OUR HERITAGE

HE INTERNATIONAL GARIFUNA CONFERENCE at the Peace Memorial Hall, Kingstown

Presenters

Dr. Melanie Newton received her PhD in Modern History from Oxford University in 2001. Dr. Newton is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto, Canada. She specializes in the social and cultural history of the Caribbean and the history of slavery, gender and emancipation in the Atlantic World.{{more}} Her most recent publications include the preface to Jerome S. Handler, The Unappropriated People: Freedmen in the Slave Society of Barbados (University of the West Indies Press, 2009 [1974]) and The Children of Africa in the Colonies: Free People of Color in Barbados in the Age of Emancipation (Baton Louisiana State University Press, 2008). Dr. Newton will be presenting her paper “Geographies of the Indigenous: The Early Modern Lesser Antilles in Hemispheric Perspective,” a comparative and transatlantic analysis of European, African and indigenous relations in the Lesser Antilles in the 17th and 18th centuries. Her presentation will be on Monday, March 12th, from 10:15 – 11:00 a.m.

Dr. Garrey Michael Dennie received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University and holds a position as Associate Professor in African History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Currently on Sabbatical, he is serving as Professor in Residence at the St. Vincent Community College. Dr. Dennie has enjoyed an illustrious career as a Speech Writer for Nelson Mandela, a Lecturer in African History at UWI, Mona, and as the author of numerous Peer Reviewed publications. Dr. Dennie will be presenting a paper titled “From Villain to Hero: The Re-inventions of Chatoyer” at the International Garifuna Conference at the Garifuna Heritage Foundation’s upcoming conference on Monday, March 12, during the session which runs from 11:15 am to 12:15 a.m.

Dr. Adrian Fraser is St. Vincent’s preeminent Historian and author of a popular and heralded weekly Newspaper column. Dr. Fraser received his PhD in History from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and was the Head and Resident Tutor of the UWI Open Campus in St. Vincent from 1991 – 2011. Dr. Fraser has made numerous contributions to the nation and region through his ample publications and dedication to exploring and promoting the history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. His most recent publication is From Shakers to Spiritual Baptists – The Struggle for Survival of the Shakers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG Publishers, 2011). Dr. Fraser will present his work on “Revisiting the Garifuna/Kalinago Story – the Challenges of Researching and Writing” at The Garifuna Heritage Foundation’s upcoming conference on Monday, March 12, during the session which runs from 11:15 am to 12:15 a.m.

Carol-Anne Agard is a member of the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago, and has received degrees in Theatre and Cultural Policy Development from the University of Manitoba and in African Studies and Caribbean Traditions from the University of Toronto in Canada. She has held positions as Lecturer in Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto; founded, directed and coordinated The Caribbean Theatre Workshop Theatre Company in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and has worked with both the Governments of Manitoba and Ontario, offering her expertise in positions dedicated to Cultural and Artistic development. She has been a valued member of Curatorial Committees at the Royal Ontario Museum and at the Textile Museum Toronto, and has contributed extensively towards the Carnival Arts in North America, Africa and the Caribbean. Her paper presentation here in St. Vincent will focus on strategies for the survival of the Garifuna in the Caribbean and Latin America, and is titled “Strategies of Garifuna Survival – Retentions and Re-Constructions of Ancestral Heritage”. She will present on Sunday, March 11, during the session from 10:15 to 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Julie Kim received her PhD from Duke University in Literature, and currently holds a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Fordham University. Dr. Kim has a forthcoming book entitled States of Subsistence: Empire and Everyday Resistance in the Atlantic World, as well as an upcoming publication in Early American Studies entitled Caribs in the Atlantic World: Negotiating Empires on St. Vincent in the Age of Revolution. Dr. Kim will be presenting her paper “Multiracial Alliance and Revolution: The Black Caribs of St. Vincent” on Monday, March 12th, at the upcoming International Garifuna Conference here in St. Vincent from 10:15 – 11:00 a.m.

Professor Emilio Esteban Mosonyi is Hungarian by birth but has lived in Venezuela since his early childhood. He is a Professor of Anthropology in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, and serves as the Dean of the Indigenous University of Taura in Bolivar State, Venezuela. Professor Mosonyi has devoted his life and studies to Indigenous issues and issues of the African Diaspora, and is a social activist dedicated to participation in grassroots organizations connected to these issues. Amongst his many publications are the seminal texts Aborigines after their Final Release (1975) and National Identity and Popular Culture (1981). Professor Mosonyi will present his “Inter-American Project for the Safeguarding of the Garifuna people and culture of Central America” at the groundbreaking International Garifuna Conference here in St. Vincent. His presentation will be on Sunday, March 11, during the session from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m.