Cayman’s colonial history and the Caymanian perspective on self-determination are set to take centre stage Thursday through an online lecture featuring local educator and cultural researcher Mikana Scott.
The lecture, which will be held on Zoom at 6pm, is themed “Deconstructing the Cayman Islands as Paradise: Reimagining Notions of Freedom and Unfreedom in a Colonial Caribbean Context”, and is being hosted in partnership with the Committee for the Promotion of Research and Cayman Scholarship.
Scott, speaking with the Cayman Compass about the upcoming discussion, said not enough is being done locally to confront and discuss issues that are of historical and cultural significance in the Cayman Islands.
“In recent times, we’ve seen more discussions in public spaces about Caymanian culture and history. I do want to acknowledge, however, that there are very real and pressing social issues that Caymanians are confronting today, in regard to education, development, the environment, cost of living and employment. However, I’ve found that making concrete connections to past occurrences can be instrumental in helping us understand some of the issues today, and can be beneficial in providing us with solutions for tomorrow,” Scott added in her emailed response to Compass queries.
Cayman’s unique perspective
Reflecting on the term ‘paradise’, Scott said, she really wanted to understand, or rather begin to understand, the choices that Caribbean people make in their own self-interest.
“This word historically was imposed on the region. When Caymanians are centered in the narrative do they still describe the islands and our lives as such?” she asked.
She said she chose to tackle this topic as, for many years, academic research has been written about Cayman from an outsider’s perspective.
“Oftentimes, social issues are written about and for the Caymanian community and not with, so I wanted my academic contribution to be one in which I highlighted how Caymanians saw or understood this issues and themselves,” she said.
Research findings to be shared
The public lecture is taken from Scott’s dissertation, which she recently successfully defended at Temple University, Philadelphia.
Scott, a statement on the lecture said, will be discussing the findings from the multi-year research for her dissertation.
Scott said, for her, this lecture is akin to coming full circle.
“I was a student of Roy Bodden’s locally at UCCI, as well as, being influenced by work written on Cayman by Dr. Christopher Williams and Dr. Roy Murray. This conversation can hopefully show that there is an academic lineage in Cayman… I would like younger Caymanians to think of higher education not just as receiving information but also on the other side of that as being in a position to create Caymanian knowledge and research and also teach it as well by pursuing it as a career,” she said.
The lecture starts at 6pm via zoom: ID 88997955803, password: cprcs345.
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