Day 2: Knibb's Niche - Claire

Today we spent most of our day today working towards a framework to better understand Falmouth, Jamaica. We did this through a presentation from Dr. Conolley, a partner we have worked with for six years now and each of us presenting site reports about significant structures at Good Hope Plantation, where are staying, and in the town of Falmouth.

I gave my site report about churches in Falmouth and there was one name that kept coming up; William Knibb. Knibb was a British missionary who came from England to Jamaica. Still today, Knibb has many buildings named after him, honoring his significant contribution to the emancipation of enslaved people on the island. In fact, on our way into Falmouth today we stopped at the William Knibb High School for Dr. Lee and Dr. Quillin to check in with our friends there to discuss our impending partnership.

This constant repetition on his name in light of emancipation of slaves left me with a lot of questions about who else might have been, and is currently being left out of the narrative of Jamaican emancipation. After all, one person could not be solely responsible for the emancipation of thousands of people, right?

Further, this left me wondering about the impact of identifying and honoring people, particularly African-Jamiacans, who were responsible, in some ways for their own emancipation, on present day Jamaicans. I wonder if it would be empowering knowing Jamaicans played a role in gaining their own freedom instead of being saved ultimately by the same system which oppressed them.
Ultimately, I am left questioning the impact of the way we talk about history and how it effects Jamaicans 200 years later. These questions are maybe not questions that we can answer on this trip, or maybe ever, however through our close connections with some people who live in Falmouth, I think it will be possible to get some insight on some ideas about what this might impact might be. I'll post again with an update if a good opportunity arises to address these questions with the people of Falmouth to get some honest answers.