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Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas has published an article in the newly released issue (July –December 2009) of the Caribbean Studies journal. His article, “1968 and the Social and Political Foundations and Impact of the "New Politics" in Guyana” examines the activism and collective action of groups and individuals in Guyana between 1968-1978, and argues that the emergence and convergence of these forces and politics changed the equation and brought into being the 'new politics' dramatized in the birth and activity of the Working People's Alliance (WPA), a Guyanese political party.

Donald Carter, professor of Africana studies, has been appointed chief diversity officer by President Joan Hinde Stewart this summer to “oversee efforts in the area of diversity and help us to build the most inclusive and welcoming community possible.” Carter hopes “to develop a broad diversity plan based on what’s going on today - the problems and successes we are having - and to build organically from the bottom up on what is already here.”

Nine Hamilton College faculty members were approved for tenure by the College's Board of Trustees during a recent meeting. The Board granted tenure to Donald Carter (Africana studies), Anne Lacsamana (women’s studies), Tina Hall (English), Chaise LaDousa (anthropology), Rebecca Murtaugh (art), Angel David Nieves (Africana studies), Edna Rodriguez-Plate (Hispanic studies), Chad Williams (history) and Yvonne Zylan (sociology).

Associate Professor of Africana Studies Donald Martin Carter has published a book titled Navigating the African Diaspora: The Anthropology of Invisibility.

Hamilton College's highest awards for teaching were presented on May 7 to three faculty members. Douglas Weldon, the Stone Professor of Psychology and director of the Neuroscience Program, was awarded the Samuel & Helen Lang Prize for Excellence in Teaching; Assistant Professor of Chemistry Nicole Snyder received the Class of 1963 Excellence in Teaching Award; and Associate Professor of Africana Studies Angel David Nieves was honored with the John R. Hatch Excellence in Teaching Award.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas has been appointed to the board of directors of the Guyana Institute of Historical Research (GIHR). The Institute, which collaborates with the History Department of the University of Guyana, conducts programs and research on labour history, women’s history and other histories of Guyana and the Caribbean.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas participated in a four-person panel who responded to questions at the University of Toronto launch of a new documentary film on March 26. The film, “W.A.R: (Walter Anthony Rodney) Stories,” captures the life and work of the renowned Guyanese historian and scholar-activist. Walter Rodney, an influence on the Black Power movement, Pan-Africanism, Caribbean independence and the idea of self-emancipation, was assassinated in 1980. Westmaas was also one of several advisors and archival consultants on the film.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas published a book review in the March 2009 issue of the Arts Journal (Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Literature, History, Art and Culture of Guyana and the Caribbean). He reviewed the new book by Trinidadian academic Selwyn Cudjoe, Caribbean Visions: ARF Webber and the Making of the Guyanese Nation, (published by Mississippi Press, 2009). Webber, an early and prominent politician in British Guiana was instrumental in forming the Popular Party in 1926, the first organized political party in Guiana and the colonial British West Indies.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Nigel Westmaas gave an invited talk on Haiti at Syracuse University on Jan. 28. His presentation at the forum organized by the Africa Initiative Project (Department of African-American studies) of Syracuse University was titled “Haiti: Historical Reflections on the narrative of Haitian poverty in the wake of the Earthquake.”

Associate Professor of Africana Studies Donald Carter participated in the panel "Old and New Minorities in Europe" at the American Anthropologist Association meeting in Philadelphia on Dec. 3. His paper was titled "Breaking the Visible Barrier: Invisibility, Belonging and the Long March to Humanity."