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A distinguished member: Professor Barry Higman.
Barry Higman arrived as a postgraduate student at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies on a Commonwealth
Scholarship in 1967. He went on to complete the PhD in History at Mona under the supervision of Douglas Hall, and another
PhD in Geography at the University of Liverpool. He joined the staff of the History Department in 1971, resigning his Chair
as Professor of History only in 1996 after close to 28 years of service, broken only by Sabbaticals and Fellowship leaves.
As Douglas Hall observed shortly before he died, 'Barry's relentless pursuit of information, his meticulous arrangement of
it, his growing list of publications and his unceasing intellectual curiosity brought new vigour into the [History] Department.'
While at the University of the West Indies, he offered expert thesis supervision for many, as well as strong leadership as
Head of Department, distinguishing his two stints as head with outstanding administrative efficiency, creative solutions,
gender equity and institution-building innovations. History Day, the Heritage Studies Programme and the Social History Project
remain three of his outstanding innovations. Higman has been a leading scholar in the field of Caribbean history and historical
demography, particularly for the slavery period, for many decades; and his work has enabled him to annex an impressive number
of honours and awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship, the University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor's award for excellence
in research, teaching and administration, and admission to the fellowship of the Royal Historical Society.
Working Slavery, Pricing Freedom: Perspectives from the Caribbean, Africa and the African Diaspora.
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