Clem Seecharan (born 1950) is a Guyanese writer and historian of the Indo-Caribbean experience, and of West Indies cricket. He was born in Guyana and has been based in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

since 1986."Professor Clem Seecharan", Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, London Metropolitan University.

Life and career

Seecharan grew up in

East Berbice-Corentyne East Berbice-Corentyne (Region 6) is one of ten regions in Guyana covering the whole of the east of the country. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the Nickerie District and Sipaliwini District of Suriname to the east, Brazil to the sou ...

, and attended the Sheet Anchor Anglican School, the Berbice Educational Institute, and Queen's College in Guyana."Professor Clem Seecharan tells of finding himself through history"
''Guyana Chronicle'', 24 February 2014. He studied at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, and taught Caribbean Studies at the

University of Guyana The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the highest standard fo ...

for some years, before completing his doctorate in history at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (202 ...

in 1990. He joined the staff of the University of North London (now a part of London Metropolitan University), where he was head of Caribbean studies between 1993 and 2012, and was awarded a professorship in 2002. He is formally retired, having last taught on the Caribbean Studies programme at

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...

.John Mair
"Clem Seecharan: history man"
''

Caribbean Beat ''Caribbean Beat'', founded in 1992, is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories. It is distributed in-flight by ...

'', Issue 83 (January/ February 2007). Seecheran continues educational and advocacy work informally, as in his recent contribution to a discussion on the legacy of former Guyanese Marxist leader

Cheddi Jagan Cheddi Berret Jagan (22 March 1918 – 6 March 1997) was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 199 ...

, hosted by the Guyanese High Commission in London on March 28, 2018.

Publications

A distinguished Caribbean historian, Seecharan is the author of publications that include ''Indo-West Indian Cricket'' (with

Frank Birbalsingh Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

; Hansib, 1988), ''India and the Shaping of the Indo-Guyanese Imagination: 1890-1920'' (

Peepal Tree Press Peepal Tree Press is a publisher based in Leeds, England which publishes Caribbean, Black British, and South Asian fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and academic books. It was founded after a paper shortage in Guyana halted production of new bo ...

, 1993) and ''Indians in British Guiana 1919-1929'' (

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publ ...

). In 2005 his biography of Jock Campbell, ''Sweetening Bitter Sugar: Jock Campbell, the Booker Reformer in British Guiana 1934-1966'' was published (

Ian Randle Publishers Ian Randle (born 7 July 1949) is a Jamaican publisher. He is the founder of an eponymous independent publishing company whose main focus is on English-language readers. He has won awards including the Prince Claus Award in 2012 and the 2019 Bo ...

, Jamaica) and won the Elsa Gouveia Prize from the Association of Caribbean Historians, their citation describing it as "an extraordinarily impressive book of signal importance in Caribbean history and historiography." ''Muscular Learning: Cricket and Education in the Making of the British West Indies at the End of the 19th Century'', was published in 2006 (Ian Randle Publishers). In 2018, Seecharan launched the second volume of the history of cricket in Guyana, covering the years 1898–1914. He wrote a biography of the Guyanese Test cricketer

Joe Solomon Joseph Stanislaus Solomon (born 26 August 1930) is a former international cricketer who played 27 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1,326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up. He was born in Por ...

in 2022, ''Joe Solomon and the Spirit of Port Mourant''.

Honours

Seecharan received an honorary doctorate from the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

(UWI) in 2017. He delivered the 2014 Republic of Guyana Distinguished Lecture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seecharan, Clem 1950 births Living people Guyanese writers Guyanese emigrants to England McMaster University alumni Academics of London Metropolitan University Academic staff of the University of Guyana Alumni of the University of Warwick People from East Berbice-Corentyne Cricket historians and writers