Jamaican novelist will speak and read at University of Richmond

September 8, 2008

The influence of African-Americans on Jamaican behavior has been overlooked in favor of scholarship favoring Europe's influence, according to Jamaican novelist Erna Brodber, who will speak and read from her work Sept. 17 at the University of Richmond.

Brodber, a visiting professor at Richmond this year, will speak on "African Jamaica's America," at 4 p.m. in Weinstein Hall's Brown-Alley Room. Her appearance is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the departments of English and history.

Brodber's fiction and social histories explore the African-American influence on African Jamaican behavior. A cultural historian, social activist, scholar and author, Brodber wrote "Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home," which won acclaim for its experimental structure and insights into the nature of community, particularly women's struggles. In her novel, "Myal," she reveals a Jamaican community's spiritual consciousness and the recognition that spiritual restoration is essential for healing in the post-colonial context.

Brodber received the Prince Claus Award for her work's social impact and the Jamaican government's prestigious Musgrave Gold Award for Literature and Orature. A professor at the University of the West Indies, she has been a visiting professor at colleges in the United States and Europe.