Nigel Westmaas
I first met Walter Rodney as a young unofficial student at his home in Georgetown where he gave free history lessons upon his return from Tanzania, and I can attest, like countless others, to his restless humanity and energy to serve the common people, whether in Africa, Guyana, the Caribbean, or the Americas. In one of his most moving statements (of particular relevance to intellectuals and academics) and one that defined his character he declared:
For our generation too is adding its quota to the frightening sterility of the society, Living off campus is a great boon, for it reduces my contact with rum-sipping, soul selling intellectuals of Mona…(University of the West Indies) Meanwhile I try to find some meaning among the mass of the population who are daily performing a miracle – they continue to survive!
Long live the spirit of Walter Rodney!
Researcher and activist, Nigel Westmaas, is Associate Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Hamilton College, New York. His research interests include social movements in Guyana and the Caribbean, archival research and projects, and the history of the newspaper press in Guyana. He has published articles in journals and newspapers including “Resisting Orthodoxy: Notes on the Origins and Ideology of the Working People’s Alliance” in Small Axe journal. He is co-editor with David Granger of a booklet on Guyanese Periodicals: 1796-1996. His research on Marcus Garvey in British Guiana for the University of California UNIA Papers project was published in 2011. Westmaas also published a chapter titled "An Organic Activist: Eusi Kwayana, Guyana and global Pan-Africanism" in the text Black Power in the Caribbean (University Press of Florida, 2014).