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Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas presented a paper titled "Guyana’s History Geopolitics and Education in the context of strategic culture” at a Florida International University(FIU) and US SOUTHCOM- sponsored workshop in Miami on Oct. 7.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas was an invited speaker at “A Tribute In Honor Of An International Man” to mark the 100th birth anniversary of the late Trinidad and Tobago historian and politician Dr. Eric Williams. The event was held at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum on Sept. 24.

Nigel Westmaas, assistant professor of African studies, has co-written (with Juanita De Barros from McMaster University) an historical commentary on British Guiana (Guyana) that records Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) work in the colony in the early 20th century.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas was the guest speaker at a Caribbean Students Association-sponsored event at the State University of New York (SUNY) Cortland on April 27. 

Assistant Professor of African Studies Nigel Westmaas presented a paper at the National Association of African American Studies conference in Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 14. His paper “Teaching Caribbean History in the North American Academy: Pitfalls, Pedagogy and Performance” discussed the strategic use of comparison in theme and topic, the content and design of effective syllabi, and the general classroom environment and receptivity in teaching Caribbean history in America.  

On January 12, the first anniversary of the horrific Haitian earthquake, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas was a guest on WRFG (Radio Free Georgia, Atlanta) 89.3.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas has published an article in the newly released issue (July –December 2009) of the Caribbean Studies journal. His article, “1968 and the Social and Political Foundations and Impact of the "New Politics" in Guyana” examines the activism and collective action of groups and individuals in Guyana between 1968-1978, and argues that the emergence and convergence of these forces and politics changed the equation and brought into being the 'new politics' dramatized in the birth and activity of the Working People's Alliance (WPA), a Guyanese political party.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas has been appointed to the board of directors of the Guyana Institute of Historical Research (GIHR). The Institute, which collaborates with the History Department of the University of Guyana, conducts programs and research on labour history, women’s history and other histories of Guyana and the Caribbean.