The President glimpses at social life

Mar 08, 2020 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

(A review of David Granger’s – Guyana’s Coinage: A Brief Survey of Coinage, 1808-2008; Guyana’s Independence 1966; Guyana’s Periodicals: A Brief Survey of the Periodical Press 1796-2008; and, The City of Georgetown, Guyana’s cosmopolitan capital.)
David Granger’s four-book collection recounts important elements of Guyana’s cultural heritage, specifically the history of its coinage, its capital city, periodicals and Independence struggles. The collection contributes to the ongoing preservation of the nation’s collective memory in no small measure.
Guyana’s Coinage: A Brief Survey of Coinage, 1808-2008 is an unrivalled publication. The book is a rare chronicle of Guyanese coinage dating back to the era of Dutch occupation in the early 19th century.
Coins are not simply instruments of economic exchange; they tell, also, a much larger story about the peculiar political and economic circumstances in given historical periods. The book is of value to understanding the country’s political economy especially during the 19th century and the first six decades of the 20th century.
David Granger approached the task of writing this book with the keen eye of a student of history and the mind of a numismatist. The book’s mainly descriptive format, however, deprives the reader of a richer understanding of the country’s commercial exchanges, particularly in the pre-Independence period.
Inflation has since rendered coins obsolete. The President’s book will ensure, however, that their role in the country’s economic evolution is not forgotten.
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Guyana’s Independence, 1966 is an enlightening excursion into a complex and confusing period of this country’s political history. Granger, now the country’s President, has demonstrated academic integrity in writing this book by providing a most balanced treatment of the country’s path to political Independence. It is a commendable achievement by a man who has refused to be either partisan or revisionist in treating with Guyana’s Independence struggle. …………….
Granger explains the meaning of Independence and its legal instrument. He details the main protagonists in the country’s Independence struggle, offering a fair treatment to all sides of the political divide.
The book provides an account, replete with illustrations, of the last night of colonization, including the historic moment when the newly-Independent state of Guyana hoisted its national flag. Symbols of statehood – including the country’s national emblems and songs – are included in the book.
The book is written with the young reader in mind. It is hoped that the country’s fractured politics one day, will allow for this excellent and richly-illustrated book to become required reading in the country’s primary schools.
Teaching school children about the country’s history is a challenging task for educators. The country’s political divisions inevitably boil over towards misrepresentations and bias in presenting aspects of its history. Independence, for example, has always presented a dilemma. Many texts and articles on this subject tend to reflect the biases and emphases of the dominant narratives – the roles ascribed to either Cheddi Jagan, the country’s first Premier or Forbes Burnham, the country’s first Prime Minister.
David Granger, better than most persons, would appreciate that history is not simply an escape from the past but a compass towards the future. Guyana’s path towards a common future will depend on its people embodying a shared understanding and acceptance of the country’s diverse cultural heritage.
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Guyana’s Periodicals: A Brief Survey of the Periodical Press, 1798-2006, is a delightful publication that lifts the lid off of the rich history of the press that started with the publication of the Courant en Essequibo en Demerary in 1793.
Guyana once enjoyed a rich trove of periodicals which, invariably, have had short shelf lives. Their emergence and development have been plagued by setbacks. Political authorities have contributed, in no small measure, to the absence of longevity of most local periodicals, through censorship and other forms of suppression.
The chief cause of the demise of the country’s periodicals, however, has been the lack of financial support so vital in a country in which there is a limited market for the circulation of journals, magazines and newspapers.
David Granger preserves an important aspect of the country’s written heritage with this well-researched publication which takes the reader on a fast, fascinating journey into the past. It examines the rise and, apparently inevitable, decline of Guyana’s periodicals. The book is a most precious resource about the country’s literary history, one that is likely to endure much longer than the publications which it takes as its subjects.
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The City of Georgetown: Guyana’s cosmopolitan capital, is timely reminder of the City’s demography, geography, origins, development, and architectural heritage. The names of the City’s wards recall its emergence from a simple, solitary signal station – a brandwacht – on the bank of the eastern estuary of the Demerara River to its expansion to incorporate parts of cluster of sugar plantations and, eventually, to the capital’s cosmopolitan character.
The book is a most concise history of Guyana’s capital city. It offers a simple and readable guide to the essential elements of city’s development. It may help to stem, hopefully, the tendency to neglect the capital’s rich architectural heritage. That heritage has to be passed on from generation to generation. It can survive only if it is transmitted to present and future generations.
The architectural heritage of Georgetown, the country’s capital city, was once renowned for its profusion of architectural styles – ranging from the Gothic to the semi-Tudor, Romanesque to Italian Renaissance” – most edifices of styles were erected exclusively with local timbers. Many of its once magnificent buildings have deteriorated to the point of having to be demolished. Others have been replaced by more modern concrete and glass structures.
It was once observed by Mahatma Gandhi that “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and souls of its peoples.” A nation’s culture, however, must be refreshed, continuously, lest important aspects fade into oblivion due to misunderstanding and misuse.
This four-book collection, on aspects of the country’s social life, will keep the flame of this hope alight.