Testimonies on The History of Jamaica Vol.1: Or a General Survey on Things That Have Been Said About The Ancient and Modern State of That Island by Zakiya McKenzie Out with Rough Trade Books May 2021!
About: English historian Edward Long became infamous for his 18th century polemic titled The History of Jamaica, a collection published in three volumes starting in 1774. Coming from one of the longest standing colonial familes established in Jamaica, Long’s books are riddled with justifications for exploiting slave labour and extracting value from plantations. Testimonies on the History of Jamaica is a piece of historical fiction exploring some of the environmental implications of Europe’s bloody venture into the ‘New World’. Set in Jamaica but speaking to all the Caribbean, the story follows what happened to land and native people when the Spaniards occupied, when the British invaded in 1655 and when the indigenous knowledge was removed from the island.