Inter-Island Connections in the Lesser Antilles Conference

Thur. February 23, 2023, 1:00pm AST - Sat. February 25, 2023, 4:00pm AST


This conference is being held in person on St. Thomas, and virtually. It is a three-day conference, from February 23rd through February 25th, 2023. Sessions include "Making Connections in the Early Lesser Antilles", "The Challenges of Doing Family History in the Lesser Antilles", "Antillean Family Histories in the Twentieth Century", "Food Ways, Survival and Resistance in the Lesser Antilles", "The Islands of Green Gold" and "Migrants and Their Communities in the Lesser Antilles and Beyond".

In this conference, we gather Caribbean historians and genealogists of the Lesser Antilles to ask how the archipelagic setting of the Lesser Antilles shaped island existence in the past and how it influences families, friends, and institutions today. Twenty talks are expected, including topics related to the Virgin Islands and other neighboring islands of the Caribbean.

For centuries, islanders living on small islands, in close proximity and with a limited resource base, have turned towards their neighbors across the sea. They have crossed formal and informal borders to carve out places for themselves and their loved ones. It is this dynamic of inter-island movement that we wish to explore at the conference. We ask what conventional historical and archaeological evidence tells us about inter-island movements and how family histories and genealogical research can enrich, complicate, and qualify the historical record.

Days/Times:
February 23rd, 2023; from 1pm to 5pm
February 24th, 2023; from 9:30am to 4pm
February 25th, 2023; from 9:30am to 4pm

View the Program (Includes list of Presenters, Topics, and Schedule)

Registration/Ticket:
In Person: $20 per person
Virtual: $20 per person
Fiex In Peson/Virtual: $20 per person
Students: Free (Requires Valid University Student ID)



All ticket sales are final and non-refundable. Tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded after purchase unless the conference is cancelled and not rescheduled.

Location for Live Event: University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas Campus, ACC Building
Virtual Attendance: Via Zoom

Conference Recordings: Talks offered in the conference will be recorded as allowed by the presenters. The recordings will be made available to attendees allowing the opportunity to listen to a talk again or view one that was missed. The recordings will be available after the conference ends.

Organized by the Caribbean Genealogy Library, the University of the Virgin Islands, and the IN THE SAME SEA research project, University of Copenhagen.

List of Speakers & Talks:

Dante C. Beretta, Family Historian
Title: How Ms. Verna’s Ancestors Came to Settle on the island of St. Thomas

Michele D. Bertrand, Family Historian Title: The Bertrands Between the World Wars

Dr Vincent Cooper, Linguist, UVI Professor, Family Historian Title: 19th Century Colonialism and the Cooper Family Connections: Dieppe Bay, Grove Place, and Carrot Bay

Mary Draper, Assistant Professor of History, Midwestern State University Title: Dry Weather: Drought and the Inter-Island Water Trade in the Eighteenth-Century Leeward Islands

Stephanie Duzant, Family Historian Title: The Importance of Cultural Identity for a Stateside born St. Johnian: Living a Virgin Islands life in the Continental States

David Knight Sr., Historian, Author Title: Daughters of Eden; The Role of Creole Women in the Founding of the Danish Colony on St. Thomas in the Seventeenth Century

Cush Cuthbertson-Sewer, Family Historian Title: Food, Farming, and Black Resistance in the Virgin Islands: 1733 & Food Sovereignty

Enrique Corneiro, Family Historian, Author Title: How Did I Get Here? Fugitives in the Danish West Indies

Jon Euwema, Conceptual Artist Title: The Islands of Green Gold

Astrid Girault, PhD Student at the University of Montreal Title: Baptismal and wedding parties as ways for slaves to create and maintain family ties.

Timothy A. Hodge, Family Historian Title: The migration of Anguillians to neighboring Caribbean islands: its impacts on Anguilla and contributions to the islands they migrated to

Jacklyn Lawrence, Family Historian Title: The Gerard-Crameaus and Me: Finding My Free-Colored Family in the Danish West Indies

Joy D. Lewis, Professor at Morgan State University, Maryland Title: A United Virgin Islands?

John Angus Martin, completing PhD in Heritage Management in the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University Title: The Mount Moritz Bajans: Grenada&rspuo;s Lost White Tribe

Costantino Nicolizas, BA. Archeology, MA. in social anthropology Title: Amerindian navigation in the Antilles. From mobility to structure

Mary-Jane Roth, Family Historian Title: An Inter-Island Merchant Family

Michelle Springer, Family Historian Title: Cartographies of the Sacred: A Narrative Inquiry of Memories, Spirituality and Migration in Black Women’s oral histories

Martijn M. van den Bel, Archaeologist working for INRAP in Outre-Mer Title: The Prize Papers revealing the social network of Dutch merchants on St. Christopher, Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1664

Don E. Walicek, Professor of English and Linguistics at the University of Puerto Rico (Río Piedras) Title: Difference and Belonging in Nineteenth-Century Samaná: the Significance of Inter-Island Connections