Lecture ‘Shade Matters: The importance of skin colour in former slave societies. A Jamaican case-study’ – By Dr. Henrice Altink (University of York)
Colourism – the practice of allocation privilege or disadvantage based on skin tone – is a major legacy of slavery in the Americas. Focussing on Jamaica in the decades preceding and following independence, this paper will argue that colourism was an absent presence – it was always there but its presence and impact were negated. It first of all explores the overt and covert, verbal and non-verbal practices that conveyed to Jamaican children the complex meanings of race and how they should talk about race. It then moves on to examine physical segregation by colour, focussing not just on residential segregation but also the extent to which different ‘shades’ mingled in several private and semi-private spaces, including churches and hotels.
4 July 2018, 16.30-17.45, Room A3 Academy Building, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Open to everyone, please register at: promotiemfokken@gmail.com
This event is made possible with financial support from ICOG.
