The Hon. Robert Pickersgill will represent Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller at the opening of the 5th annual Caribbean Reasonings conference on Friday June 9, at 6pm, at the Undercroft, UWI, Mona.
The conference, which has as its theme; Politics, Activism and History: The Life and Times of Richard Hart, is being hosted by the Centre for Caribbean Thought (CCT), in association with the Africana Studies Department Brown University, Rhode Island.
Hart, a Musgrave Gold Medallist, historian, lawyer, trade unionist, political activist and one of the few surviving founding members of the Peoples National Party (PNP), will be honoured at this conference.
A main feature of the three-day event will be the daily panel discussions on Hart’s contribution to the various spheres of Caribbean social, political and economic life.
The opening ceremony will be held on Friday, June 9, though the conference activities begin a day earlier on June 8 with a book launch and Library exhibition, showcasing Hart’s life and work.
The Caribbean Reasonings series of conferences is part of the CCT’s mandate to create a greater understanding and appreciation of the field of Caribbean thought as a critical component of national and regional heritage.
The series started in 2002, with a conference on Sylvia Wynter’s work. In 2003 George Lamming took centre stage. In 2004 the thought of Stuart Hall was explored and last year featured the New World Group, comprising Norman Girvan, Lloyd Best, Owen Jefferson and Alister McIntyre among others.
The conference is open to the public.

Contact:
Dahlia Cole 512-3407 or dahlialcole@yahoo.co.uk
Adlyn Smith-Graham 977-9344/512-3411 or adlyn.smith@uwimona.edu.jm
Carroll Edwards 977-5341 or proffice@uwimona.edu.jm