Walter Rodney

Walter Rodney (March 23, 1942 – June 13, 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian and political figure. Born to a working class family, Rodney was a bright student, attending Queen's College in Guyana and then attending university on a scholarship at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, graduating in 1963. Walter Rodney earned his PhD in 1966 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England. His dissertation focused on th... more

Walter Rodney (March 23, 1942 – June 13, 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian and political figure. Born to a working class family, Rodney was a bright student, attending Queen's College in Guyana and then attending university on a scholarship at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, graduating in 1963. Walter Rodney earned his PhD in 1966 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England. His dissertation focused on the slave trade on the upper Guinea coast. The paper was published in 1970 under the name, A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800 and it was widely acclaimed for its originality in challenging the conventional wisdom on the area. He traveled widely and became very well known around the world as an activist and scholar. He taught for a time in Tanzania after graduating, and later in Jamaica at his alma mater - UWI Mona. Rodney was sharply critical of the middle class for its role in the post-independence Caribbean. He was also a critic of... less