Caribbean Communities in Europe (CACOEU)
|
|
Caribbean Communities in Europe (CACOEU) |
|
      |
October 2009 Review of "The Free Negress Elizabeth" by Cynthia McLeod This year Lewisham Black Staff Forum sponsored CACOEU's celebration of Black History month. It was held at Lewisham Civic Suite on 16 October 2009. Black Staff Forum also used that evening to relaunch their Reading Group. The guest of honour, Cynthia McLeod, is an award winning historical novelist from Suriname. Dr Petronella Breinburg, also from Suriname, met Ms McLeod at a conference in Amsterdam and persuaded Ms McLeod to include a trip to London to speak to CACOEU members. Ms McLeod is the daughter of Dr Johann Ferrier, the last Governor and first President of Suriname. She is also the widow of the late Ambassador Donald McLeod, whose duties took him and his family first to Venezuela, then to Belgium and to the USA. Whilst she was in Europe, Ms McLeod, who was a University Lecturer in Suriname, began her investigations into the life of Elizabeth Samson, an eighteenth century Black Surinamese woman, who in spite of her wealth sought to marry a white man, a union which was legally outlawed in Suriname, and whose story was the subject of much speculation in Suriname, even today. Elizabeth took her case to be allowed to marry a white man to the courts in the Netherlands and it was here that Ms McLeod took her herself whilst she was in Europe to research the communication between the High Court in the Hague and Elizabeth. "The Free Negress Elizabeth" took her twelve years to research and to write the novel of this extra ordinarily clever and wealthy free black Surinamese woman. "The Free Negress Elizabeth" by Cynthia McLeod is published by Arcadia Books Ltd, 15-16 Nassau Street, London W1W 7AB CACOEU will hold their Annual General Meeting on Saturday May 8th 2010 at Goldsmiths College. CACOEU hopes to invite three high achieving Caribbean living and working in Britain. About
us CACOEU
was created to further develop the link between Goldsmiths College,
through PACE (Professional and Community Education) at Goldsmiths and the
Caribbean Centre at Amsterdam University and ASCC (Afro-Surinam Cultural
Centre) in the Netherlands. The
general aims and objectives of CACOEU are to promote knowledge of the
Caribbean and its diaspora, particularly in Europe, through the following
means: Educational Institutions (all levels) cultural exchanges (arts and
media) and a small scale publication. CACOEU
also seeks to provide a forum for academic and lay members of the
community to share experiences for better understanding of events which
affect us. Membership
is open to anyone who share the aims and objectives of CACOEU and its
mission to reflect the diversity of the Caribbean people. The
Secretary Ms Lee Sanowar McKee (For further
information, please contact INFO) ©
Copyright of content is that of Individual Contributors This
page was last updated on 19-Jan-2010
|