Noted Jamaican Professor for Distinguished Lecture Series in Toronto

Noted lecturer of Social History at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, Professor Verene Shepherd, will be the keynote speaker at the second annual Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by the Consulate General of Jamaica in Toronto, Canada.
The Lecture is slated to take place on Thursday, October 25 at St. Lawrence Hall, 157 King Street East, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Professor Shepherd, who is Chair of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee, will deliver a message in commemoration of the bicentennial of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade which is being observed this year. The topic of her lecture will be The Archeology of Black Memory: Reckoning with 1807 in 2007.
“Some people believe that the bicentenary should be ignored, as the Abolition Act left slavery intact; others believe that it was an important moment on our freedom journey that is worthy of commemoration,” noted Professor Shepherd, adding that the lecture will explore several issues including how bicentenary committees across the former British empire have managed to convey the relevance of 1807 to contemporary societies.
A lecturer at UWI since 1988, Professor Shepherd has done extensive research on Jamaican economic history during slavery, migration and diasporas, as well as the history of Caribbean women. She is an author, co-author, editor and co-editor of 16 books, which include “I Want to Disturb My Neighbour: Lectures on Slavery, Emancipation and Post-Colonial Jamaica”; “Trading Souls”; and “Saving Souls”, the last two co-authored with Hilary Beckles in honour of the Bicentenary.
Professor Shepherd has also held a Fellowship at Toronto’s York University where she served as one of the network professors in the York University/UNESCO Nigerian Hinterland Project.
The Distinguished Lecture Series was launched in 2006 by Jamaica’s Consul General to Toronto, Ms. Anne-Marie Bonner, as a way of commemorating Jamaica’s National Heroes Day, and highlighting “our culture and contribution to the world.”
Last year’s inaugural lecture was presented by Hugh Small, a former Cabinet Minister and Parliamentarian in Jamaica and a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas.