Summer Scholars Lunchtime Talks

Join us for two lunchtime talks.

Forefathers: Four Jamaican Fathers, Four Countries, One Daughter

Through four Jamaican father figures in her family, whose ancestry extends across Scotland, China and India, Jacqueline Crooks explores a personal story of how fatherhood was shaped by colonial power. Blending literary practice with archival investigation, she examines fathers made – and constrained – by history, and the emotional costs that echo across generations. In so doing, she shows how literature offers a way to read what the archive cannot hold.

Chinese Labour Recruitment for the British Caribbean

From 1852 to 1874, over 13,000 Chinese migrated to the British Caribbean, mostly as indentured labourers. They came through a global labour network that emerged in response to crippling post-emancipation labour problems in the British Caribbean. In contrast to the recruitment of Chinese labour for Cuba, indentured Chinese migration to the British Caribbean operated as a system of both voluntary migration and unfree labour. Samuel Niu explores the challenges posed by this unusual combination, the implications this held for the labour regime, and why Chinese migrants voluntarily entered a system of unfree labour.