UWI Press Annual Report, 2003-2004.pdf

Annual Report2003–2004

The University of the West Indies Press

The University of the West Indies Press’s mission

is to be the premier academic book publisher

in the Caribbean, to enhance and encourage

research and publication of Caribbean

scholarship, to promote the global

reputation of the University of the West Indies

by empowering the scholarly community

it serves, and to disseminate Caribbean

scholarship to the world within a

cost-effective environment.

Mission Statement

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U W I P R E S S A N N U A L R E P O R T , 2 0 0 3 – 2 0 0 4

UWI PressA Voice, an Image and a Vehicle

The Caribbean world that isserved by the University ofthe West Indies needs a

competent, high-quality universitypress. As the academic communityseeks to strengthen and expand itscommitment to meeting the challengesidentified by regional developmentdiscourse, it can only succeed with thePress serving as a critical enabler.

At this time, the region’s capacity toaccess organized, relevant knowledgefor development thinking and planningcannot be described as advanced. It hasthe lowest enrolment in highereducation in the hemisphere, and thechronic shortage of skilled, highly

trained citizens constitutes the principal drag on its ability to secure sustainedeconomic growth. Stakeholders are in agreement that a remedial course of actionmust be the launch of a tertiary education revolution.

The role and function of the Press must be an essential element of thisstrategy. Currently, there are over twenty-six thousand students enrolled at UWIand twice the number in other tertiary institutions within the English-speakingsubregion. This level of access is growing at a rapid rate. It cannot be overstatedhow important it is that these students are able to secure the fine literatureproduced by the region’s scholars as part of a normal cultural expectation. TheUniversity of the West Indies has not only expanded its global reach and regionalrelevance by its investment in the Press, but it has enhanced immeasurably itsreputation as a centre of excellence.

Continues

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In order to play a vital role in the regional development initiatives, theUniversity has finalized its strategic plan for the period 2002–2007. The Press,as a significant constituent that shapes and informs the University’s reality,recognizes the contribution it must make to the planning exercise and offers itsexperiences and infrastructure as a significant asset.

The significance of strategic planning is to ensure that both the Universityand the region itself are positioned to survive with enhanced capability andcredibility the contradictory political and economic process of globalization.The Caribbean nation as a cultural gathering will require its distinct voice to beheard and respected. No civilization will grow without an empowered voice andthe University of the West Indies Press has already established a reputation as aprimary instrument through which that voice resonates.

It is the voice of our distinguished academic leaders who have demonstratedthe intellectual vibrancy of the civilization through the publication of new andinnovative research. The “inward stretch and global reach” of the Caribbeanmind through the pages of the products of the Press have illustrated itsimportance to understanding the realities of the postcolonial era. There is nosubstitute for relevant, original research, and the ability of the Press to makeaccessible new knowledge is as critical to development as any other form ofresource availability.

Empowering the scholastic voice of the Caribbean is an effective way totransform the image of the region as a viable and vibrant zone of excellence inthe globally competitive circumstance. The explosion of research-basedpublications within the academy in recent years was in large measure attributableto the activities of the Press that sees as its remit the ongoing motivation ofscholars.

The market for tertiary-level texts that speak to the Caribbean contextcontinues to grow. The Press is a major beneficiary of this trend and one of itsleading energy sources. In paving this path, the Press serves the University as aninvestment that is at once illuminating and entrepreneurial.

Professor Hilary BecklesChairmanUWI Press Board of Directors

The University of the West Indies Press just completed a spectacular year, postingrecord-breaking sales and receiving a record-breaking number of industry awards.Net sales reached $19 million, a growth rate of 23 per cent over the past year, with

sales doubling over the past five years, far in excess of global industry standards, where manypublishers experienced stagnant or negative growth rates. The record-breaking sales growthwas fuelled by strong trade, textbook and library sales and consistent growth in the globalmarketplace. For the first time in its history, UWI Press sales in North America exceededthose in any other country. This is a marked shift from the Press’s earlier days, when themajority of its sales were in Jamaica, and attests to the globally competitive nature of UWIPress books.

Recent UWI Press books won several national, regional and international awards,independent testimony to the Press’s high academic standards and its reliance on a rigorousdouble-blind peer review process. Particularly noteworthy was that Professor MaureenWarner-Lewis’s Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures received morethan five separate academic and sales awards from various agencies or organizations. Inaddition, the Press received the Book Industry Association of Jamaica’s prestigious TrailblazerAward for industry participation and significant export growth.

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UWI Press staff, 2003. Back row, left to right: Richard Smith, Karen Smith, Dionne Williams, Pamela Stephenson, MervisJohnson, Bernadene Blake-McCalla, Marsha Marshall, Richard Young. Front row, left to right: Shivaun Hearne, Linda Speth,Nadine Buckland, Donna Muirhead.

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UWI Press published eighteen new books and three issues of the Journal of Caribbean History,bringing its total publications to twenty-one. For the first time in seven years, the Journal ofCaribbean History was brought current.

Publications, 2003–2004

Exploring the Palace of the Peacock: Essays on Wilson Harris, Joyce Sparer Adler, edited by Irving Adler

Adolphus, A Tale and The Slave Son, edited by Lise Winer, with annotations and an introductionby Bridget Brereton, Rhonda Cobham, Mary Rimmer, Karen Sánchez-Eppler and LiseWiner

Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean, edited by EudineBarriteau

History of Education in the British Leeward Islands, Howard A. Fergus

Clear Word and Third Sight: Folk Groundings and Diasporic Consciousness in African Caribbean Writing,Catherine A. John

Understanding Crime in Jamaica: New Challenges for Public Policy, edited by Anthony Harriott

From Jamaican Creole to Standard English, Velma Pollard

UWI Cave Hill: Forty Years – A Celebration, edited by Henry Fraser, Michael Gill, Alan Cobleyand Woodville Marshall

Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, edited by Richard Allsopp

Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses, edited by Rhoda Reddock

Rex Nettleford and His Works: An Annotated Bibliography, 1997–2004 Supplement, edited byAlbertina Jefferson

Mona, Past and Present: The History and Heritage of the Mona Campus, University of the West Indies,Suzanne Francis Brown (cloth)

Mona, Past and Present: The History and Heritage of the Mona Campus, University of the West Indies,Suzanne Francis Brown (paper)

Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: The Anglo-Jamaican World of Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves,1750–1786, Trevor Burnard

The Language of Dress: Resistance and Accommodation in Jamaica, 1760–1890, Steeve O. Buckridge

Demeaned but Empowered: The Social Power of the Urban Poor in Jamaica, Obika Gray

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Diasporic (Dis)locations: Indo-Caribbean Women Writers Negotiate the Kala Pani, Brinda J. Mehta

Modernity Disavowed: Haiti and the Cultures of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, Sibylle Fischer

Journal of Caribbean History 37, nos. 1 and 2, and 38, no. 1

The following nine books were reprinted because of ongoing course demand:

The Chinese in the West Indies, Walton Look Lai

Surviving Small Size: Regional Integration in Caribbean Ministates, Patsy Lewis

Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training in the Caribbean, edited by Chandana Jayawardena

Abandoning Dead Metaphors: The Caribbean Phase of Derek Walcott’s Poetry, Patricia Ismond

Renewing Democracy into the Millennium: The Jamaican Experience in Perspective, Trevor Munroe

My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Families in Three Selected Communities of Jamaica, EdithClarke; with a foreword by Rex Nettleford

Caribbean Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory: An Assessment of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada, BrianMeeks

Learning to Be a Man: Culture, Socialization and Gender Identity in Five Caribbean Communities, BarryChevannes

Introduction to Social Research: With Applications to the Caribbean, Ian Boxill, Claudia Chambers andEleanor Wint

In addition, eight books are “in press”:

Neither Led nor Driven: Contesting British Cultural Imperialism in Jamaica, 1865–1920, Brian L.Moore and Michele A. Johnson

Woodside, Pear Tree Grove P.O., Erna Brodber

The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaican Taino, edited by Lesley-Gail Atkinson

Jamaican Folk Medicine: A Source of Healing, Arvilla Payne-Jackson and Mervyn C. Alleyne

Culture @ the Cutting Edge: Studies in Caribbean Popular Music, Curwen Best

Words, Sound and Power: Essays in Honour of Kamau Brathwaite, edited by Annie Paul

Lionheart Gal: Life Stories of Jamaican Women, Sistren with Honor Ford Smith

Journal of Caribbean History 38, no. 2

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Press Bestsellers by Sales Volume, 2003–2004

1. UWI Cave Hill: Forty Years – A Celebration, edited by Henry Fraser, Michael Gill, Alan Cobley, Woodville Marshall

2. Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures, Maureen Warner-Lewis

3. Confronting Power and Theorizing Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean, edited by Eudine Barriteau

4. Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses, edited by Rhoda Reddock

5. Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean, edited by Holger Henke and Fred Reno

6. Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought, edited by Patricia Mohammed

7. Introduction to Politics, third edition, Trevor Munroe

8. The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and the World,Mervyn C. Alleyne

9. Dictionary of Jamaican English, edited by F.G. Cassidy and R.B. Le Page

10. Introduction to Social Research: With Applications to the Caribbean, edited by Ian Boxill, Claudia Chambers and Eleanor Wint

Bestsellers

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Awards

Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures, Maureen Warner-Lewis,Best Publication, Faculty of Humanities and Education, Mona Research Day 2004,University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

Competitiveness in Small Developing Economies: Insights from the Caribbean, Alvin Wint, Best Publication,Faculty of Social Sciences, Mona Research Day 2004, University of the West Indies, Mona,Jamaica

Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures, Maureen Warner-Lewis,Best Academic Book 2004, Book Industry Association of Jamaica

Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures, Maureen Warner-Lewis,Caribbean Studies Association, Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Award (joint prize). Thisinternational book prize was cited for its prodigious primary research and its disciplinaryamplitude. The book competed against fifty-two other submissions from a total of twenty-four publishers, including Duke University Press, the University of North Carolina Press andthe University Press of Amsterdam. (See citation in the appendix.)

UWI Press author Maureen Warner-Lewis (Trinidad Yoruba: From Mother Tongue to Memory andCentral Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures) received the Principal’sAward for Outstanding Research, Mona Research Day 2004, University of the West Indies,Mona, Jamaica.

UWI Press author, Olive Lewin (Rock It Come Over: The Folk Songsof Jamaica) received the Bridget Jones Travel Bursary from theSociety of Caribbean Studies.

The Press received the Trailblazer Award from the BookIndustry Association of Jamaica at its Biennial Award Cerem-ony. The award was made for (1) running a successful operation;(2) demonstrating a commitment by active service in the BookIndustry Association of Jamaica and in international publishing;and (3) demonstrating successful growth and risk taking in adifficult economic environment. (See citation in the appendix.)

Three UWI Press employees received long-service awards fromthe Book Industry Association of Jamaica. Nadine Buckland,Shivaun Hearne and Richard Smith received ten-year serviceawards.

Top: BIAJ presidentPaul Bryan presentingthe Trailblazer Awardto Linda Speth

Bottom: ShivaunHearne, NadineBuckland and RichardSmith with their BIAJawards

New Award Announced

The 2004 publishing year was a spectacular success for the University of the West IndiesPress. The company posted growth rates in excess of 23 per cent, won several academic andindustry awards, and extended its reach in the global marketplace, opening more than 153active international accounts.

In order to celebrate and share its successes with its partners, the Press has instituted anannual UWI Press Bestseller Award. A cash award of US$1,000 will be given to authors inthe following categories: Bestselling Textbook, Bestselling Scholarly Monograph, BestsellingGeneral Interest Book and Lifetime Achievement. The award-winning authors will berecognized at a special UWI Press function later in the year.

Bestselling Textbook, 2004

Eudine Barriteau, ed. Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender:Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean

Bestselling Scholarly Monograph, 2004

Maureen Warner-Lewis, Central Africa in the Caribbean:Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures

Bestselling General Interest Book, 2004

Henry Fraser, Michael Gill, Alan Cobley and WoodvilleMarshall, eds., UWI Cave Hill: Forty Years – A Celebration

Lifetime Achievement Award

In special recognition of lifetime contributions, ProfessorTrevor Munroe will also receive an award. Over the lasteleven years, his books have consistently dominated thebestseller lists in terms of quantity and net sales volume.His books have sold in excess of ten thousand copiesand continue to be widely adopted.

Trevor Munroe, Introduction to Politics: Lectures for First YearStudents, editions one, two and three

Trevor Munroe, Renewing Democracy into the Millennium: The Jamaican Experience in Perspective

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UWI Press staff at the launch of UWI Cave Hillin Barbados

Lifetime bestselling Press author ProfessorTrevor Munroe signing Renewing Democracyinto the Millennium

Denise Rouse and Lucy Wilson of the UWICave Hill bookshop at the launch of ConfrontingPower, Theorizing Gender

Book Launches

In 2003–2004, UWI Press launched ten books in four campus and non-campus countries:

UWI Cave Hill: 40 Years – A Celebration, edited by HenryFraser, Michael Gill, Alan Cobley and Woodville Marshall,Barbados

Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives inthe Caribbean, edited by Eudine Barriteau, Barbados

Adolphus, A Tale and The Slave Son, edited by Lise Winer, withannotations and an introduction by Bridget Brereton,Rhonda Cobham, Mary Rimmer, Karen Sánchez-Epplerand Lise Winer, Trinidad and Tobago

Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures, Maureen Warner-Lewis, Jamaica

Central Africa in the Caribbean:Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures,Maureen Warner-Lewis, Trinidadand Tobago

Demeaned but Empowered: The SocialPower of the Urban Poor in Jamaica,Obika Gray, St Kitts and Nevis

Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses,edited by Rhoda Reddock, St Kitts and Nevis

Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses,edited by Rhoda Reddock, Trinidad and Tobago

Mona, Past and Present: The History and Heritage of the Mona Campus,University of the West Indies, Suzanne Francis Brown, Jamaica

Understanding Crime in Jamaica: New Challenges for Public Policy, editedby Anthony Harriott, Jamaica

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Professor Hilary Becklesaddressing the audienceduring the launch ofUWI Cave Hill

Professor EudineBarriteau speaking atthe launch of her bookConfronting Power,Theorizing Gender:InterdisciplinaryPerspectives in theCaribbean at UWI Cave Hill

Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis addressing theaudience in Trinidad and Tobago at the launch ofCentral Africa in the Caribbean

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Conferences and Exhibits

UWI Press had a presence at thirty-three conferences and exhibits in nine different countries:

The Mona Academic Conference, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Southeast Booksellers Association, Combined Book Exhibit, USA

The Great Book Fair, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

The Great Book Fair, University of the West Indies, Barbados

Frankfurt Book Fair, Eurospan, Germany

Frankfurt Book Fair, CAPNET, Germany

CARICOM Thirtieth Anniversary Conference, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Annual Caribbean Publishers’ Network (CAPNET) Conference, Curaçao

New York Library Association, Combined Book Exhibit, USA

City Life in Caribbean History: Celebrating Bridgetown, University of the West Indies,Barbados

Research Day, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Fourth Annual Sir Arthur Lewis Conference, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

The Biennial Public Library Association, Combined Book Exhibit, USA

Career Expo, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Fourth Biennial Lucille Mair Public Lecture, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

London Book Fair, Eurospan, United Kingdom

New Jersey Library Association, Combined Book Exhibit, USA

Collective Copyright Management, Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency and theInternational Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations, Jamaica

Florida Library Association, Combined Book Exhibit, USA

Pan-African Conference, Broward County Library, Florida

H.B. Fenn and Company Limited Sales Conference, Canada

Book Expo, Canada

Conference on Caribbean Court of Justice, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

All-African Students Conference, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Association of Caribbean Historians, Barbados

Caribbean Studies Association, St Kitts and Nevis

Caribbean Reasoning Conference, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

CXC Exam Markings, Jamaica

International Conference on Haiti, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago

American Library Association, Combined Book Exhibit, USA

Fifth Migration Seminar Series, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Society for Caribbean Studies, Lancaster University, United Kingdom

Zimbabwe Book Fair, Africa

When UWI Press staff attend exhibits, they often make sales calls to neighbouring areas in order to maximize sales revenue and control operating costs. For example, in conjunctionwith the Association of Caribbean Historians meeting in Barbados, sales calls wereundertaken to St Vincent and St Lucia; similarly, after attending the Caribbean StudiesAssociation meeting in St Kitts, sales calls to bookstores and libraries in both St Kitts andNevis were made.

In addition to the numerous conferences, exhibits and launches attended by UWI Press,Press management and Press authors participated in over fifteen radio and televisioninterviews and cooperated with the Public Relations Office in publicizing Press events.During the course of the year over fifteen ads were placed with media houses in the region.

The Press’s visibility and appearance at exhibits and conferences and in local media outletsis increasing steadily and is remarkable for a small press with relatively few employees.

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UWI Press employeeCharmaine Wilson,selling books duringthe Press’s culturalstudies and CXCinitiative.

Donna Muirheadstaffing a book exhibitat the CaribbeanStudies Associationmeeting in Nassau

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Personnel Matters

Several Press employees have availed themselves of professional development opportunities.The Press paid for three employees to take language courses and sponsored six Press staff toattend a publishing conference in Curaçao. In addition, many Press staff are pursuingadvanced degrees or training opportunities. Two Press employees have continued theirSpanish-language training and received As in their coursework. In addition, two Pressemployees are completing their undergraduate degrees and many are attending workshops toenhance their skills.

The assistant marketing manager, Bernadene Blake-McCalla, has resigned to work foranother publishing company. The position will not be filled.

Catalogue 2004

Extensive work was completed on a four-colour, sixty-page seasonal and books in printcatalogue. Over ten thousand catalogues were made available to academics, individuals,

bookstores, government officials, libraries, wholesalers,distributors, schools and retailers. The catalogue wasalso made available to the Public Relations Office ofthe University of the West Indies, the resident tutors,the Alumni Association, the Finance and GeneralPurposes Committee, departments on campus and theBusiness Development Offices.

Targeted mailings to the library market in NorthAmerica have proved fruitful and these will berepeated, with lists purchased from US mailing housesand mailed in the United States rather than from theCaribbean. Both refinements will result in greater sales,reduced mailing costs and greater citation “hits”.

Response to the catalogue has been overwhelmingand many authors have approached the Press topublish their books because of the “outstandingprofessional quality of its 2004 catalogue and webpage”.

University of the West Indies Press and Industry Benchmarks

It is important to note that UWI Press is a global publisher and continually analyses itselfagainst other international publishers. The Press compares favourably in many respects to itspeer institutions (Association of American University Presses, Sales Group 1). Its annualizedgrowth rate of 23 per cent over the last two years is far in excess of industry averages; itsreturns at 5 per cent are far less than the industry average of 20 per cent; and its titles peremployee are comparable to industry levels of productivity. UWI Press will continue thesepositive trends while working to continually reduce operating costs as a percentage of salesand to improve its margin.

UWIP AAUP

Sales Growth Rate 23% (-5%)

Returns 5% 20%

Cost of Books 34% 28%

Cost of Writedown 21% 14%

Royalties 3% 9%

Gross Margin 43% 50%

Operating Expenses 161% 106%

Sales Per Employee $35,000 $53,000

Titles Per Employee 2.3 2.8

Days of Sales Outstanding 108 100

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Source: UWI Press Financial Statements, 31 March 2004 and Annual University PressStatistics, April 2003.

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University of the West Indies Press and Industry Benchmarks

Strategies to Promote Literacy and Indigenous Publishing

During the last three years, UWI Press management has played an active role in the BookIndustry Association of Jamaica to foster literacy and promote and expand the public’s accessto locally published books. Historically, more than 95–97 per cent of the books sold in theCaribbean have been metropolitan imports; imports, at times, with little relevance for theregion.

This year, Press management chaired the Book Award Committee of the Book IndustryAssociation of Jamaica; helped write a strategic plan to promote literacy in Jamaica;supported rolling back the general consumption tax (GCT) on books; sponsored local book-selling initiatives for indigenous publishers; and helped plan a book fair, whose theme was“Literacy: The First Step to Freedom”.

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Donna Muirhead, Linda Speth, Harry Van Ierssel (publishing consultant) and Professor Hilary Beckles at a UWI Pressbook exhibition at the Mona campus

Conclusion

The firm groundwork laid this year in terms of sales, campaigns, awards, exhibits, booklaunches and books in production augurs well for the scholarly and financial future of UWIPress. The strength of the publishing programme is evident in the 2004 catalogue.

UWI Press management has also prepared a detailed application (in excess of fifty pages)for membership in the American Association of University Presses. Membership will allowthe Press to reach the North American library markets and textbook adoption markets atmuch lower exhibit and mailing rates. In addition, membership in the association will provideUWI Press employees with training and professional development opportunities at reducedcosts. These benefits will help increase UWI Press’s presence in various citation indexes,promote its presence on global radar screens, and fuel sustained and continued sales growthfor the Press.

UWI Press is entering its twelfth year of operation in good shape, and next year it willmark a significant milestone, achieving lifetime sales surpassing over J$100 million in netsales.

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Professor the Hon. Rex Nettleford, vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and Linda Speth discuss thegrowth of the Press

Appendix

Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Award

Twenty-ninth Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, St Kitts and Nevis, 31 May–5 June 2004

According to established criteria, the nominated book for the Gordon K. and Sybil LewisAward should approach the chosen subject or aspect of Caribbean life, conditions andsituations from an interdisciplinary perspective; should clearly be shown to have regionalimpact; and may be written in any of the four major languages of the Caribbean – Dutch,English, French or Spanish. Monographs encompassing all disciplines and fields of Caribbeanscholarship are considered, and preference given to books written by one or more authors asopposed to edited volumes. Books are judged on originality, depth of research, advance ofmethodology or theory, and extent to which a pan-Caribbean problem or issue is addressed(a case study that affects Caribbean people in general is acceptable).

The Selection Committee of three past presidents, comprising Jean Stubbs, Ivelaw Griffithand Cora Christian, received a record number of fifty-three submissions of books publishedin 2001, 2002 and 2003. The submissions came from a total of twenty-four publishers,several sending multiple submissions. The breakdown of titles by language was English,forty-two; Spanish, eight; French, one; Dutch, one; and a bilingual Papiamentu/English,one. The Selection Committee concur that the quality and scope of the submissions testifyto the vitality of Caribbean publishing, and also made ours no easy task, albeit stimulatingand rewarding for the excellence of the scholarship contained therein. In their entirety, thesubmissions offer reason to be confident about the future of Caribbean Studies withdemonstrable theoretical innovation, methodological rigour and empirical creativity across thegenerational and disciplinary spectra, by both senior and junior scholars.

It is with great pleasure that, on behalf of the Selection Committee, I announce that theprize for this year’s Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Award is shared between: Maureen Warner-Lewis, Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures (University of the WestIndies Press, 2003), and Humberto García Muñiz and Gloria Vega Rodríguez, La ayuda militarcomo negocio: Estados Unidos y el Caribe (Ediciones Callejón, 2002).

Professor Jean StubbsProfessor Ivelaw L. Griffith Dr Cora Christian

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Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Award: Joint Prize

Maureen Warner-Lewis, Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, TransformingCultures (University of the West Indies Press, 2003)

This work is a copious examination of elements of the cultural and historical nexus betweensocieties in Central Africa and the Caribbean Basin. The result of obviously prodigiousprimary- and secondary-source research over several years, this work falls squarely in theLewis tradition in its geographic scope and disciplinary amplitude. As regards the former,while, understandably, there is variability in the extent to which it deals with specificCaribbean societies, the research landscape is pan-Caribbean. The discourse is even extendedin places to sections of Brazil. In relation to disciplinary scope, this work is not just a treatisein cultural studies, but also a work that would resonate with the fields of culturalanthropology, history and linguistics, among other areas. Moreover, the author has anengaging writing style, which should make the book both interesting to and comprehensibleto those who are not expert in the relevant fields.

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Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis and family at the UWI Mona Research Day ceremony, January 2004

Book Industry Association of Jamaica Trailblazer Citation, 2004

This year our Biennial Trailblazer Award is given to an organization rather than to anindividual. Our awardee is the University of the West Indies Press for its institutionalcommitment to research and excellence, its commitment to scholarly publishing and itsstalwart service to publishing in Jamaica, our Caribbean societies and to the internationalarena of publishing.

During its first eleven years, the Press has played a vital role by encouraging and supportingindigenous publishing and professional development and by preserving and disseminatinginformation about Jamaica’s and the region’s rich cultural heritage. Books such as OliveLewin’s Rock It Come Over, Kenneth Ingram’s Manuscript Sources of the West Indies,Trevor Munroe’sIntroduction to Politics, Maureen Warner-Lewis’s Central Africa in the Caribbean, Barry Chevannes’sLearning to Be a Man, and Brian Meeks and Folke Lindahl’s New Caribbean Thought are critical textsabout Caribbean societies and have contributed significantly to the Press’s international salesgrowth of 400 per cent over the last four years.

The Press’s publishing programme in its first decade has been distinguished by severalhallmarks. It is to be commended for

l showcasing Jamaican and Caribbean scholarship in the global marketplace;

l promoting Jamaican and Caribbean authors locally and internationally;

l emphasizing editorial, design and production excellence; and

l maintaining a rigorous peer-review process.

These achievements are the cumulative result of mutual and sustained commitment of itsauthors, designers, staff (past and present), Board, Manuscript Committee and its parentinstitution, the University of the West Indies. The vision of scholars, authors andadministrators such as the Vice Chancellor Rex Nettleford, Sir Roy Augier, ProfessorWoodville Marshall, Professor Hilary Beckles, Sir Alister McIntyre, and the collective effortsof the University of the West Indies Publishing Association have borne fruit in theoperational activities of the Press today, located at the centre of Caribbean and Atlanticintellectual discourse.

We congratulate the Press on its achievements during its first eleven years and look forwardto its sustained growth and continuing contributions to the Book Industry Association ofJamaica, to fostering literacy as a tool of national development, to showing Jamaican andCaribbean research in the global marketplace and to its ongoing emphasis on publishingexcellence.

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Documents

UWI Press Annual Report, 2003-2004.pdf