John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, Orlando Patterson will be the guest speaker at the Opening Ceremony of the 6th Caribbean Reasonings Conference on Wednesday,   June 11, 2008 at 6 pm at the Undercroft, The University of the West Indies, Mona. The Conference is titled “M. G. Smith and the Emergence of Social Anthropology and Social Theory in the Caribbean and Beyond” and seeks to highlight the contribution and work of M.G Smith, distinguished social anthropologist and social theorist.

Professor Patterson, a Jamaican and graduate of The University of the West Indies, is the highly respected author of many prize winning studies, including the Sociology of Slavery, Slavery and Social Death, Freedom in the Making of Western Culture and the acclaimed novel The Children of Sisyphus. Patterson will be speaking to the work and life of his compatriot and one of the leading anthropologists of the second half of the twentieth Century.

M.G. Smith is perhaps best remembered for his controversial study of social structure in the Caribbean, The Plural Society in the British West Indies. He also wrote and published extensively on Northern Nigeria, Grenada, Carriacou, anthropological theory, comparative social structure and the sociology of education. Smith was also a poet and his lyrical, nationalist poem ‘I saw my land in the morning’ is still regularly anthologized and recited.

The programme will feature at least twelve panels presentations exploring topics relating to all aspects of the life and work of M. G. Smith including: Slave-trading system of the central Sudan; Anthropology, race and nation; Magic, witchcraft, and religion; Norman and Edna Manley and the awakening of cultural nationalism in Jamaica; Afro-Caribbean spirituality; Creolization; Gender and family; History, culture and land; Politics of sexuality; Race, pluralism and meaning of cultural difference and National identity and development in plural societies. The panel presentations take place at the Social Sciences Lecture Theatre on June 12-13 from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm daily.

The Conference will also feature an exhibition showcasing the life and work on M.G. Smith on June 12 at the Multifunctional Room, Main Library, UWI, Mona.

The Conference is organized by The Centre for Caribbean Thought, the University of the West Indies in collaboration with the Department of Africana Studies, Brown University and the University of California, Los Angeles.