18/11/2025
The acting Director and Staff of IHRSSF extend heartiest congratulations to Dr Estherie Adams on her award
๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
โฆ๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐
๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Dr Estherine Adams, Head of the Department of History and Caribbean Studies in the Faculty of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana, has been awarded the ASSLH Edna Ryan Prize for Best Article on Womenโs History (2023โ2024) for her paper, โโAt Work, in Hospital, or in Gaolโ: Women in British Guianaโs Jails, 1838โ1917,โ published in the Journal of Labour History.
The award, presented by the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History (ASSLH), recognises outstanding scholarship on womenโs experiences and contributions within labour history. Dr Adamsโs paper offers a powerful and original argument that the prison systems in colonial British Guiana served not only to punish but also to extract and control labour, particularly from African and Indian indentured women.
The judges commended the article for being โoriginal, clearly positioned in relevant recent literature and beautifully written to imagine and illuminate the lives of female indentured labourers in British Guiana.โ They added that it advanced โan important argument about the centrality of prison labour to the colony, illustrating the intersections of coerced labour, capitalism, and colonialism.โ
Dr Adams said she was โgenuinely stunnedโ to learn that her paper had won the prize, especially since she had not known it had been submitted. โI had no idea the journal had entered my article, so the email arrived completely unexpectedly. There was a moment of disbelief followed by deep gratitude. As researchers, we often work in solitude โ in archives, writing late at night โ wondering if the nuance and humanity we try to convey will reach anyone. To learn that the article resonated that strongly was both affirming and humbling,โ she said.
The judgesโ comments held special meaning for her, as they recognised not only the academic strength of her research but also its human depth. โThey recognised not just the academic contribution, but the humanity of the women whose stories I reconstructed from archival silences. When they noted that the article was beautifully written to illuminate these lives, I felt seen as a scholar, not simply for producing research, but for recovering lives erased from the historical record,โ she reflected.
Her motivation for exploring this subject was guided by a central question: Where were the women in the carceral histories of slavery and indentureship? According to Dr Adams, โThe prison was one of the earliest colonial institutions designed to regulate and exploit labour, yet women โ particularly African and later Indian indentured women โ were almost invisible in the archive. I wanted to centre them not as footnotes to male histories, but as labouring subjects whose experiences reveal how power operated through gender, race, and the prison system.โ
She shared that one of her main challenges was the lack of detailed records on incarcerated women. To address this, she employed what she calls a โfragmentary methodology.โ โIn many cases, women appeared only as numbers or anonymous references buried in disciplinary reports. To overcome this, I read against the grain, analysing what the record left out as much as what it included, and pieced together details across inventories, health reports, punishment books, and plantation records. If the archive whispered, I tried to listen as closely as possible,โ she explained.
Dr Adams hopes that this international recognition will inspire more researchers in Guyana and across the Caribbean to interrogate history courageously. โMy hope is that this award signals the value of work that confronts historical silences, especially in colonial archives. Guyana and the Caribbean are full of stories that remain unwritten. If this recognition encourages emerging researchers to take risks, ask uncomfortable questions, and challenge dominant narratives, then it has already done more than I could have imagined,โ she said.
She also reflected on what the award means for the University of Guyana. โAt UG, we teach, research, advise, and carry heavy administrative responsibilities, often simultaneously. This award is a reminder that world-class scholarship can be produced from Guyana, by Guyanese scholars, for global audiences. It also models for our students that their stories โ the stories of this land and this history โ are worthy of study and will be heard. The award is not just mine; it belongs to the Department, to the students who sit in our classrooms, and to the women whose lives I tried to honour in the research.โ
The University of Guyana congratulates Dr Estherine Adams on this outstanding achievement. Her work continues to advance the institutionโs mission to contribute meaningfully to national and global scholarship, while inspiring future generations of researchers to uncover and honour the untold stories of our region.
Please click this link to read Dr Adamsโ article: https://doi.org/10.3828/labourhistory.2023.21
-END-
