elderly, who are increasingly treated as if they have little value. Perhaps the 78-year-old national coach, now being celebrated, can help shift this perception.

Young people also tend to avoid older people, which means there is little intergenerational transfer. I encounter this regularly. Recently, I asked a forty-year-old professional whether he remembered the ALM reorganization under Conrad Aleong. That was about 25 years ago. He had never heard of it. Yet that process yielded many lessons — just as the shipyard's closure did — but most of them have been lost. There are few publications, and young professionals do not know the stories.

Another example: a mentee thanked me for taking him along to a coffee meeting with a group of old professionals, where he could listen and join the conversation about how things developed over time. I was surprised. I often assume that young professionals know these stories, but they absolutely do not.

Our collective institutional memory is fading. And Artificial Intelligence will not save us, because it can only retrieve what has been digitally recorded. What has not been documented does not exist.

This is why I keep repeating: we need a bridge between generations. Without knowledge transfer, we will continue reinventing the wheel — or worse, forgetting we ever had one.

Miguel Goede