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Students Visit Grenada

Nineteen third year undergraduate students from St Mary’s University College, Twickenham have returned from a tourism and geography field trip to Grenada. This annual event is part of a degree module which allows students to explore the history, geography and contemporary conditions in the Caribbean country.

This year, students had the opportunity to attend the official Independence Day celebrations in the National Stadium and hear new Prime Minister Tillman Thomas speak. After witnessing something of the political vision for the country, students heard more about two of the most important industries on the island: fishing and agriculture.

They visited the fishing town of Gouyave and met with local fisherman Lionel, who spoke to them about the local fishing industry.  Mr Johnson St Louis, an important representative from the Ministry of Fisheries spoke to them on the importance of fishing to the economic development of the island.

Students also visited the Grenada Cooperative Nutmeg Association to examine the processing of nutmegs, one of the islands main export crops. They also heard from Dr Susanne Seymour, whose work considers the relationships between English country house estates and plantations on the Caribbean island. This highlighted the historic connections between Britain and Grenada.

Students visited several former and current sugar, cocoa and nutmeg plantations in order to consider the variety of ways in which these sites were being utilised today: as tourist attractions and for continued agricultural production. Some were now derelict, giving students plenty to think about in terms of the ways slavery and colonialism are memorialised, the effects of natural disasters such as Hurricane Ivan (2004) on agriculture and infrastructure, and the opportunities for heritage and tourism development available in the future.

Students returned home with a tan and plenty of local rum, but more importantly, with a better understanding of Grenada, its culture, history, economy and politics. Their next task is to write a 3000 word report with the primary data collected whilst they were away.