Elsa Goveia
Elsa Goveia | |
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Born | Elsa Vesta Goveia 12 April 1925 |
Died | 18 March 1980 Hope Mews Kingston, Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica | (aged 54)
Nationality | Guyanese |
Occupation(s) | academic, writer |
Years active | 1950–1980 |
Notable work | Slave Society in the British Leeward Islands at the End of the Eighteenth Century (1965) |
Elsa Goveia (12 April 1925 – 18 March 1980) was born in British Guiana and became a foremost scholar and historian of the Caribbean. She was the first woman to become a professor at the newly created University College of the West Indies (UCWI) and first professor of West Indian studies in the UCWI History Department. Her seminal work, Slave Society in the British Leeward Islands at the End of the Eighteenth Century (1965), was a pioneering study of the institution of slavery and the first to put forth the concept of a "slave society" encompassing not just the slaves but the entire community. She was one of the pioneers of historical research on slavery and the Caribbean and is considered the "premier social historian" from the 1960s to her death.[1]
Early life
Elsa Vesta Goveia was born on 12 April 1925[2] in British Guiana to middle-class, ethnically mixed Portuguese and Afro-Guyanese family.[3][4] One of two daughters, she was educated in a time when education was rare for even males in British Guiana. After winning a scholarship, she attended St. Joseph High School at the Convent of Mercy in Georgetown and graduated with her certificate. In 1944, she won the national British Guiana Scholarship and continued her education, studying history at University College London.[5] She won the Pollard Prize for English history in 1947, becoming the first West Indian to win the scholarship, graduating with First Class Honors for her degree in 1948. Furthering her studies, Goveia attended the Institute of Historical Research in London under the tutelage of Eveline Martin until 1950, when she returned to the Caribbean and accepted a post at the newly created University College of the West Indies, as an assistant lecturer.[6] Continuing her research during 1950 and 1951, Goveia prepared her thesis Slave Society in the British Leeward Islands 1780-1800, submitted it the following year and earned her PhD in 1952.[6][7]
Career
Upon receipt of her degree, Goveia became a
Beginning in 1952 at the request of the
In 1958, Goveia was made a
From 1961, Goveia had health issues which curtailed her publishing output to an extent, but she continued teaching until her untimely death at age fifty-four.[6][21]
Death and legacy
Goveia died at her home in Hope Mews Kingston, Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica on 18 March 1980.[16] In 1985, a lecture series named the Elsa Goveia Memorial Lectures was inaugurated and continues to highlight scholarship on the history of the Caribbean.[27] In 1989, the reading room at the library on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies was renamed in Goveia's honor.[28] Since 1995, the Association of Caribbean Historians has awarded the Elsa Goveia Prize to scholars who have exhibited excellence in the study of Caribbean history.[29]
References
Citations
- ^ Moore et al. 2003, p. x.
- ^ Library of the University of the West Indies 2017.
- ^ Moore 2016.
- )
- ^ Chamberlain 2004, p. 169.
- ^ a b c Chamberlain 2004, p. 170.
- ^ Goveia 1984, p. 2.
- ^ a b c Goveia 1984, p. 3.
- ^ a b Chamberlain 2004, p. 174.
- ^ a b Winks 1999, p. 135.
- ^ Wilson-Tagoe 1998, p. 29.
- ^ Chamberlain 2004, p. 175.
- ^ Chamberlain 2004, pp. 176–177.
- ^ Higman 1999, p. 337.
- ^ a b Higman 1999, p. 6.
- ^ a b c The Daily Gleaner 1980, p. 13.
- ^ Lambert 2005, p. 77.
- ^ Kale 2002, p. 251.
- ^ Easton 1957, p. 304.
- ^ Brereton 1979, p. 255.
- ^ a b Moore et al. 2003, p. xi.
- ^ Higman 1999, pp. 537–538.
- ^ Moore et al. 2003, p. 77.
- ^ Moore et al. 2003, p. 63.
- ^ Higman 1999, p. 240.
- ^ Higman 1999, p. 538.
- ^ The Daily Gleaner 1985, p. 18.
- ^ The Daily Gleaner 1989, p. 18.
- ^ Association of Caribbean Historians 2010.
Bibliography
- S2CID 253147307.
- Chamberlain, Mary (Autumn 2004). "Elsa Goveia: History and Nation". Project MUSE.
- Easton, David K. (January 1957). "Book-Reviews - A Study on the Historiography of the British West Indies to the End of the Nineteenth Century. By Goveia Elsa V. (Mexico: Instituto Panamericano de geografía e historia, 1956. Pp. 181)" (PDF). The Americas. 13 (3). Berkeley, California: Academy of American Franciscan History: 303–304. .
- Goveia, Elsa (September–December 1984). "A Tribute to Elsa V. Goveia". Caribbean Quarterly. 30 (3–4). Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England: JSTOR 40653546.
- Higman, B. W. (1999). General History of the Caribbean. Vol. VI: Methodology and historiography of the Caribbean. London, England: UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103360-5.
- Kale, Madhavi (May 2002). "Reviewed Works: The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. III. The Nineteenth Century by William Roger Louis; The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. IV. The Twentieth Century by William Roger Louis, Judith Brown; The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. V. Historiography by William Roger Louis, Robin Winks". JSTOR 4286892.
- Lambert, David (2005). White Creole Culture, Politics and Identity During the Age of Abolition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84131-3.
- Moore, Brian L. (2016). "Goveia, Elsa Vesta (1925–1980)". In Knight, Franklin W.; ISBN 978-0-199-93580-2. – via Oxford University Press's Reference Online (subscription required)
- Moore, Brian L.; Higman, B. W.; Campbell, Carl; Bryan, Patrick (2003). Slavery, Freedom and Gender: The Dynamics of Caribbean Society. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. ISBN 978-976-640-137-5.
- Wilson-Tagoe, Nana (1998). Historical Thought and Literary Representation in West Indian Literature. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1582-8.
- Winks, Robin (1999). The Oxford History of the British Empire. Vol. V: Historiography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-154241-1.
- "Dr. Elsa Goveia is dead".
- "Inaugural Elsa Goveia Memorial Lecture". The Daily Gleaner. Kingston, Jamaica. 14 March 1985. Retrieved 14 January 2017 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
- "Past Elsa Goveia Award Recipients". Association of Caribbean Historians. 2010. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- "Professor Elsa Goveia". The Library. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. 2017. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- "Views of the Islands". The Daily Gleaner. Kingston, Jamaica. 5 June 1989. Retrieved 14 January 2017 – via Newspaperarchive.com.