VIDEO RECORDING: History Professor Brij Lal: His Life and Legacies – By Staff Reporter

The world lost another great mind at the end of 2021. Professor Brij Vilash Lal, who passed away on December 25th at the age of 69, dedicated his life to the study of girmitya – theindentureship of Indian migrant labourers as well as their descendants. He was a prolific writer, having published ten books and thirty edited volumes including his magnum opus, The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora. His academic career saw him teach at numerous universities such as the Australian National University, the University of South Pacific at Suva, the University of Papua New Guinea, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the University of Fiji. In recognition of his dedication and scholarship, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia during the Queen’s Birthday Honours (Australia) in 2015.

Perhaps, the greatest recognition of his life’s work, though, came that very year (2015) when he was forced into exile and indefinitely prohibited from returning to Fiji. Consider how this is possibly the greatest achievement of intellectuals and activists for human rights and social justice that their very thoughts provoke political reaction to the extent of expulsion from their own country. Ironically, before that tragic act, he had been honoured by the Fiji Millennium Committee for his distinguished scholarship and dubbed one of the 70 greatest Fijians responsible for shaping 20th century Fiji. Only true geniuses are met with the kind of political expulsion experienced by Professor Brij Lal. The world and the Indian diaspora mourn the loss of a great academic historian, political activist and public intellectual.

TOPIC: History Professor Brij Lal: His Life and Legacies

SPEAKERS:

  • SELVAN NAIDOO – Curator and Board Director of the 1860 Heritage Centre Museum
    that showcases the diversity of South Africa’s rich heritage from Indenture to Democracy
  • PROF. DAVID DABYDEEN – Professor Emeritus at the University of Warwick, Honorary Fellow at Cambridge University, and former Guyana’s Ambassador to China and UNESCO
  • PROF. DOUG MUNRO – New Zealand-based historian and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland in Australia; co-editor of a book of essays in honour of Brij V. Lal, (2017)
  • PROF. GOOLAM VAHED – History Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal with interest in colonial encounters, transformations of Indian identities, Islam and Muslims in South Africa
  • PROF. UMA DHUPELIA MESTHRIE – Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Western Cape in South Africa; scholar and the great granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi

Followed by Tributes from the LIVE audience

SEE VIDEO RECORDING by touching or clicking on this link:
https://www.facebook.com/indocaribbeanculturalcentre/videos/1538944636484589

For more information, or to become a presenter in a ZOOM Public Meeting like this, or to suggest a topic or organise a panel, please contact indocaribbeanstaff@gmail.com
WhatsApp +1 868 756 4961 in Trinidad. To add your name to our growing list of invitees, please send your request to the same contacts above.

Please join us THIS SUNDAY (30/1/22) for discussions on the TOPIC: “Critical questions about COVID-19 and vaccinations” with the following speakers: Dr. Sanjiv Parasram, Sheriffa Ali-Ballantine, Dr. Rajiv Seereeram, Clyde Weatherhead, Dr. Padaruth Ramlachan. Followed by Q+A

Join Zoom Meeting THIS SUNDAY (30/1/22) by clicking on or touching this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81403855632

Meeting ID: 814 0385 5632
No Passcode Needed

Live-streamed on the Facebook page of the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre
https://www.facebook.com/indocaribbeanculturalcentre

Hosted by www.indocaribbeanpublications.com,

WhatsApp +1 868 756 4961 or +1 868 381 0386
dmahabir@gmail.com, indocaribbeanstaff@kumarmahabir