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Lennox Edward Honychurch
Lennox Honychurch is a Dominican anthropologist, historian, academic and artist whose
research work is mainly concerned with the contact and cultural exchange between the
Carib/Kalinago people of the Lesser Antilles and arrivals from Europe and Africa. He studied
anthropology at the University of Oxford and works from his base on Dominica.
Résumé:
Lennox Edward Honychurch, D. Phil., M Phil.
Date of birth: 27 December 1952.
Place of birth: Portsmouth, Dominica,
Windward Islands, Caribbean.
Education:
St.Hugh's College, University of Oxford, UK.
Doctor of Philosophy Degree (D Phil) in Anthropology
Master of Philosophy degree (M Phil) in Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.
Awarded a distinction and the St.Hugh's College Examination Prize 1995.
The Lodge School, St.John, Barbados.
The St. Mary's Academy, Roseau, Dominica.
The Convent Prep School, Roseau, Dominica.
Theses:
Thesis for M Phil:
First People, Last Canoes: Tracing Ethnohistory Through Material Culture.
DPhil in Anthropology, St.Hughs:
Carib to Creole – A History of Contact and Culture Exchange.
Book Publications:
The Dominica Story - A History of the Island. Published 1975, 1984, 1995:
Macmillan U. K.
The Caribbean People. Three Volumes, Textbooks for Caribbean Schools,
Published: Thomas Nelson & Sons, U.K. 1979,1980,1981. New Editions 1995.
The Cabrits and Prince Rupert Bay. Published: Dominica Institute, 1983. Reprinted/revised
2012.
Caribbean Landmarks -Historic events and sites. Published: Thomas Nelson &
Sons, UK, 1986
Our Island Culture. Published: Dominica Cultural Council, 1982,1988.
Dominica: Isle of Adventure: Published 1991, 2nd Edition 1995, Macmillan U.K.
Caribbean Camera: A journey through the islands: Photos by Ken Box, Macmillan UK, 1998.
Historic Roseau: The Capital of Dominica: Published by The Dominica Institute, 2001.
History of Fort Young: Island Hertitage Publishing, 2010.
The Archaeology of Dominica: Island Heritage Publishing, 2011
Women in Parliament in Dominica Past and Present: with House Speaker, Alex Boyd Knights,
2012.
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Neg Mawon, the fighting maroons of Dominica, 2014.
Current positions held:
Council Member, Open Campus, University of the West Indies.
Honorary Research Fellow, University of the West Indies.
Director, Island Heritage Initiatives Ltd. Contracting company for restoration projects of heritage
sites and cultural programmes.
Curator, The Fort Shirley Museum, Cabrits National Park, Portsmouth.
Board member, International Association of Caribbean Archaeology (IACA) since 2011.
Past positions held:
Member of the Dominica Public Service Commission 2002 –2005
Member of UNESCO Council, Dominica 2000 -2005
President of SHAPE, Society for Historic Architectural Preservation and Enhancement. 2000 –
2005.
Member and Chairman, Dominica National Cultural Council, 1988 - 1993.
Board Member; Museum Association of the Caribbean (MAC), 1992 -1994.
Member of the Advisory Committee to the Carib Council, Carib Territory Dominica. 1988 –
1993.
Director of Historic Restoration, Cabrits National Park, 1982 - 1992.
Chairman of the Board, Dominica Broadcasting Service, 1980 - 1981.
Press Secretary to The Government of Dominica, 1980 - 1981.
Member of the Dominica Tourist Board, 1980 - 1983.
Chief Cultural Officer-1988
Trustee, Roseau Old Market Trust, 1995 – 2014.
Member of The House of Assembly of the Commonwealth of Dominica, 1975 -1979.
Delegate at the conference for Dominica Independence, Marlborough House, London, 1977
General Secretary, Dominica Freedom Party, 1977 – 1978.
President, The Dominica Conservation Association, 1974 - 1976.
Visiting lecturer on Dominican history, geography and culture to local
schools, Village Councils and Community Groups from 1974.
.
Academic:
Staff Tutor, University of the West Indies, School of Continuing Studies 2001 - 2004.
Conducted monthly public lecture series at the University centre and other venues.
Conducted Heritage Week for Grenada UWI School of Continuing Studies, 2003.
Organised the first UWI School of Continuing Studies, Jean Rhys Literary Conference, 2004.
Selected as Distinguished Lecturer, UWI Distinguished Lecturer Series, visiting and presenting
at the School of Continuing Studies, Basseterre, St.Kitts and at the UWI campuses: Mona, Cave
Hill and St. Augustine, 2004, on the theme: Re-inventing Ourselves: Caribbean Nationalism and
the creation of ‘Heritage’.
Historic and natural site preservation and interpretation:
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Consultant for CDB sites upgrading project: Carib Model Village, Visitor Centres at Freshwater
Lake, Syndicate/Morne Diablotin, Soufriere Sulphur Springs, Middleham falls trail.
Director of restoration of Fort Shirley at the Cabrits National Park Dominica.
Member of Restoration Committee for the Roseau City Council Offices, Historic Barracoon
Building.
Member of the Dominica State House Restoration Committee.
Designed layout of interpretation centre of Betty’s Hope Plantation, Antigua.
Advised on restoration and layout of visitor site at Fort Frederick, St.Georges, Grenada for
Canadian funded SPIF project.
Archaeology:
The only trained archaeologist/anthropologist on Dominica; studied as part of Masters degree in
Anthropology at University of Oxford, UK. Did fieldwork in the Caribbean under direction of
Dr. Henri Petitjean Roger and Benoit Berard of Martinique. Curator of Dominica’s archaeology
storage unit at Fort Shirley. Has identified the majority of the 40 Pre-Columbian archaeological
sites on Dominica and continues to work with and provide local support for visiting
archaeologists. Booklet in production: Island Ecology and the Archaeology of Dominica.
Lecturer, Tour Leader:
Tour Guide Training: Since 1980, providing training sessions for tour guides on Dominica,
leading programmes directed at training tourist guides, taxi drivers and tour operators in aspects
of Dominican history, culture and environment. Between 2001 and 2004, these presented as part
of the Staff Tutor outreach programme of the UWI School of continuing Studies, Dominica.
Leader of hiking expeditions in Dominica forests and producer of trail information and
environmental educational material, e.g. The Trois Pitons National Park Guide, published by
UNESCO.
Supervisor of the opening of the Capuchin to Pennville trail across the north coast of Dominica.
Advisor for expeditions of local Duke of Edinburgh Award participants and Youth Environment
Service Corps (YES Corps).
Lecturer and tour leader with wide Caribbean experience in areas of history, indigenous people,
folklore, politics, geography and nature.
From 1984, has work with special-interest cruises aboard the sailing vessel ‘Sea Cloud’ and the
‘Yorktown Clipper’ of Clipper Cruise Lines guiding groups and giving lectures on several visits
to Venezuela, up the Orinoco River, in the Dutch Antilles ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and
Curacao and all of the Lesser Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago up into the Virgin Islands.
Artist:
One of the leading artists of Dominica, illustrator of textbooks; best known for public murals and
oil paintings of landscapes and folk representations. Murals, measuring on average 16’ x 10’ and
larger include:
History of the Postal Service: Foyer, General Post Office, Roseau.
Prince Rupert Bay 1799: Cruise Ship Terminal, Cabrits National Park.
Roseau Bayfront 1905: Garraway Hotel.
Religious Murals at the following churches in Dominica:
Soufriere, Castle Bruce, Toucari, Vieille Case, Rosalie Retreat Centre, St. Marie of the Caribs
Church at Salybia, Carib Territory.
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Journalism and Radio and TV Broadcasting:
Correspondent and feature writer for Dominican newspapers,
Mainly ‘The Dominica Star’ (1968 – 1982) and ‘The Dominica Chronicle’ since 1970.
Weekly published series includes:
Historic Roseau: Dominica Chronicle, 1986.
Farmers and Crops: Dominica Chronicle, 1990.
Now and Then: Dominica Chronicle, 1990 – 1991.
A – Z of Dominica Heritage, Dominica Chronicle, 2000 – 2003.
Contributor to the regional ‘Bajan’ magazine during the 1970s and 1980s and to the LIAT
Islander magazine from the 1980s.
Radio;
Broadcaster with Radio Dominica, later Dominica Broadcasting Services (DBS) from 1971.
Producer and presenter of historical docudrama, The Dominica Story. Seventy-episode history
of Dominica, first presented 1974.
Radio panelist and presenter on a wide range of subjects since 1971.
Contributor to visiting BBC radio programmes for the BBC World Service and BBC Natural
History Programme, 1993 and 2003.
Dominica Correspondent for Rediffusion Barbados in the 1970s.
Television work:
Freelance producer of local programming for Marpin TV, Dominica, and Dominica Government
Information Service (GIS)
Director and presenter of Film Series: Dominica Landmarks : Ten minute spots on aspects of
places on Dominica.
Innovator and first presenter of Dominica’s first TV Talk Show: ‘Whatabout’ a weekly panel
discussion on current issues from 1988.
Drama:
Founding member of the Peoples Action Theatre (PAT) under the direction of Alwin Bully from
1971. Acted locally and regionally in plays, among them:
The Rape of Fair Helen.
Speak Brother Speak.
Ruler in Hiroona.
Jesus Christ Superstar.
The Government Inspector.
Acted in UK Channel 4 TV mini-series: The Orchid House as Brother Peregrine.
UWI-supported film, Directed by Michael Gilkes: Sargasso as Sandy.
Pirate extra aboard The Black Pearl in Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean, Part III.
Carnival Costume and Stage Designing:
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Since 1969 designed and built numerous Carnival costumes for bands and Queen Contestants for
Dominica Carnival. Attended costume design workshop conducted by Peter Minshall, 1990.
Designed and constructed scenery for shows and plays for People Action Theatre (PAT),
National Day Committee and Carnival Organising Committee (COC) since 1970s.
Fellowships
1987 Awarded Commonwealth Fellowship by The Commonwealth Secretariat, visiting United
Kingdom and India to study systems of Government and Foreign Relations within the
Commonwealth.
1978 US State Department Visitor Programme. One month guest of the US State Department
studying systems of Government and history of the US in Washington DC, New York and
Boston.
Recent articles, book chapters and papers presente d:
At University of the West Indies, School of Continuing Studies Country Conferences:
Dominica Conference, 2001: Slave Valleys, Peasant Ridges: Topography, Colour and Land
Settlement on Dominica.
Grenada Conference, 2002, The Leap at Sauteurs: The lost cosmology of indigenous Grenada.
Montserrat Conference, 2002: Inter-Island Migration and Cultural Change: The Impact of
Montserratians on Dominica.
St. Vincent Conference, 2003: Chatoyer’s Artist: Agostino Brunias and the depiction of
St.Vincent.
Antigua Conference, 2003: The Kalinago Fight for Oüaladli and Oüahómoni: A Clash of
Cultures over Possession of Antigua and Barbuda.
St. Lucia Conference, 2004: Ioūanalao People and the First Resistance: Peace and War among
the Kalinago of St.Lucia.
At UNESCO Conferences:
Dominica, September 2001: Economics and the Value of Heritage,
Heritage and Sustainable Development.
Santo Domingo, July 2003: Pre-Hispanic Cultures of the Insular
Caribbean and Museums and Sites Associated with these Cultures.
Martinique, September 2004: Archaeology in the Lesser Antilles,
Research, Collections and Sites.
Barbados, May 2006: Authenticity and Integrity of Caribbean Sites.
Other:
Presented at 50th Anniversary Conference of St.Lucia Historical and Archaeological Society,
July 2004 Pitons, Soufrieres and Three -Pointer Zemis: The mythic geography of Caribbean
volcanoes and indigenous cultures.
Barbados Museum/UWI Lecture, Barbados Central Bank, February 2006, Barbados and the
Amerindian World.
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Recent Book Chapters
Caribbean Heritage and the Amerindian in Creole Nationalism, published
in: The Cultural Heritage of the Caribbean and the World Heritage
Convention, by the Committee on History and Science, UNESCO, Paris
2000, Herman Van Hooff (ed).
Cultural Formations in the Caribbean, Chapter 8 in: Introduction to the
Pan-Caribbean, Tracy Skelton (ed); Arnold publishers Oxford and New
York, 2004
Works in progress:
Carib to Creole: A History of Contact and Culture Exchange, accepted by
University of Florida Press for publication, a reworking of Oxford
University D.Phil. Thesis.
A – Z of Dominica Heritage, accepted by Macmillan publishers UK, for
publication.
Green Flash Coming, accepted by UK agent for publication with interest
shown by publishers, Michael Joseph and Constable.
Awards
Honorary Doctorate, UWI Open Campus, 2012
Antony Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence, 2011
Sisserou Medal of Honour, Dominica national Award, 1987
Golden drum award for contribution to Culture, 1985