Interrogating injustices

Colleagues from a variety of academic and other disciplines come together in this volume of essays to honour the life and work of Professor, Sir Hilary Beckles. Publication of this celebratory collection comprising forty essays, coincides with the completion of Sir Hilary's forty-three unbroken years in the service of The University of the West Indies and fittingly in the 75th anniversary year of the establishment of the institution of which he is its proud vice-chancellor.

The essays are placed under ten headings that reflect Beckles's own wide-ranging thematic exploration of Caribbean history and culture. They range from conquest, colonisation and the fate of the Indigeneous Peoples; the trans-Atlantic trafficking in Africans and African chattel enslavement; African resistance and its multiple roots; gender discourses in Caribbean History; post slavery liberation movements and worker empowerment; secondary and tertiary education and administration; culture, the creative imagination and sport; business history; the post-Independence Caribbean, and scholar activism around a range of issues of which reparatory justice looms large.

There are two particular noteworthy features of these essays; no fewer than six contributions have come from a new generation of historians, now established academics in their own right, who are beneficiaries of Beckles' tutelage and mentorship. Secondly, there is amongst the essays, a deliberate pre-occupation with one of Beckles's earliest and most enduring projects, namely to rescue the history of his native Barbados from the plantocratic bias to which it was previously confined, and to confront and forever change the white power system and place Black Barbadians at the centre of their country's history.

Ultimately, the editors of this volume aim to highlight the unmatched contribution of a multi-talented and multi-faceted Caribbean academic, administrator and tireless advocate, whose entire career has been dedicated to 'writing to right wrongs,' the theme appropriately chosen for the final section. In it they see a reflection of the rationale behind what Beckles writes, the reasons behind his choice of issues for his advocacy and the thought process and actions behind his work as an administrator.