The Institute for People’s Enlightenment in collaboration with the UWI Open Campus, Grenada announces the 2017 Annual Commemorative Emancipation Lecture and the 2017 Annual Commemorative Emancipation Poster Exhibit, in collaboration with the Grenada National Museum.
On Monday, 17 July the Commemorative Emancipation Poster Exhibit will open at the National Museum, the corner of Young and Monckton Streets, St George’s. The poster exhibit will be directed by Grenadian born, Paula V Saunders, PhD from the village of Maran, St John, under the theme “The Plantation Landscape and Industrial Heritage of Grenada” and will be jointly hosted by Institute for People’s Enlightenment and the Grenada National Museum.
The poster exhibit runs from 17 July 17 to 25 August 25, and is intended to showcase Grenada’s 18th century plantation landscape and industrial remains from the plantation era.
The Emancipation lecture is scheduled for Monday 31 July at Norton Hall, Church Street, St George’s. The theme is “The Significance of Preserving Grenada’s Historical Heritage and Culture: Why Sound National Policy and Community Involvement Matters?
The lecture will be delivered by Saunders, who is a current Associate Professor of Anthropology of the City University of New York, USA. The lecture will focus on the importance of historical and heritage monuments, documentation, make suggestions for policies and examine the important role of communities in the preservation of the Grenadian heritage.
Saunders migrated with her family to New York where she completed her junior and senior high school education before attending Syracuse University where she received dual major degrees in Anthropology and Advertising, with a minor in African American Studies. Immediately after college, she worked on the African Burial Ground project, the largest African burial ground excavated in the Diaspora. She completed her graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received her Doctorate in Anthropology, with specialisation in Archaeology.
As an anthropologically-trained historical archaeologist with a specialisation in African Diaspora Archaeology, her research focuses on the material culture of everyday life, as well as on African-derived ritual practices. For her current research, she has returned home to Grenada, where she is investigating the British settlement on the island, after it was ceded from the French in 1763. She is examining the colonial histories of several estates, including Scottish-owned Dougaldston and Waltham Estates, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Her work at Dougaldston examines not only the period of slavery, but the post-emancipation period through the 1970s.
From September 2000, the Institute for Peoples’ Enlightenment Ltd. and the UWI School of Continuing Studies/UWI Open Campus, Grenada have collaborated in hosting “The Annual Commemorative Emancipation Lecture Series.” The Annual Commemorative Emancipation Lecture series featured deliveries from distinguished Caribbean scholars such as Professor Hilary Beckles PhD, September 2000; Claudius Furgus, PhD; September 2001, Nicole Phillip PhD, September 2002 and Editha Jacobs PhD, September 2003.
The Institute for People’s Enlightenment Ltd was incorporated as a non-profit company on 8 June 2004 under the Companies Act No 35 1994 and is committed to fostering a greater awareness of our heritage and the enlightenment of all people.
Contact persons: Simon Green & Kay Julien; Email: ipe.emancipationlectures@gmail.com: Phone: 459-1582; Whatsapp: 1(515) 491-0068)
