About Us

The Department of History and Archaeology, Mona operates a Social History Project (SHP), which was established some 25 years ago. The SHP is administered by an executive committee consisting of staff members and graduate students in the Department of History and Archaeology. The positions of Director, Finance Officer and Newsletter Editor are held by persons appointed by the Head of the Department of History and Archaeology, and are held normally for a period of three years. Other positions are held by persons co-opted by the Director. The work of the SHP executive is voluntary. That the SHP has thrived over the past twenty-five years attests to the commitment of all who have given service in their various positions.

When it was first established, the SHP was seen primarily as an instrument to guide and support postgraduate research into Jamaica’s social history beginning in the immediate post slavery period. Accordingly, much of the SHP’s efforts in its early years were concentrated in making more accessible research material, and included the collection and preservation of documentary and oral material pertaining to Jamaica’s social history. Having received a new mandate from the Department of History & Archaeology, the SHP's work as of 2007 now includes promoting research in slavery, post slavery, archaeology and heritage studies in the Caribbean, with primary focus on Jamaica .