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Fashioning Society in Eighteenth-century British Jamaica
White women who inhabited the West Indies in the eighteenth century fascinated the metropole. In popular prints, novels, and serial publications, these women appeared to stray from “proper” British societal norms. Inhabiting a space dominated by a tropical climate and the presence of a large enslaved African population opened white women to censure. Almost from the moment of colonial encounter, they were perceived not as proper British women but as an imperial “other,” inhabiting a middle space between the ideal woman and the supposed indigenous “savage.” Furthermore, white women seemed to be lacking the sensibility prized in eighteenth-century England. However, the correspondence that survives from white women in Jamaica reveals the language of sensibility. “Creolized” in this imperial landscape, sensibility extended beyond written words to the material objects exchanged during their tenure on these sugar plantations. Although many women who lived in the Caribbean island of Jamaica might have fit the model, extant writings from Ann Brodbelt, Sarah Dwarris, Margaret and Mary Cowper, Lady Maria Nugent, and Ann Appleton Storrow, show a longing to remain connected with metropolitan society and their loved ones separated by the Atlantic. This sensibility and awareness of metropolitan material culture masked a lack of empathy towards subordinates, and opened the white women these islands to censure, particularly during the era of the British abolitionist movement. Novels and popular publications portrayed white women in the Caribbean as prone to overconsumption, but these women seem to prize items not for their inherent value. They treasured items most when they came from beloved connections. This colonial interchange forged and preserved bonds with loved ones and comforted the women in the West Indies during their residence in these sugar plantation islands. This dissertation seeks to complicate the stereotype of insensibility and overconsumption that characterized the perception of white women …
The West Indies College and its Educational Activities in Jamaica, 1961-1987
The West Indies College is an institution of higher education in Jamaica which was established by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in 1909. It has had three names: 1909-1923, West Indian Training School; 1924-1958, West Indian Training College, and 1959-present, West Indies College. The school has been served by over 20 presidents. The needs of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Mandeville community, Jamaica, and the West Indies region continue to play an important role in the addition and elimination of academic programs at the college. Present programs have attracted students from Africa, North and South America, the West Indies, and Europe. The college has industries that are used as facilities to provide the work-study program for students to fulfill the college's operational philosophy of educating the entire person. The industries assist students in the development of manual skills and in the payment of tuition. The West Indies College is funded by grants of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, tuition fees, profits from industries, and individual contributions. The school also receives a financial advantage in the form of tax exemption from the Jamaican government. An organized Department of Alumni Affairs assists the college in moral, professional, and material support. Due to the generosity of individual alumni, scholarships have been established to help needy students.
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