Guyana Speaks

22/09/2026

Calls to shift the focus of research from the people and institutions that owned, trafficked and administered enslaved populations towards the lives of enslaved people themselves, have been growing. As Prof Matthew J Smith, the director of the centre at UCL, notes the biggest and most misunderstood piece of the story of British slavery is "the experience of the enslaved". Historians, genealogies and descendant communities in Guyana may thus be interested in hearing that nearly 4 million records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies - including Berbice and Demerara - have been made searchable online.

The collection, known as the Former British Colonies Enslavement Registers, contains about 300,000 pages recording enslaved people across former British colonial dependencies between 1813 and 1840:

[ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/sep/22/nearly-4m-records-of-enslaved-people-in-20-former-british-colonies-now-searchable-online ].

This global collection of enslavement registers could help millions of descendants across African-Caribbean and broader African diasporas meaningfully trace their family histories. In the attached video genealogist, Nicka Sewell-Smith, offers an insight into the type of material that can be searched including names, ages, physical descriptions and family ties, as well as births, deaths and transfers of ownership. Some registers even distinguish whether a person was born in Africa or in the Caribbean.

Another project which places emphasis on the agency and experiences of the enslaved is the University of Edinburgh-led, Voices in Slavery’s Archive: Law, Place and Testimony in British Guiana. This three year project, which started on 1st March 2026, aims to recover, preserve, and make accessible the voices of enslaved people themselves, using the remarkable records of the Fiscal and Protector of Slaves in nineteenth-century British Guiana (now Guyana). If you would like to follow the progress of this project, please sign up to their bi-annual newsletter via [email protected] or follow the team via social media [Facebook - Search 'Voices in Slavery's Archive' or Instagram ]

On a final note, it's important to recognise that records of enslavement can carry distressing, heavy emotional weight. If you do decide to navigate the material held in the 'Enslavement Registers', please be conscious of the need to prioritise your well-being.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE8mAPEbAuc&time_continue=1&source_ve_path=NzY3NTg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.com%2F

Spanning 20 former British colonies, this global collection of ensl...

19/09/2026

This lecture by Professor Justice (Ret.) Courtney Ashton Abel begins in British Guiana in the 1880s with Scotsman Sir David Patrick Chalmers, Chief Justice of the colony; his wife Janet Alice (nee Lorimer) and her family; and Joanna Herbert, a Black Guianese nursemaid who travelled with the family to Scotland.

Sir David's story opens a wider inquiry into the relationship between the Scottish jurist and international legal theorist James Lorimer, and the colonial world in which his son-in-law administered justice. Lorimer developed a hierarchy of peoples based on ideas of civilisation, political capacity, and legal recognition. What happens when such ideas move from books and lecture rooms into institutions, administration, and law?

The lecture explores slavery, emancipation, indentureship, race, land, political authority, and the movement of people, letters, and ideas between British Guiana and Scotland. It also asks what Joanna’s presence reveals about the tension between racial ideology and the complexity of human relationships.

The discussion then turns to modern Guyana. Independence transformed political authority, but did every structure created by colonialism disappear? What does it mean for Guyanese people to become fuller authors of their own legal, political, and economic future?

This is an invitation to think critically about race, jurisprudence, empire, and the unfinished work of freedom.

Professor Justice (Ret.) Courtney Ashton Abel will reflect on Race & Law in the context of Empire & its on-going influence on modern Guyana.

16/09/2026

This Guyana SPEAKS (in-person) event celebrates the life and legacy of Ian Macdonald, a man whose contributions to Guyana’s cultural, literary, and industrial landscape touched many. Our speakers include Clem Seecharan andJeremy Poynting: respectively reflecting on Ian’s illuminating writing on cricket, and status as one of the foremost poets of the Caribbean region. Juanita Cox will share readings from 'New and Collected Poems: 1957-2017' and a tribute from Barry Newton, former CEO of Booker Tate and former colleague of Ian at Booker and in the sugar industry. The event will also include a recording of a discussion on literature and literary criticism between David Dabydeen, Petamber Persaud and Ian McDonald. The afternoon will conclude with light refreshments, offering guests a chance to share memories and reflect together on a life lived with purpose, generosity, and thoughtfulness. Books by Ian McDonald will also be available for purchase. We also plan to have Guyanese food products available for sale.

Many thanks to John Mair and Clem Seecharan for making generous contributions toward the hire of the hall in Kensington Central Library.

Register via eventbrite and to find out more information - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ian-mcdonald-a-life-remembered-tickets-1999078527690

27/08/2026

How about giving yourself the gift of a trip to Iwokrama: 25th Nov - 1st Dec 2026?

27/08/2026

Afeefa Amatullah Ally cannot see the diagrams her teachers draw on the whiteboard. She cannot see the notes chalked up during a lesson, or the illustrations in her textbooks.

Read more on: https://ignitenews.com/2026/08/26/skeldon-teen-who-cannot-see-proves-vision-has-little-to-do-with-sight-scores-seven-grade-ones-at-csec/

Catch Ignite News every weeknight at 6:00 PM on Channel 6 and ENet 6 — bringing you the latest local and international stories that matter.

26/08/2026

Sharing a message I received from Prof. David Dabydeen today, 26th August, the second death anniversary of Ameena Gafoor, founder of the Ameena Gafoor Institute for the study of Indentureship and its Legacies.

Ameena held an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Guyana. A writer, editor, arts activist and philanthropist, Ameena was heavily involved in the betterment of Guyanese society. Below are some of her activities:

2002: Founder and Secretary of THE ARTS FORUM INC, a non-profit organization that exhibits the neglected aspects of the visual arts by East Indians in Guyana.

2004: Founder and Editor of THE ARTS JOURNAL, (which lasted for 14 years , until her illness) an independent, peer-reviewed scholarly Journal that provided fresh critical perspectives on contemporary literatures, arts and social history of Guyana, the Caribbean, and their Diasporas, creative writing and book reviews. The Arts Journal provided opportunity for scholars to publish current research. It served as a cultural bridge to the Diaspora so that their work was not lost to us, and vice versa. There has never been a critical Journal in Guyana that spanned the Arts and Culture and it was widely subscribed to.

Member of the Rehabilitation Team of the Theatre Guild of Guyana, and a Trustee of the Theatre Guild of Guyana

Member, the Guyana Heritage Society.
Patron of ChildLink Guyana, an NGO that seeks out and counsels abused and neglected adolescents.

Director, the Guyana Book Foundation, an NGO that promotes literacy in Guyana.

Chairman of the Doobay Medical Centre, a non-profit medical clinic that offers Haemodialysis treatment to patients suffering renal failure.

Director, Gafsons Industries Limited
Administrator of The Gafoor Foundation, a family fund that assists vulnerable people in the areas of health, education, housing, supported for the challenged, neglected, the elderly, housing, and platforms such as child neglect and su***de.

We send our warmest best wishes to Ameena Gafoor's cherished family and friends and we will continue to fulfil her ambition to promote knowledge of Indentureship and its Legacies, and to create a global platform for research and publications, working closely with the University of Cambridge.

The Ameena Gafoor Institute for the Study of Indentureship and its Legacies has been set up to advance understanding about indentureship and its global impacts. The study of Indentureship is largely unrepresented throughout academia, with universities in the West paying little or no attention to the

26/08/2026

📸 Calling all Guyanese foodies😊

A UK food and culture site, the Independence Food Project, is featuring Guyana's independence day and our national dish, Pepperpot — and they've asked GUSDA to be the recommended UK community resource on the page.

They need YOUR help:

•🍲 Photos of your Pepperpot — however it looks in your kitchen, credited to you
•📖 Independence Day memories — what it meant growing up, or means now
•🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒👵🏾 Family recipes or food traditions passed down to you

If you'd like to share any of this, *reply here or send to [email protected] by 30 August 2026.* You'll be credited by name (or anonymously, your choice), and it's a lovely way to put GUSDA and Guyanese culture in front of a wider UK audience.

The page goes live end of August, so anything you can send this week or next would be brilliant. 🇬🇾🇬🇧

24/08/2026

DISCOUNTED TICKETS for What We Leave We Carry

What We Leave We Carry, is taking place on 26 August at the Southbank Centre. All members of Guyana SPEAKS are entitled to £5 off tickets. Please use the discount code WRITERSMOSAIC and book your tickets via the link below.

What is this all about?

Colin Grant has travelled the country listening to stories of migration – foundational tales of arriving in a new land, along with rarely spoken tales of love and loss for What We Leave We Carry, his new book. At the Southbank, Grant is joined by storytellers from this oral history sharing the secrets of their migrant songs and objects: Suzanne Harrington, an Irish writer who travelled with an ‘introductory’ sick note from her psychiatrist; Maria Jastrzębska, a Polish poet recounting partisan songs that poked fun at Hi**er; Amanda Vilanova, a Puerto Rican actor gifted her mother’s jewellery to sell in an emergency; and Clementine Burnley, a Cameroonian psychotherapist who arrived as a student in 1980s Glasgow inspired by ‘Kung Fu Fighting’.

The evening also features live Afro-Colombian music and dance from Akolá Tambó.

Rod and I will be going and hope to see you at the Southbank.

An evening of candid, profoundly human, sometimes funny and always moving stories of migration in celebration of Colin Grant’s book.

12/08/2026

We looking forward to welcoming you!

30/07/2026

Don't forget to join us for our Summer Market, Stabroek Stalls. This takes please on Saturday, 11th August. See further details below.