Getting to Know Sam Sharpe

This was published in the Gleaner newspaper: Tuesday September 23, 2008
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

WHEN SAM Sharpe was made a National Hero in 1975, not many Jamaicans knew about him. Thirty-three years later, Sharpe, the slave/preacher, who triggered the Kensington Estate rebellion in St James in 1831, remains an enigma.

Next week, historian Fred Kennedy will shed new light on Sharpe's last days with the launch of his book, Daddy Sharpe: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Samuel Sharpe A West Indian Slave Written By Himself, 1832.

Kennedy, a former headmaster at St George's College, said Sharpe's contribution to the emancipation of slavery has been largely overlooked.

"Sam Sharpe was a freedom fighter who had a lot to do with the Emancipation Act passed two years after his death. He never meant for a bloody rebellion but things turned wrong with the burning of Kensington Estate," Kennedy said last week.

Read the full article at http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080923/ent/ent1.html.

REVIEW

Revisiting Caribbean Labour: Essays in Honour of O. Nigel Bolland was published back in 2005, but has just been reviewed in the July-December 2007 issue of Caribbean Studies (Vol. 35 No. 2).

Melanie Shell-Weiss of the Department of History at Johns Hopkins University states in her review:

A pleasure to read, this book deserves a place on the shelves of labor history scholars, whether they are working in the Caribbean or in borderlands of the US, and Latin America. Sutton is to be credited with creating a welcome book that breathes new life into the study of labor, and which underscores how just how vibrant and exciting the field of Caribbean labor studies remains.

For more information on this title, call us toll free from the USA at 1-866-330-5469 and from the Caribbean at 1-800-744-1114.

Hot off the Press

Its been over a decade since we produced our last photography book (UWI: A Photographic Journey) so its only fitting that our next venture would be phenomenal.

Pablo Delano's stunning imagery is lavishly portrayed in our newest book off press, In Trinidad. Over 120 black and white photographs capture the heart and soul of the Trinidadian people. Enhanced with colour inserts, an introduction by Trinidadian mas man Peter Minshall and essays by cultural analyst Milla Cozart Riggio and Professor Emeritus Gordon Rohlehr, In Trinidad is a feast for the eyes and the mind.

The book is expected in our warehouses in October.

For more details, contact us at marketing@ianrandlepublishers.com.

Congratulations

At the upcoming Walter Rodney Conference - In Commemoration of the 1968 Student Protests
to be held at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, October 16-18, 2008, our own Latoya West (Editorial) will make a presentation entitled
Assassins of Conversation1- 'Grassroots' publishing as an attack on the dialogue of the philistines.

Ever the activist, Latoya is sure to stir up just the kind of discussion the conference is intended to evoke.

Now Available

Daddy Sharpe: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Samuel Sharpe, A West Indian Slave, Written by Himself,1832 by Fred Kennedy is now availabe and flying off the shelves.

Eagerly anticipated, Daddy Sharpe recreates the life of one of Jamaica's National Heroes, Samuel Sharpe. Locked in prison awaiting a sentence of certain execution, Sam Sharpe retells the story of his life beginning with his boyhood days and ending with his surrender to the authorities after his defeat in the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831.

Reviting and engaging, Fred Kennedy's Daddy Sharpe is, according to Rachel Manely (author of Drumblair and Slipstream: A Daughter Remembers) 'A story of a man and an era brought vividly and convincingly to life in an irresistible read....'

Contact us at marketing@ianrandlepublishers.com for more information on this title.

Roving with Lalah

Your favourite Gleaner newspaper articles are now a book. Roving with Lalah: Slices of Everyday Jamaican Life hits bookshelves in October. Visit our website to pre-order your copy. Or, if you're in Jamaica, just call us at 978-0739 or 978-0745 to reserve your copy!

Remember, you can always email us at marketing@ianrandlepublishers.com

for more information.

Gustav Gone but Creole storm raging on

Tropical Storm Gustav thankfully passed us with little damage to IRP last week but the storm over Jamaican Creole rages on. Our Teaching Language & Literacy: From Vernacular to Standard English by Dennis Craig is often referred to as a useful text informing the debate.

Taken from the The Gleaner Newspaper, Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Don't Banish Jamaican Creole

published: Wednesday September 3, 2008

The Editor, Sir:
The many opinions on whether Jamaican creole has a place within the education system have generated an inexhaustible discussion.
I have tried to read, with tolerance, the views expressed by many that Jamaican creole's usefulness expires in the face of formality.
Consequently, as the Jamaican classroom is considered to be a formal space, many argue that Jamaican Creole has no place there.
However, it has become increasingly necessary for room to be created for creole, within the English language curriculum, in order to facilitate opportunities to correct language-learning problems caused by creole interference and other types of second-language learning problems.
Useful textbooks

Hence, across the region, especially within the last 10 years, many texts have been published that are geared at improving the methodology used to teach students English in Jamaica, as well as in the rest of Anglophone Caribbean.
Notable among these are texts are From Jamaican Creole to Standard English: A Handbook for Teachers (Velma Pollard 2003) and Teaching Language and Literacy to Caribbean Students: From Vernacular to Standard English (Dennis Craig 2007).
The primary aim of these texts has been to provide Caribbean teachers and students with an environment to suit their particular language-learning needs.
It is pertinent that we, as Jamaicans, recognise that English is not the first language a large percentage of Jamaicans learn to speak. The first language for many is Jamaican Creole. English is their second language and they face language-learning problems that many other second language-learners face.
In theory, and reality, many language-learning problems that our students face could be lessened if Jamaican creole is used as a tool, alongside English, to help students understand some problem areas.
In addition, allowing students to see the similarities and differences, between English and Jamaican creole, has proven to be particularly helpful in vocabulary development exercises.
Improve teaching
However, I must add this caveat: Jamaican creole cannot be used to help students understand all the areas of English. Nothing can replace teaching students all the nuances of English. What we, as Jamaicans, need to do - in light of the problems faced with speaking and writing English - is aggressively seek and implement measures that will help our students' English to improve.
Banishing Jamaican creole to the periphery of our classrooms does nothing to solve our problems with English.
I am, etc.,
RHONDA K. HARRISON
rhows21@yahoo.com
St Augustine, Trinidad