{"product_id":"testimonies-on-the-history-of-jamaica","title":"Testimonies on The History of Jamaica","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Zakiya McKenzie\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHistory was written—England captured Jamaica from the Spaniards under Oliver Cromwell in 1655. Much of this history has been retold by Edward Long, best known for his first socio-economic and political study The History of Jamaica. His polemic supported the enslavement of African and Caribbean people and the monopolies and monocultures played out through the natural environment.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese testimonies address some of Long’s claims. A slave woman tells of the naming of Catherine’s Peak and the erasure of the achievements of Black Jamaicans in the field of natural history. A mystic takes us back to the Spanish occupation. The maroons Juan de Bolas and Juan de Serras grieve their fate and the tragic future that came with sugarcane. These are imaginings of what the people who lived through this wrestling of Jamaica might have said, given the chance.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDr. Zakiya McKenzie is a writer and cultural historian based in Bristol, UK. In 2019 she was writer-in-residence for Forestry England and in 2021 she was artist-in-residence at Studio Voltaire in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDr. McKenzie was the 2023 winner of the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOlivette Otele Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ein Black British Studies\u003cbr\u003econvened by the Institute of Historical Research. Her paper titled ‘\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Making of the Empire Windrush as a cultural motif’\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003echallenged the contemporary idea of the Empire Windrush as a vessel of hope and dreams for post war Caribbean people in Britain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"has-text-color has-extra-small-font-size\"\u003eDr. McKenzie finished a PhD in English from the University of Exeter on the history of Black British newsprint in December 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"has-text-color has-extra-small-font-size\"\u003eZakiya’s essays have appeared in a number of anthologies including,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem class=\"\"\u003eHaunting Ashton Court: A Creative Handbook for Collective History-Making\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e(2023),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem class=\"\"\u003eRadical Landscapes: Art, Identity and Activism\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e(Tate, 2022),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem class=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReading the Forest: A Forest of Dean Anthology\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(Douglas McLean Publishing, 2022),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem class=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWomen on Nature: An Anthology of Women’s Writing about the Natural World in the East Atlantic Archipelago\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(Unbound, 2021),\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem class=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGifts of Gravity and Light: A Nature Almanac for the 21st Century\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(Hodder \u0026amp; Stoughton, 2021) and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem class=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wild Isles: An Anthology of the Best of British \u0026amp; Irish Nature Writing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(Head of Zeus, 2021).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50755992355150,"sku":"","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/0680\/6606\/files\/k0cv2s19.png?v=1735048753","url":"https:\/\/eastbristolbooks.live\/products\/testimonies-on-the-history-of-jamaica","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}