The Jamaican Historical Review

(ISSN: 3084-0198) Open Access Journal
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Jamaican Historical Review 2026, 28(1), 3; doi: 10.68027/742902

Footprints through history: an interview with Sir Roy Augier

1 University of the West Indies, Mona
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 9 Oct 2026 / Published: 28 Oct 2026
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Abstract

This article presents an oral history interview with the late Professor Sir Roy Augier, tracing his intellectual development and his contributions to the emergence and institutionalisation of Caribbean history as a field of study. Augier describes an education initially shaped by imperial approaches to history, before his studies at the University of St Andrews introduced him to African and Caribbean history through W. M. Macmillan. The interview explores his subsequent academic career at the University College of the West Indies, where he worked with scholars including Elsa Goveia, Douglas Hall, and Shirley Gordon to develop Caribbean history curricula and teaching materials. Particular attention is given to the production of The Making of the West Indies, his involvement with the Cambridge examinations, and his later role in the Caribbean Examinations Council and the development of Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE). Augier also reflects on his research in Jamaican political and constitutional history, his interdisciplinary engagement with the social sciences, his work on Rastafari, and his advocacy of the West Indian Federation. His account offers insight into the intellectual and institutional processes through which Caribbean scholars challenged inherited colonial curricula and established regional perspectives within historical scholarship. The interview provides a valuable first-hand perspective on the development of Caribbean historical education and the wider project of Caribbean intellectual decolonisation.
Keywords: Roy Augier, Interview, West Indian history, Caribbean Examinations Council
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
CITE
Bean, D.; Plummer, N. Footprints through history: an interview with Sir Roy Augier. Jamaican Historical Review 2026, 28, 3.
Bean D, Plummer N. Footprints through history: an interview with Sir Roy Augier. Jamaican Historical Review. 2026; 28(1):3.
Bean, Dalea; Plummer, Nicole. 2026. "Footprints through history: an interview with Sir Roy Augier." Jamaican Historical Review 28, no. 1: 3.
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