Celebrated Jamaican author Rachel Manley is to be the guest speaker at the opening of an exhibition in honour of the late M.G. Smith on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 5:15 pm at the Multifunctional Room of the Main Library, the University of the West Indies, Mona. Manley’s talk is entitled ‘The Mike Smith I knew’, reflecting the long and close relationship Smith had with the Manley family.

The exhibition which forms a part of the 6th Caribbean Reasonings Conference features books, photographs and other memorabilia from Smith’s rich life. The Conference is being held in Smith’s honour under the theme “M.G. Smith and the Emergence of Social Anthropology and Social Theory in the Caribbean and Beyond”. Conference participants from North America, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean will be engaging in discussions on Caribbean society, the Hausa’s of Northern Nigeria, the famous and path breaking Ras Tafari Report, social stratification, educational policy and other topics of concern in Smith’s rich and varied work.

Rachel Manley is the author of two acclaimed memoirs, “Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood” (1996) and “Slipstream: A Daughter Remembers” (2000). The first is a reflection on her childhood, growing up in the household of her paternal grandparents, Edna and Norman Manley in the years immediately before Jamaica’s independence. The second is a reflection on her complex relationship with her father, the late former Prime Minister of Jamaica Michael Manley.

The 6th Caribbean Reasonings Conference opens on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 6 pm at the Undercroft, The University of the West Indies, Mona and continues on June 12-13, 2008 at 8.30 daily at the Faculty of Social Sciences Lecture Theatre.