The Jamaican Historical Review

This article offers a comparative and historiographical examination of the penal laws in eighteenth-century Ireland and the slave codes of Jamaica and the British West Indies. Although these systems differed fundamentally in their treatment of Catholic Irish and enslaved Black populations, both developed as mechanisms of social control employed by relatively small Protestant elites facing perceived threats to their political and social authority. Drawing on the parallel development of scholarship on Ireland and the West Indies, the article identifies four areas in which direct comparison is particularly illuminating: the experiences and agency of subaltern populations; the identities, insecurities and practices of ruling elites; the role of liminal and intermediary groups; and the institutional structures through which these systems were enforced. It argues that neither the penal laws nor the slave codes operated as consistently or comprehensively as their formal provisions suggest. Uneven enforcement created opportunities for economic, social and cultural autonomy, while elite divisions, intermediary groups and limitations within state structures further constrained their effectiveness. The comparison also demonstrates how both historiographies have moved from nationalist and teleological interpretations towards more nuanced social and cultural histories. Bringing these previously separate literatures together therefore reveals distinctive parallels in British systems of social control while identifying productive directions for further comparative research. Full article

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. Full article