Mandela: the man and his legacy

Mandela: the man and his legacy: Rt. Hon. Peter Hain, MP for Neath

Monday 29th November 2010

Lecture to start promptly at 5.30pm and to be followed by a wine reception

Beveridge Hall, South Block, Senate House
Malet Street, University of London
London WC1E 7HU

Peter Hain, MP for Neath, will deliver the lecture ‘Mandela: the man and his legacy’ based on his recently published biography of Nelson Mandela simply entitled ‘Mandela’.

Mandela tells the life and legacy of one of the twentieth centuries most influential statesmen. Charting his development as a lawyer, a protester, and a political leader, Peter Hain MP takes an in-depth look at Mandela’s rise through the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) and subsequent imprisonment on Robben Island, where his increasingly vocal protests against the injustices of Apartheid brought his struggle against overwhelming prejudice and fear to the eyes of the world.

Encompassing his inauguration as South Africa’s first black president, his “retirement” campaigns for a solution to AIDS, poverty, and human rights, and above all his humanity and compassion, this book shows how Mandela has truly become a legend for our time.

Copies of this book will be available to purchase on the day of the lecture.

RSVP to Troy Rutt (troy.rutt@sas.ac.uk or 020 7862 8853)

http://www.commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/

Opening Hours

As of today the library returns to term-time opening hours:

Monday 27 September 2010 - Friday 17 December 2010


Monday - Thursday 09.00 - 21.00

Friday 09.00 - 18.30

Saturday 09.45 - 17.30

New archives list - Sir Ivor Jennings - education and constitutional law across the Commonwealth

We're pleased to announce another handlist added to the ULRLS Archives Catalogue.

The Sir Ivor Jennings papers (ICS125) are a vaulable resource for the history of, and hiostory of education in, Sri Lanka, and for constitutional history across many nations within the Commonwealth.

Sir (William) Ivor Jennings, constitutional lawyer and educationalist, was born in Bristol on 16 May 1903 and died in Cambridge on 19 December 1965. Jennigs held academic appointments at Leeds University in 1925-1929, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he was first lecturer, (1929-1930) and then reader in English Law (1930-1940). His publications in this period included works on the poor law code, housing law, public health law, town and country planning law and laws relating to local government. He also wrote on constitutional matters in The Law and the Constitution (1933), Cabinet Government (1936) and Parliament (1939).

Appointed principal of University College, Ceylon in 1940, he was its first Vice-Chancellor (1942-1955) when it became the University of Ceylon. He described his life there in Road to Peradeniya, an unpublished autobiography, which was posthumously published in 2005 (ref: C/14); see also Jennings' The Kandy Road (ed. H.A.I. Goonetileke, University of Peradeniya, 1993). He was frequently consulted on constitutional, educational and other matters and was Chairman of the Ceylon Social Services Commission (1944-1946), a member of the Commission on University Education in Malaya (1947), a member of the Commission on the Ceylon Constitution (1948), President of the Inter-University Board of India (1949-1950), Constitutional Adviser and Chief Draughtsman, Pakistan (1954-1955), a member of the Malayan Constitutional Commission (1956-1957), and Chairman of the Royal University of Malta Commission. He was also Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia, in 1938-1939 and Visiting Professor, Australian National University in 1950.

As the colonial period ended, he became particularly interested in the Commonwealth and the newly independent nations and was valued as a commentator on the subject. He delivered the 1948-1949 Wayneflete lectures at Magdelen College, Oxford on `The Commonwealth in Asia', the 1950 George Judah Cohen Memorial Lecture at the University of Sydney on `The Commonwealth of Nations', the 1957 Montague Burton lecture on International Relations at the University of Leeds on `Nationalism, Colonialism and Neutralism' and a series on `Problems of the New Commonwealth' at the Commonwealth Studies Center at Duke University, North Carolina, USA in 1958. He re-published an earlier work on laws of the empire as Constitutional Laws of the Commonwealth (3ed. 1956) and published The Approach to Self-Government (1956) and works on Ceylon and Pakistan. In 1954 he became Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and Downing Professor of the Laws of England in 1962, holding both posts until his death. In later life he returned to his study of the British constitution, with the publication of Party Politics (1960-62). He was knighted in 1948, made a QC in 1949, and awarded the KBE in 1955.

The collection of papers held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies comprises of material relating to both the legal and educational career of Jennings.

• 
  
  A. Education: material collected by Jennings as Vice-Chancellor of Ceylon University, Chairman of the Royal University of Malta Commission and a member of other educational bodies in or relating to Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kuwait, Malaya and Uganda.
• 
  
  B. Constitutional issues: material on constitutional and legal issues in Australia, Canada, Ceylon, Cyprus, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Japan, Malaya, Maldives, Malta, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Singapore, South Africa, and Sudan;
• 
  
  C. Books and other writings: including material relating to British Commonwealth of Nations, Colonial Constitution Law, Laws and Liberties of England, Road to Peradeniya (unpublished autobiography);
• 
  
  D. Other material: material outside previous other categories, including British government publications and volumes of press cuttings.

 

Institute of Commonwealth Studies Decolonization Research Seminar

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Decolonization Research Seminar

Autumn Term 2010

5.30-7.00 pm
Room G35, Senate House, Malet Street, London

Mon. 11 Oct:
Rory Cormac (King’s College, London) ‘The Joint Intelligence Committee and Colonial Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire’

Gregor Davey (King’s College, London) ‘Professional factors affecting the activity and machinery of the 'Imperial' intelligence system 1948-1956’

Mon. 25 Oct:
A discussion of Defeating Mau Mau, Creating Kenya: Counterinsurgency, War and Decolonization (CUP, 2009) by Daniel Branch. Discussants: Dr Joanna Lewis (LSE) and Professor David Anderson (University of Oxford). Response by Dr Daniel Branch

Mon. 22 Nov:
Professor Martin Thomas (University of Exeter) ‘Oil and Order: Repressive Violence in Trinidad’s Oilfields before 1939’.

Commonwealth Research Seminar Series, 2010-11

Commonwealth Research Seminar Series, 2010-11


Time: 1.00-2.00 pm, always Wednesday

Venue: Room 104, 1st Floor, Senate House

Convenors: Shihan de Silva and Susan Williams, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Autumn Term

Wednesday 20th October 2010

‘Domestic Migration in India: a Gujarat-Southern Rajasthan Remittance Corridor Study’
Howard Jones (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)


Wednesday 17th November 2010

‘Bombs, burdens, and book reviews: Africans at war 1939-47'.
David Killingray (Institute of Commonwealth Studies/Goldsmiths)


Wednesday 15th December 2010

‘Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism’
Marika Sherwood (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)


Winter Term

Wednesday 19th January 2011

‘Militant philosopher of the third world revolution: Frantz Fanon 50 years on’.
Leo Zeilig (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)

Wednesday 16th February 2011
Title: TBC
Mary Turner (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)

Wednesday 16th March 2011

‘Transnational Education in the Commonwealth’
Balasubramanyam Chandramohan (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)


Summer Term

Wednesday 20th April 2011

‘Education in Cyprus during the 1940s’
Antigone Heraclidou (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)

Wednesday 18th May 2011

‘Zimbabwe - state failure’
Richard Bourne (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)

Wednesday 15th June 2011

"We want new settlers of British stock": Race and the Politics of Migration to
Southern Africa, 1939-1960”
Jean P Smith (Institute for Historical Research).

Black and Asian Britain seminars

Institute of Commonwealth Studies, in conjunction with the Black and Asian Studies Association

Black and Asian Britain seminars

Seminars September to November: 6 to 7.30 pm, Senate House, University of London, Russell Square, London WC1. Everyone is welcome. You do not have to pre-book/register.

Tuesday, September 14 (Room G37)

Marika Sherwood, Malcolm X’s visits to Africa and Britain.
Historians of Malcolm usually almost ignore these visits: I shall outline his activities and question reasons for these omissions. My book Malcolm X: visits abroad April 1964 – February 1965 will be available at a reduced price.

Tuesday, October 12 (room G34)

Rev. Israel Oluwole Olofinjana, History and Contributions of African Churches in Britain.
The seminar will trace the history of African Churches in Brittan, explore why Africans are starting churches in the UK and their contributions to the British society. Rev. Olofinjana’s recent book Reverse in Ministry and Missions: Africans in the Dark Continent of Europe will be available at a reduced price. (Rev. Olofinjana is the minister of the Crofton Park Baptist Church, Brockley Grove, Lewisham)

Wednesday, 17 November (room G34)

Stephen Bourne will talk about his new book Mother Country which acknowledges the wartime contributions of Britain's Black community to the Home Front in WW2.

Linguistic Human Rights: Policy/Practice in the Commonwealth and Symposium 2010-11

Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Studies

University of London

Linguistic Human Rights: Policy/Practice in the Commonwealth and Symposium 2010-11

Theme (2010-11): Language, Communication and Culture in the Commonwealth

Time: 5.30-7.30 PM


Organiser:
Dr Balasubramanyam Chandramohan PhD (Shef), FHEA, FRSA
bala.chandra@sas.ac.uk
Phones: 020 7862 8866/07779 162674

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The Seminar Series and Symposium examine issues of language policy and practice in the Commonwealth. The Seminars aim to provide an overview of the situation in different areas of Commonwealth, both the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ Commonwealth, by highlighting evolving/current policies and practice that impact on the use of language in a range of domains.

The Symposium in July 2011 will focus on language issues in relation to the work of specific institutions and/or initiatives that cover the Commonwealth as a whole.

The presentations and discussions will be of interest to attendees who have specialist interest in the Commonwealth and also to those with academic and/or general interest in areas such as linguistics, literature, culture and society in the Commonwealth and beyond.

Seminar Series: Autumn Term 2010-11

14th October 2010
Venue: Room G22

Portuguese linguistic legacies in the Indian Ocean Commonwealth: Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Malaysia

Speaker: Dr Shihan de Silva, Jayasuriya, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

18th November 2010
Venue: Room 275

Balancing Monolingual and Multilingual Imperatives: a policy/practice challenge for the Commonwealth

Speaker: Dr Balasubramanyam Chandramohan, Council for Education in the Commonwealth/Kingston University/Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London


9th December 2010
Venue: Room G34

Language and Globalization of Higher Education: A Practitioner's Viewpoint

Speaker: Elizabeth Thussu, Director of Administration, Heythrop College, University of London.

New seminar series on 'International Refugee Law'

New seminar series on 'International Refugee Law'

The Institutes of Advanced Legal Studies and Commonwealth Studies in collaboration with the UNHCR are pleased to announce a new seminar series on 'International Refugee Law'. The series has been inaugurated to mark the 60th anniversary of the UNHCR and the Refugee Convention.


Mr Roland Schilling, the UNHCR Representative to the UK, will open the seminar series on Monday 25 October at 5.30pm at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Following Mr Schilling's opening speech, Dr Alice Edwards (University of Oxford) will give the first seminar of the series on 'Rethinking the detention of asylum-seekers and other migrants: exploring the alternatives - a comparative perspective'.


All seminars are free to attend. All welcome. For further information on the series and forthcoming seminars please contact ials.events@sas.ac.uk

British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme

The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme


Call for applications


The Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library is now accepting applications for the next round of funding. Detailed information on the timetable, criteria, eligibility and procedures for applying for a grant is available on the Programme’s website. Applications will be accepted in English or in French. The deadline for receipt of preliminary grant applications is 5 November 2010.

Since it was established six years ago, the Programme has so far funded 137 projects in 57 countries in grants totalling £3.7 million. The Programme is funded by Arcadia, in pursuit of one of its charitable aims to preserve and disseminate cultural knowledge and to promote education and research. The aim of the Programme is to contribute to the preservation of archival material worldwide that is in danger of destruction, neglect or physical deterioration.

The Programme’s objectives are achieved principally by awarding grants to applicants to locate relevant endangered archival collections, where possible to arrange their transfer to a suitable local archival home, and to deposit copies with local institutions and the British Library. Pilot projects are particularly welcomed, to investigate the survival of archival collections on a particular subject, in a discrete region, or in a specific format, and the feasibility of their recovery.

To be considered for funding under the Programme, the archival material should relate to a ‘pre-modern' period of a society's history. There is no prescriptive definition of this, but it may typically mean, for instance, any period before industrialisation. The relevant time period will therefore vary according to the society. The endangered archival material will normally be located in countries where resources and opportunities to preserve such material are lacking or limited.

For the purposes of the Programme, the term ‘archival material’ is interpreted widely to include rare printed books, newspapers and periodicals, audio and audio-visual materials, photographs and manuscripts.

The Programme is keen to enhance local capabilities to manage and preserve archival collections in the future and it is essential that all projects include local archival partners in the country where the project is based. Professional training for local staff is one of the criteria for grant application assessment, whether it is in the area of archival collection management or technical training in digitisation.

The Programme is administered by the British Library and applications are considered in an annual competition by an international panel of historians and archivists.

For further details of EAP projects and collections as well as application procedures and documentation, please visit the Programme’s new website: eap.bl.uk

Web: eap.bl.uk

Email: endangeredarchives@bl.uk

West India Committee archives - handlist now available

Another newly added handlist added to the ULRLS Archives catalogue.

The West India Committee was formed in the 18th century, by London merchants, engaged in the West Indian trade, and absentee owners of West Indian estates. The Committee acted as a pressure group for West Indian interests, principally in the support of the sugar and rum trades and, in the first decades of its existence, in opposition to the abolition of the slave trade and then slavery. Following the abolition of slavery the Committee shifted its work firstly towards the encouragement of immigrant labour from India, China and Africa, and then from the 1840s to 1856 to opposing the removal of preferential sugar duties for West Indian sugar. Later in the 19th century, there were further moves to support cane-sugar grown in the West Indies against the new threat of beet sugar which was now being grown in Europe. The West India Committee mounted a strong anti-bounty campaign, as well as seeking alternative markets for West Indian cane sugar in the United States.


When bounties were eventually abolished throughout Europe in 1902, a concerted effort was made to widen the interests of the Committee beyond sugar alone, to the promotion of West Indian trade in general. The organization grew to include many members residing in the West Indies, and the Committee turned to representing their interests. The West India Committee was succeeded by the Caribbean Council for Europe, active also on trade issues, for example in relation to the Lome Agreement, in which the European Union granted some preferential terms to countries within the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific States) group.

The Commonwealth Studies Library holds a microfilm copy of the early records of the West India Committee

M915 West India Committee minutes 1769-1924 [microfilm] contains:

Minutes and papers of the West India Committee and its predecessors, sub-committees and related organisations, including:

• West India Merchants
• West India Planters and Merchants
• Admiralty Committee of the West India Merchants
• Sub-Committee of the West India Planters and Merchants Appointed to Oppose the Abolition of the Slave Trade
• Literary Sub-Committee of the West India Planters and Merchants
• Merchants, Owners and Masters of Ships
• Jamaica Planters and Merchants
• Country Committees and Proprietors’ Groups: eg. Demerara and Berbice (later British Guiana), Jamaica, Trinidad, and Importers of West Indian Cocoa committees
• British and Colonial Anti Bounty Association
• Board of Commissioners of Grenada and St. Vincent
• Meeting of MPs Interested in the West Indian Colonies

(microfilm copy of original at the University of West Indies, Trinidad)

and two collections of archives from the West India Committee

West India Committee: Acquired Papers ICS96 1750-1988

This collection was acquired with the West India Committee Library and includes reports and accounts and lists of members; the Chinese Emigration Committee Rough Memorandum Book, 1857-1859; Library catalogues; and albums of press cuttings and othe rpapers relating to the work of the West India Committee, its members and events in the West Indies (including albums relating to sugar bounties and free trade, the 1907 earthquake in Jamaica, the West Indian Contingent Committee and the British West Indies Regiment, visits by Sir Algernon Edward Aspinall, Secretary of the West India Committee, to the West Indies, the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad, royal tours, the West India Club, Hurricane Janet and the West Indies Hurricane Relief Fund, constitutional crisis in British Guiana 1953-54, and elections in British Honduras 1954). The collection also includes watercolours and sketch maps of Tobago, St Vincent and Antigua, by Sir William Young [1749-1815], Governor of Tobago [1807-1815] and a number of photograph albums.

West India Committee: Official Archives ICS97 1799-1999
This collection was donated by the West India Committee in 1999. It contains offical records of the West India Committee from about 1900. These include minutes of Annual General Meetings, Executive Committee, Management Committee and various Sub-Committees; minutes of the West Indian Contingent Committee 1915-1919; minutes of the War Services and Ladies' Committees 1939-1940; minutes of the Merchants' and Shippers' Standing Committee, and of the Passage Accommodation Sub-Committee 1949-1954; minutes of the Committee for Exports to the Caribbean, later the West Indian Trade Advisory Group 1965-1980; meeting papers, Annual Reports, lists of members, financial records and extensive files of correspondence and general files on topics including Post Lome negotiations, the rum trade, the rice trade, the banana trade, and tourism. The collection includes photographs relating to Caribbean personalities and countries.

New archives list - Jewish Settlers in South Africa

Another recent addition to the ULRLS Archives catalogue, is Jewish Settlers in South Africa (ICS88)

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, significant numbers of Jews emigrated from Eastern Europe, Russia and elsewhere, to South Africa. The numbers from Russia, escaping extreme persecution, were particularly high. Many were attracted by the potential wealth from the gold mines, but success was not guaranteed and a struggle to become established was experienced by most settlers. However, in due course strong Jewish communities emerged in Johannesburg, Pretoria and elsewhere, and some found considerable financial success. Matters were interrupted by the South African War of 1899-1902, during which many Jews were forced to leave, but the influx resumed when peace was restored. In 1903 the Jewish Board of Deputies was established to provide for the welfare of new immigrants.

The records collected together here are a small sample of source material for the history of these events, and include a list of Jews resident in Johannesburg in c.1915-1917, compiled by the Board of Deputies' War Relief Committee for the purpose of raising funds for East European Jewish immigrants; copies of memoirs and biographical accounts of a small number of Jewish immigrants from the period; and copies of articles on the history of Jews in South Africa.

The material was donated to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies by Baruch Hirson, and appears to have been given to him by Riva Krut, who accumulated it in the course of research work for a thesis on the subject. Riva Krut's thesis, 'Building a home and community: Jews in Johannesburg, 1886-1914' is available in the Commonwealth Studies Library.

The papers include a photocopy of a list of Jews resident in central Johannesburg, together with statistical analysis of addresses and occupations, and note of provenance; memoirs and copies of personal papers of individual Jews, notes from interviews and articles about Jews in South Africa.

New archives catalogue additions - Nigeria

Included in the recent batch of handlists added to the ULRLS catalogue are three collections relating to Nigeria


Nigeria: Mid West Affairs: Oba of Benin (ICS92) includes papers dating from 1926 to 1946 concerning the Oba of Benin, including correspondence with the Governor on the revision of the Benin-Warri boundary, 1926; correspondence and papers on links between Eweka II, Oba of Benin and Fio Agbano II, King of Glidji, Togo, 1934; correspondence on request from the Oba for the use of armed Nigerian police during burial ceremony for his mother, 1935; correspondence and papers on alleged libel of Akenzua II, Oba of Benin by H O Davies in article 'My Impressions on Nigeria' in the 'Daily Service', 1940; and correspondence on award of CMG to Akenzua II, 1946.

Nigeria: Mid West State Movement (ICS93) dates from c1956 to 1963 and includes copies of papers on the case for a Mid-West State in Nigeria, 1956-1963; comprising papers produced by the Mid-West Plebiscite Committee, and the Mid-West State Movement, on the campaign for a separate state, with report a tour of the Benin and Delta Provinces. The demand for a separate State or Region by the peoples of the Benin and Delta Provinces of Western Nigeria, the Edo, Urhobo, Isioko, Itsekiri, Western Ibo, Ishan and Afenmai dated back to 1938. After World War Two the demand began to gain momentum. The matter was discussed at the 1957 Conference on the Nigerian Constitution, and the British Colonial Secretary, Alan Lennox Boyd [later Lord Boyd of Merton] appointed a Commission of Inquiry, under Sir Henry Willink to ascertain the facts about the fears of minorities in Nigeria and to propose means of allaying those fears, and to make recommendations on the creation of new states.

J G Wallace papers (ICS111) contain a rough draft of a history of British Law in Northern Nigeria, 1948-1959; and research papers and partial drafts of a history of Benue Province, Nigeria, c1959. The latter include copies of works by others, and of official administrative correspondence and reports, c1928-1959. The two works were originally intended as two volumes of one work; however, the volume on legislation having been completed more readily than that on Benue, Wallace intended to publish it separately. However, there is no evidence that either progressed beyond the state in which these drafts and notes were found. Very little information is known about Wallace apart from a note of his appointments in the Overseas Civil Service in one of the files in ICS111. He was assigned to the Northern Region of Nigeria in 1954, and after passing examinations, was appointed as a member of HM Overseas Civil Service in 1956. In that year he was made a Grade III Magistrate and posted to Nasarawa Division, then became an Administrative Officer Class IV in 1957. In 1958 he was posted in charge of Wukari Division, then of Lafia Division.

New subject webpage

We now have a general webpage for Commonwealth Studies as part of the Senate House Library webpage. This page provides a general overview of the collection and a list of databases of interest. We're currently working on lists of internet resources to add to this page. Any suggestions please add as a comment to this post:

The subject webpages are avauilable at:
http://www.shl.lon.ac.uk/subjects/commonwealth/index.shtml

Book of the Month - The History of Col. Parke’s Administration whilst he was Captain-General and Chief Governor of the Leeward Islands

Senate House Library's Book of the Month featured one of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies' titles: George French's The History of Col. Parke’s Administration whilst he was Captain-General and Chief Governor of the Leeward Islands

The son of respected Virginian gentry, Daniel Parke (1669-1710) had strong ambitions to become governor of Virginia. Although disappointed in this goal, he was offered the governorship of the Leeward Islands. Arriving in Antigua in the summer of 1707, he alienated and antagonised both planters and traders with what was regarded as heavy-handed enforcement of the Acts of Trade, and provoked concerns leading to a riot as early as 1708. He was wounded in an ambush in October 1709 and killed on 7 December 1710, when the assembly and settlers turned on him and stormed the governor’s residence. The assassination of a Crown official by his subjects was a shocking event, much reported on back in England.


Most accounts of Col. Parke’s character show him in an unfavourable light, coming from sources hostile to his Virginian ambitions and alliances, or his time in Antigua. Parke had returned to Virginia from his first trip to England with a mistress and child, and rumours also suggest he had scandalised Antigua by trifling openly with the wives and daughters of planters, settlers and natives. George French, a close friend of Parke, writes more favourably, in reaction to “false insinuations” and criticisms of Parke. In his account French defends Parke’s actions while governor of the Leeward Islands from 1708 to 1710, gives many details of lawsuits, depositions, etc., discusses much-needed reforms carried out by Parke in the face of settler hostility, and describes in detail the cruelty with which Parke was treated in the rebellion: “they use him with the most utmost contempt and inhumanity. They strip him of his clothes, kick, spurn at, and beat him with the buts of their muskets, by which means at last they break his back. They drag him into the streets by a leg and arm, and his head trails and beats from step to step of the stone stairs at the entrance of the house, and he is dragged on the coarse gravelly street which raked the skin from his bones.”

This copy, one of fewer than a dozen in England recorded on ESTC, was transferred to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library from the West India Committee Library in 1977. It previously belonged to the noted American book collector Samuel Latham Mitchell Barlow (1826-1889).


http://www.shl.lon.ac.uk/specialcollections/bookofthemonth/2010_08.shtml

Archive collections - Sandbach Tinne & Co

Another new list attached to the ULRLS Archives catalogue is that of Sandbach Tinne and Co.


Sandbach Tinne and Co (ICS70)

Founded in 1782 in Demerara, now part of Guyana, Sandbach, Tinne & Co., were shipowners, produce brokers, general merchants and plantation owners, exporting sugar, coffee, molasses and rum from the West Indies. James McInroy came to Demerara in 1782, and planted or acquired a sugar plantation soon after his arrival. By 1790 he was joined by Samuel Sandbach, Charles Stewart Parker and George Robertson, and the company, McInroy Sandbach & Co. was founded. At first the head office was in Glasgow under the name McInroy Parker & Co., and in 1804 a branch was founded in Liverpool, which later became the company headquaters. In 1813 Philip Tinne was taken into the partnership and the company became known as Sandbach, Tinne & Co in Liverpool, and McInroy Sandbach & Co in Demerara (in 1861 changed to Sandbach Parker & Co). They were importers and exporters, shipping and estate agents, mainly concerned with sugar, coffee, molasses and rum, but also in 'prime Gold Coast Negroes' (J Rodway: 'History of British Guiana', 1893). The families intermarried and the sons and sons-in-law entered the business.

Although the company passed through a number of name changes, Sandbach Tinne & Co., is the name by which the company is generally known. Branches of the company were opened in Glasgow (briefly), Montreal (West India Co.) and Trinidad.

The records held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies collections include correspondence between McInroy Sandbach & Co. of Demerara (now Guyana) and McInroy Parker & Co of Glasgow [later Sandbach Tinne & Co of Liverpool] concerning sugar, rum, coffee, and fishing and cotton trades, shipments, the purchase and sale of estates, and political and economic conditions in the Caribbean and Europe, covering the period from 1807 to 1882.

The Senate House Library also holds a collection of correspondence relating to the trade of Sandbach, Tinné and Co. with British Guiana, from 1808-1909, MS 677, including correspondence with McInroy, Parker & Co. of Glasgow (9 letters, 1817-1829), with McInroy, Sandbach & Co. of Demerara, British Guiana (about 40 letters 1815-1852), with Blackwood, Conor and Co. from 1879 and with Sandbach, Parker and Co. from 1870. The letters concern the shipping of coffee, rum, sugar, cotton, and other merchandise to England, and contain incidental references to French, Dutch and English plantations in Guiana, financial arrangements, the state of crops and the labour force, and the use of machinery in plantations e.g. for cane-grinding. 

Other records for the firm are held at the Guyana University Library; the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; the Lancashire Record Office; the Liverpool Record Office and the National Museums Liverpool, Maritime Archives and Library.

Caribbean Seminar Series

Caribbean Seminar Series

jointly hosted by the Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.

You are warmly invited to attend these events. Please note the time and venue in each case. The programme can also be found on http://americas.sas.ac.uk/events.php?aoi_id=79

INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE AMERICAS AND INSTITUTE OF COMMONWEALTH STUDIES CARIBBEAN SEMINAR SERIES AUTUMN 2010

20th October, Ben Bowling, King’s College London PANEL & BOOK LAUNCH Policing the Caribbean: Transnational Security Co-operation in Practice Oxford University Press, 2010

VENUE: Chapters, King’s College London, Strand, London WCR 2LS
TIME: 6PM

Panel: Ben Bowling, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, King's College London Robert Reiner, Department of Law, LSE Amanda Sives, Department of Politics, Liverpool University
Chair: Philip Murphy, Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Policing the Caribbean examines how law enforcement is migrating beyond the boundaries of the nation state. Perceptions of public safety and national sovereignty are shifting in the face of global insecurity and as the police respond to transnational threats like drug trafficking and organised crime. Transnational policing is one of the most significant recent developments in the security field and is changing the organisation of criminal law enforcement in the Caribbean and other parts of the world. Drawing on interviews with chief police officers, Customs, coastguard, immigration, security, military and government officials, Policing the Caribbean examines these changes and provides unique insight into collaboration between local security agencies and liaison officers from the UK and USA. This book considers the impact of a restructured transnational security infrastructure on the safety and wellbeing of the Caribbean islands and beyond. It concludes that as the “war on drugs” has been fought, transnational law enforcement has displaced drug trafficking to new locations across the north Atlantic rim and with it, the associated harms of money laundering, corruption and armed violence.

Bio: Ben Bowling is Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at King's College London. He has published widely in the fields of policing and international criminal justice. His books include Violent Racism (OUP 1998) and Racism, Crime and Justice (with Coretta Phillips, Longman 2002). He has served on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Criminology and Policing and Society. He has been a consultant to the United Nations and Interpol, and regularly addresses senior security sector practitioners from around the world.

Hosted in collaboration with the British Society of Criminology

3rd November SEMINAR: Clara Rachel Eybalin Casseus, Université de Poitiers ‘Trans-national Associative Practices: The Case of Haitians in France’

Venue: G32, Senate House, ground floor
Time: 5pm

Abstract:
This paper examines the empirical data collected on a less-visible segment of the population residing in Metropolitan France: migrants of Haitian origin referred to as trans-national entrepreneurs. Three elements in this study help us to understand how migrants transformed themselves into development actors: their ability to cultivate cross-border transactions and exchanges on a regular basis; an engagement with the local community in activities likely to lead to long-term development and sustainability; and an overall approach to empower locals to break the poverty-trap triangle. In the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Haiti, this paper attempts to look differently at the ongoing practices of a diasporic community and its possible impact on local development.

Bio: Originally from Haiti, Clara Rachel’s journey abroad begins at age of four due to political turmoil. Her travels took her to different parts of the globe: from Zaire to Miami, from Mexico to Jeddah. A long-time tourism specialist (FL/GA, 1988-1992) and former Healthcare worker in the US and Jeddah, she holds a BA in International Politics and a MAIA/MPA in Strategic Public Policy from The American University of Paris. She also holds an MA joint-degree with the Institut Catholique de Paris in the Sociology of Conflicts. She is currently working on her PhD on Migration & Development Studies at the Université de Poitiers (France), focusing primarily on the evolution of trans-nationalism and Caribbean diasporic communities throughout the European Union.

17th November, Natalie Zacek, University of Manchester SEMINAR & BOOK LAUNCH Settler Society in the English Leeward Islands, 1670-1776, Cambridge University Press, 2010

Venue: G27, Senate House, ground floor
Time: 5pm

Abstract:
Settler Society in the English Leeward Islands, 1670-1776 is the first study of the history of the federated colony of the Leeward Islands - Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, and St Kitts - that covers all four islands in the period from their independence from Barbados in 1670 up to the outbreak of the American Revolution, which reshaped the Caribbean. Natalie A. Zacek emphasizes the extent to which the planters of these islands attempted to establish recognizably English societies in tropical islands based on plantation agriculture and African slavery. By examining conflicts relating to ethnicity and religion, controversies regarding sex and social order, and a series of virulent battles over the limits of local and imperial authority, this book depicts these West Indian colonists as skilled improvisers who adapted to an unfamiliar environment, and as individuals as committed as other American colonists to the norms and values of English society, politics, and culture.

Bio: Natalie Zacek is Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Manchester. She received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University, and has published essays on aspects of the social, cultural, and gender history of the English West Indies in Slavery and Abolition, the Journal of Peasant Studies, Wadabagei and History Compass, as well as a number of edited volumes. She has received funding awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the British Academy, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Earhart Foundation, and is currently working on a history of horse-racing in 19th-century America.

1st December PANEL: CRIME & DEMOCRACY IN CONTEMPORARY JAMAICA

Speakers: Amanda Sives, Liverpool University; Rivke Jaffe, Leiden University
Followed by book launch of Elections, Violence and the Democratic Process in Jamaica, 1944-2007 by Amanda Sives (Ian Randle Publications, 2010)

Venue: G27, Senate House, ground floor
Time: 5pm

Amanda Sives, ‘A calculated assault on the authority of the State?’: Crime, Politics and the Extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke’
In this paper, I use the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke as a starting point for analysing the relationship between criminality and politics in 21st century Jamaica. Based on secondary sources and previous research, I analyse this example to explore connections between criminal networks, political parties and the State. I argue the ‘Dudus’ case was inevitable given the historical relationships between criminal actors and politicians and that this extradition could provide a turning point if the State, and agents of the State, prove to be genuinely committed to breaking the connections between politics and crime. In addition, I want to explore other factors which can influence the direction of the process. First, I question how far civil society can be involved in the ‘renewal’ process and where the potential barriers to their engagement could arise and secondly, I want to explore the international dimension, critically important given current economic realities in Jamaica and the trans-national nature of the ‘problem’.

Rivke Jaffe, ‘Hybrid States and Complementary Governance: Crime and Citizenship in Kingston, Jamaica’
Nation-states worldwide face a situation where different governance structures compete for citizens’ allegiance. In marginalized urban areas, new, informal governance structures may provide access to crucial urban services and resources, and offer a framework for social inclusion and belonging. In Kingston, Jamaica, criminal organizations, led by so-called ‘dons’ have taken on these functions of the state. Rather than understanding these non-state governance structures as ‘parallel states’, this presentation explores the idea of ‘hybrid states’ in which criminal organizations and the state are entangled as they share control over urban spaces and populations. Seen from perspective of inner-city Jamaicans, this does not result in a situation where the dons replace the state and entire neighbourhoods become non-state spaces. Rather, it entails a form of ‘complementary governance’ by which citizens utilize informal systems of rule in conjunction with formal state structures.

Bios:
Amanda Sives is a Lecturer in Politics. Her main research expertise lies in the politics of the Caribbean with a particular emphasis on Jamaica. She has worked on a number of research projects in a variety of countries including Jamaica, Botswana, Guyana, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the United States and the UK. Successfully completed projects have focused on election observation, political violence and migration. She has held posts in the University of Nottingham, the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. She has been working in the School since September 2005.

Rivke Jaffe is a Lecturer in the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She previously held teaching and research positions at the University of the West Indies, Mona and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). She has conducted fieldwork in Jamaica, Curaçao and Suriname on topics ranging from the urban environment to the political economy of multiculturalism. Her current research, in Jamaica, studies how criminal organizations and the state share control over urban spaces and populations, and the alternative governance structures and fragmented sovereignty that result from this.

15th December, Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Professor Emeritus, London University
SEMINAR: The Rise, Decline and Fall of the Belize Economy before Independence

Venue: G32, Senate house, ground floor
Time: 5pm

Abstract: At the close of the Napoleonic Wars, the small population of Belize had the highest average income in the Caribbean. This was due to its specialisation in high value timber products and a very profitable entrepot trade with Central America. By the time Belize became a British colony in 1862, this privileged position was starting to erode due to the decline of the re-export trade and severe difficulties in the mahogany industry. Crown Colony rule did nothing to reverse this, the efforts to diversify the economy towards agricultural exports were both too little and too late, and the Belize economy entered a long period of relative decline. When the Great Depression struck in the 1930s, the material basis of the economy was undermined and the economy endured a sharp fall.

Bio: Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas is Professor Emeritus of London University and Senior Distinguished Fellow of the School of Advanced Studies. He served as Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies between 1992 and 1998 and recently served as Director of Chatham House. He is currently Visiting Professor at Florida International University where he is working on an economic history of the Caribbean since the Napoleonic Wars.

New lists for some South African/Apartheid archives collections

A number of smaller collections relating to South Africa and apartheid have had their handlists added to the ULRLS Archives Catalogue. These include the following collections:

Roger Southall papers (ICS77)
Roger Southall received a PhD from Birmingham University in 1975. He subsequently worked on East Africa and South Africa, publishing in 1983 South Africa's Transkei: the political economy of an independent Bantustan.  This collection is comprosed of interviews by Roger Southall with South African trade union and political leaders, including members of the National Automobile and Allied Workers Union; the Transport and General Workers Union; the United Democratic Front; the Council of Unions of South Africa; the Motor Industry Combined Workers Union; the Federation of South African Trade Unions; the Azania Peoples Organisation; National Union of Mineworkers; National Union of Textile Workers; Ebrahim "Cassim" Saloojee, United Democratic Front; the South African Boilermakers' Iron and Steel Workers, Shipbuilders and Welders Society; and the Natal Indian Congress.


University of Cape Town: Students' Representative Council papers on South African disturbances, 1976 (ICS81)
Papers relating to activities during disturbances of summer 1976, including comments on the disturbances by black, white and coloured individuals, accounts of incidents and papers by the Soweto Students' Representative Council, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), the National Union of South African Students and the Union of Black Journalists.


University of Cape Town: Universities Amendment Bill (ICS82)
In 1959 the South African National Party Government passed the extension of the University Education Act which prohibited the admission of any person not classed as 'white' to universities, other than those established specifically for them, without a permit from the Minister of State. This legislation was strenuously opposed by the University of Cape Town and others. Following an inquiry into education, the Government published the Universities Amendment Bill in 1983, which altered the rules in that rather than a permit system, univerisities were to be prohibited from admitting black students beyond a quota to be stipulated annually by the Minister. Once again there was considerable opposition to the proposed new legislation. The Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Cape Town sent copies of material to contacts in the UK for use in campaigning against the Bill. The papers in this collection comprise a set of this material
 
South Africa: Johannesburg City Council: Department of Non European Affairs (ICS94)
Photocopies of documents concerning squatter problem at Orlando, Soweto, 1946 including records of meetings between the Department of Non European Affairs and deputation from Orlando Advisory Board; record of joint meeting of General Purposes, Non European Affairs and Special Housing Committees; minutes of Sub-Committee on squatter movements, and minutes of meeting of Native Advisory Boards with Non European Affairs Committee
 
South African Institute of Race Relations: Natal Region (ICS95)
Photocopies of minutes and reports of the South African Institute of Race Relations: Natal Region; comprising minutes and papers of Regional Committee meetings; Natal Regional Organiser's Reports, with account of financing of Non-European Educational Fund; African Affairs Sub-Committee minutes and African Fact-Finding Sub-Committee minutes.




 

New books (August) Part 2

A further selection of some of the new books recently acquired and now available (please click on the title for full catalogue record):

Amucheazio, Elo and Okechukwu Ibeanu (eds). Between the theory and practice of democracy in Nigeria : an assessment of Obasanjo's first term in office by academics and practitioners, London : Adonis & Abbey Pub., 2008

Bryan, Patrick E. Edward Seaga and the challenges of modern Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica : University of the West Indies Press, 2009.


Bubenzer, Ole. Post-TRC prosecutions in South Africa : accountability for political crimes after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty process, Leiden ; Boston : M. Nijhoff, 2009.


Kagwanja, Peter and Roger Southall. Kenya's uncertain democracy : the electoral crisis of 2008, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.


Kolsky, Elizabeth. Colonial justice in British India, New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Maina wa Kinyatti. Mau Mau : a revolution betrayed, Nairobi ; Jamaica, N.Y : Mau Mau Research Center ; London : Vita Books, 2000.


Matembe, Miria R. K. Miria Matembe : gender, politics, and constitution making in Uganda, Kampala : Fountain Publishers, 2002.


Mines, Diane P. Caste in India, Ann Arbor, Mich. : Association for Asian Studies, c2009.


Misra, Biswa Swarup. Credit cooperatives in India : past, present and future, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010. 


Mokitimi, None. Analysis of security of tenure under the customary land tenure system of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho : Institute of Southern African Studies, National University of Lesotho, 2006.


Nilsen, Alf Gunvald. Dispossession and resistance in India : the river and the rage, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.


Pawancheek Marican. Anwar on trial : in the face of injustice, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia : Gerakbudaya Enterprise, c2009.

Seshamani, Venkatesh et al (eds). Zambia's health reforms : selected papers, 1995-2000, [Lusaka] : Dept. of Economics, University of Zambia ; [Lund] : Swedish Institute for Health Economics, 2002.

New books (August) Part 1

Another batch of new books have arrived today, freshly catalogued and are being shelved as I write.
Only have space for a selection (click on the title to see the full catalogue record):

Balogun, M. J. The route to power in Nigeria : a dynamic engagement option for current and aspiring leaders, Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, c2009.


Bhattacharyya, Harihar et al (eds), The politics of social exclusion in India : democracy at the crossroads, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.


Cole, Catherine M. Performing South Africa's Truth Commission : stages of transition, Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2010.


Endeley, Joyce B. et al (eds) New gender studies : from Cameroon and the Caribbean, Buea, Cameroon : Dept. of Women and Gender Studies, University of Buea, 2004.


Fioramonti, Lorenzo. European Union democracy aid : supporting civil society in post-apartheid South Africa, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.


Guichard, Sylvie. The construction of history and nationalism in India : textbooks, controversies and politics Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2010.


Heath, Deana. Purifying empire : obscenity and the politics of moral regulation in Britain, India and Australia, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Khan, Nichola. Mohajir militancy in Pakistan : violence and transformation in the Karachi conflict, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.

Michael, Michális S. Resolving the Cyprus conflict : negotiating history, New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Morton, Fred. Historical dictionary of Botswana, Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Niezen, Ronald. The rediscovered self : indigenous identity and cultural justice, Montréal, Québec : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009.


Ortmann, Stephan. Politics and change in Singapore and Hong Kong : containing contention, London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.
 
Raman, K. Ravi (ed). Development, democracy and the state : critiquing the Kerala model of development, New York : Routledge, 2010.
 
Spooner, Kevin A. Canada, the Congo crisis, and UN peacekeeping, 1960-64, Vancouver : UBC Press, c2009.


Vaidik, Aparna. Imperial Andamans : colonial encounter and island history, New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.