International Journal of Bahamian Studies
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Freedom of Information Acts in the Developing World: Lessons from the Caribbean for the Bahamian Experience
Get PDFFreedom of Information Acts (FOIAs) can provide countries with a platform to enshrine transparency, deepen democracy and combat corruption. A number of FOIAs or Right to Information Acts have been passed in the last 20 years, particularly in developing countries and including in the Caribbean region. These initiatives have encountered similar problems, including lack of implementation and enforcement, potentially due to weak institutional systems. The lack of implementation may also be due to contradictory domestic incentives; FOIAs are designed to induce transparency and the provision of information, but also impose constraints and administrative burdens on governments. This article looks at the international context of FOIAs and analyses some of the recent problems of implementation, particularly in developing countries and specifically in the Caribbean region. The article then takes a detailed look at the amendment process and passage of the FOIA 2017 Act in The Bahamas, which is illustrative of these conflicting incentives
Ramble Bahamas: Pioneering Bahamian History & Culture in the Digital Age
No full textThe digital humanities offer a unique vehicle for bridging the past and present. Interactive media formats encourage user engagement while maintaining the integrity of historical methodologies. Digital platforms enable audiences located far and wide to access information that is not easily available in print format. All these advantages carry special value for students, educators, and scholars who are investigating twentieth-century Bahamian history. Such audiences are met with a grave shortage of resources, whether in physical format or web-based format, which illuminate the Bahamian experience. The challenge of accessing resources confronts, in particular, audiences which are located within the Bahamian archipelago yet outside the central island of New Providence as well audiences that are located abroad. Ramble Bahamas seeks to remedy this deficit by providing a curated collection of easily accessible place-based exhibits in an innovative medium. Each geo-tagged exhibit includes a cohesive narrative which centers on the story of an historically significant site or object. Additional context is built through the inclusion of historical images, newspapers, other documents, and contemporary photographs. Select audio clips taken from oral history interviews with authoritative narrators are also featured within each exhibit to deepen the sense of place, further stimulate the sensory experience of the visitor, and extend each visitor's knowledge about events associated with the location and about circumstances prevailing during the era. Techniques for constructing the product include carrying out oral history interviews, conducting documentary and archival research, and performing audio-visual digitization and editing, as well as deploying and customizing the Omeka content management system powered by Curatescape
National Identity, Historical Consciousness, and Historical Preservation
Get PDFBahamians are a people of increasing heterogeneity. The experiences of Bahamians of all backgrounds would profit from greater scholarly exploration. In any such undertaking, utilizing extant “hidden” archival collections and capturing oral history narratives is essential, as the challenge of documenting the historical experience of the African-descended Anglophone majority of Bahamians makes plain. Libraries can play a leading role in reducing the risk of losing hidden collections and oral narratives. That much is clear from the investment that the University Libraries of the University of The Bahamas have made in hosting “From Dat Time”: The Oral & Public History Institute of the University. Collaboration among cultural heritage institutions can accelerate the pace of bringing hidden collections to light and generating oral narratives. Technological advances enable us, meanwhile, to offer broad access to disinterred collections and captured oral history narratives. We can develop models of accessing such data that strike the right balance among competing imperatives of fostering education and research, of generating revenue, and of strengthening national heritage institutions
‘None but Ourselves Can Free Our Minds’: Review of "A Community Life: Memoirs of Alfred M. Sears"
Get PDFReview of A Community Life: Memoirs of Alfred M. Sears: A Redemption Story from Reform School to Attorney General and Minister of Education of the Bahamas, Alfred M. Sears. I-EASE Publishack, 2017. ISBN 978-978-8201-14-4
This emotionally charged testimonial to life in the historical colonial and postcolonial Bahamas is a deeply politicized story of personal and political redemption built on Alfred Sears’ decades-long commitment to literacy and education, to the value of family and community and to the practice of speaking truth to power. Sears argues that both the health of Bahamian society and the sovereignty of the nation are dependent on its citizens being able to think for themselves and for that to happen, it is imperative to root out the legacies of colonialism. He makes recommendations for altering the Bahamian Constitution and thematically addresses concerns about government corruption, transparency, and accountability; partisan polarization; the Bahamian politic as a system of patronage and clientelism; the need for constitutional reform; political campaign finance reform; sustained economic development and participatory regionalism
Substance and Drug Abuse in The Bahamas and the Caribbean, 1970-2017: A Bibliography
Get PDFAn objective for the compilation of this bibliography is to provide a list of resources that address substance and drug abuse in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean from its beginnings in the 1980s to present day by medical professionals, academics, policy makers and government officials. Therefore, research was conducted to compile as full a bibliographic listing of resources as possible, including links for digital documents. This bibliography does not include everything written about drug and substance abuse in The Bahamas and Caribbean, but it is a guide and starting point for researchers
Critical Literacy: Beyond Reading and Writing in the Bahamian Tertiary Classroom
Get PDFCritical literacy can be defined as a cluster of specialized skills and competencies that facilitate an intensely engaged way of interpreting our world through careful textual and discursive analyses. It involves understanding the processes of learning to read and write as the precursor to a heightened awareness of one’s location within specific power relations, as well as its importance to ensuring a sustainable democracy. Ultimately, critical literacy is an indispensable component of the broader literacy mandate at the University of The Bahamas, as it can propel students toward greater participation in national discourse, and ultimately, toward meaningful social transformation. While this paper presents anecdotal rather than analytic evidence of students’ growth toward increased critical intelligence, it provides significant insight into the processes of their intellectual growth
‘Upon this Blasted Heath’ Macbeth Before and After the Hurricane
Get PDFDuring the 20th and 21st centuries, writers and performers in the Caribbean have used Shakespeare as a means to give language and form to their experience. One such example is the 2016 Shakespeare in Paradise performance of Macbeth, which both represented the destruction of Hurricane Joaquin and seemed to anticipate the destruction of Hurricane Matthew. The staging of these two hurricanes and their aftermath, I argue, is rooted in both the actual and mythological history of the play. In the Shakespeare in Paradise performance, the advent of natural disaster appeared as images of destruction, the staging of trauma, as well as geographical and material allusions
The Impact of Science Field Courses in the Bahamas on the Personal and Professional Development of U.S. College Students, 1977-2014
Get PDFFieldwork is a component of many college science courses. Faculty at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have facilitated fieldwork-intensive science courses in The Bahamas for many years. The study surveyed students who participated in fieldwork in The Bahamas between 1977 and 2014, measuring the perceived impact the courses had on their personal and professional development, as well as their international perspective. Survey participants agreed the experience had a high impact on their personal development (97), professional development (91%), and international perspective (89%). General Linear Model results indicated no statistically significant differences between or within groups, suggesting participants' perceived impacts are the same regardless of gender, age, institution or field station location. Qualitative data analysis revealed several types of impact, such as understanding of and appreciation for Bahamian culture, appreciation or tropical environments, development of research skills, and enhanced career opportunities. International fieldwork in The Bahamas clearly has positive long-term impacts on students and should be continued