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Scholars In Residence: A College First on Education and Race in The Bahamas
Dr Keva Bethel, President Emerita of The College of The Bahamas and Dr. Gail Saunders, former Director General of Heritage, are The College's first resident scholars. Scholars in residence programmes allow universities to strengthen expertise and enhance research capacity in academic areas of particular significance to those institutions. They typically allow visiting scholars to explore new dimensions in their disciplines and create unique opportunities for intellectual engagement with the university's faculty and students. For the host university, such work often leads to the enrichment of existing courses or the creation of new ones. Drs. Bethel and Saunders bring a combined experience and expertise that spans decades of important work in The Bahamas. The pair is conducting research that will uncover valuable historical data on educational development and race relations in The Bahamas. Dr. Bethel's work, a two-year project, will study the history of post-secondary education in The Bahamas with particular emphasis on the history of The College of The Bahamas. The veteran educator, who has devoted some 50 years to education in The Bahamas, is uniquely positioned for this project having been The College's first President, following 13 years as the institution's Principal; the only woman to have held that post. Dr. Bethel will examine and record significant events and milestones in the first thirty-five years of the institution's history. "The whole concept of the [Scholars-in-Residence] Programme, when you put aside the personalities involved in this instance, is a very important reflection of the new dimension that The College is taking on its transition to university status," Dr. Bethel shares. "I think it can focus the public's understanding that we have moved to a different stage in our development and in addition to the instructional responsibilities that we have had over the years, we now value both the experience, knowledge and research abilities of...mature scholars." Her research will investigate the social imperatives and aspirations that impacted the early post independence period when The College was established; including the prevailing realities and perceptions of education in The Bahamas and educational opportunities for Bahamians that governed that time; and the kinds of changes that eventually emerged. Dr. Saunders' work, also a two-year project, is for her planned book, Race Relations in the Colonial Bahamas. Calling the research necessary and important, Dr. Saunders hopes to fuel greater dialogue on what for many remains a compelling and sensitive issue. "A lot of Bahamians don't like to discuss race because it can be rather sensitive, but I think we need to look at it dispassionately and objectively and that's what I hope to achieve." In person interviews will be a critical support to the documentary investigations she will conduct. "I just wish those things that existed then were here. So many of the people I really need to interview are gone. I hope to travel to the major islands to interview strategic people, mainly senior citizens, but some people in their 50s and 40s because their parents talked to them." The Scholars in Residence Programme is an important first for The College, which has placed great emphasis on building its research agenda. The appointment of Dr. Bethel and Dr. Saunders as the first such scholars, each distinguished experts in their own right, underscores the kind of distinction The College places on the programme. It also underpins the importance The College places in developing research in areas of significance to development in The Bahamas. "We do bring to the role...a huge range of experience; between us we have nearly a century of experience. We have lived through a lot; we have built institutions. Dr. Saunders built the archives almost single-handedly. We have had the privilege of observing so many developments, good and bad, in our society and now as retirees we have the luxury of being able to reflect and research and write about these things. And we can talk about them in ways in which we could not have done in an actual position," Dr. Bethel says. Both research projects will involve a fair amount of interaction with The College's constituents, including students, faculty, staff and alumni. Dr. Saunders plans to lead an inter-disciplinary seminar including historians, anthropologists, sociologists and external experts to discuss race relations. She will pay particular attention to fourth year social science majors on research in the archives, and hopes to encourage them to pursue graduate studies in history, and to consider it a career choice, as she did.
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