MPhil Diary: Week 1, 28 August-4 September

 

Part of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Mona Campus.

Today marks the end of my first week as an MPhil student in History at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. My course, generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust, has thus weighed anchor and won't come into port for another two years.

Setting a course

Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.

I was fortunate enough to have secured accommodation by the time I arrived in Jamaica last weekend, as the period of trying to find somewhere to live between receiving my offer from the university in May to my arrival can only be described as a 'palaver'. I have been able to get through all administrative hoops smoothly since my arrival, and having worked for a year in a UK university I am no stranger to the vexatious spirit of higher education, which seems to be replicated the world around. Although, I can imagine that things might not go so smoothly if there were actual problems. I have no reason to doubt what one my fellow students described as the Kafkaesque nature of UWI's bureaucracy (not, I believe, an isolated feeling).

Postgraduate teaching does not begin until the week of 12 September, when I will commence my two seminars: HIST6712 on Monday with Professor James Robertson, and HIST6003 on Wednesday with Professor Kathleen Monteith. Prof Robertson's course is on the theory and application of history, while Prof Monteith's course is on West Indian historiography. I am looking forward to both and my free week next week will be about getting through the reading, and if possible, getting ahead of the following week. As the only new history postgrad at UWI this year, I expect these will be classes of one or two.

I have also met with my proposed supervisor, Dr Dexnell Peters, who like me has only just moved to Jamaica from the UK. My original research proposal submitted as part of my applications to both UWI and the Leverhulme Trust was for a thesis on "The Trading Community of Kingston, Jamaica, 1770-1800", although my gut instinct is to broaden that to a wider "Social and Economic History of Kingston, Jamaica, 1692-1807" until I have the material gathered to narrow down the remit, if I desire to do so.

I haven't had much time to think about the thesis in the first week, but I have downloaded Zotero and started working on getting some of my core secondary sources in order. I have also started scouring the internet for digitised material on Kingston and eighteenth-century Jamaica, of which there is no shortage. The idea, of course, is that digitised material in concert with archival material in the country will form the basis of my thesis. If I can find funding to visit some relevant libraries or archives in the UK or US, then all the better.

Next week I plan to make my first visit to the Jamaica Archives, in Spanish Town, which is by no means the most pleasant part of the country and so I will need to be extra careful. I am looking forward to getting my first look at the Kingston Vestry records, and some of the Jamaican prize papers, though. If anyone wants to drop me a line as I begin this journey, feel free to reach out at andrew.williams13(at)mymona.uwi.edu.