I’m pleased to report that the presentation in Toronto went well. Here are a couple pictures of the event with me in front of the presentation machine.

Now that I have returned back to ‘life as usual’ I have to come to terms with my being almost a month behind the schedule that I established for myself in September. The schedule went something like this:

• September – Send in my applications for funding / ethics approval.
• October – Read all of the Ferguson scripts that I have and create notes on them.
• November – Get my research trip planned.
• December – Go on that research trip to Nassau.
• January – Return to Ottawa and begin writing the thesis.

At present, I’ve read all of the Ferguson scripts that I have. (Well all except one.) And I have taken notes on 20 of them. So I’m half way through with that.

I just got approval from the ethics board. And my funding applications have been in for awhile. So Septembers to-do list is finished.

So here it is at the end of November and I’m not finished my October to-do list. Not good.

If I must assign blame, I can think of two reasons why I’m behind. First has been my TA assignment. This year I’m a marking-only TA, but thus far there has been a good deal of marking. I just finished marking another mid-term exam, so this term I’ve marked over 150 pieces of work. Although this work-load is substantially less than what I did for last years TA assignment, where I was leading two tutorials, marking weekly assignments plus two 5-6 page essays per term, it still takes its toll on my schedule. For example I’ve essentially been marking papers non-stop for the last month. This takes a chunk out of your productivity.

Second, the Conference in Toronto, while being a wonderful experience did take a lot out of me. There was the weeks before, getting my paper and presentation together for it, (while marking of course) and then the 5 days that I spent in Toronto which were so sleep deprived I was sick on my return.

So there are my excuses. Both are non-issues going forward. For instance, my TA work drops substantially in the coming months. There is only one other assignment to mark, and that comes in March-April. Conferences won’t be a problem again. Although I have signed up for another two conferences, I don’t have to re-do the presentation or the paper. And the aforementioned conferences are in Ottawa, so there won’t be any travel involved.

So looking forward, things are good. And truth be told, by forcing me to write that conference paper, I have a jump on some of my work for a thesis chapter. I’ll discuss this more later. For now, I’ll try to get back on track.

I thought you would like two little links here. This is the conference website and a link to the panel where I’ll be presenting.

I think that’s enough for now, I have to go mark some papers.

I’m in Toronto, and the only thing left to do are practice, practice and practice. I just finished putting up the paper on the site, (with end-notes!) And now I’m going to share the presentation in its present form with you.

I will probably incorporate this in the essay page, but that will have to wait. But for now, here it is:

”The things that make us what we are”

National Identity, Tourism and “The Fergusons of Farm Road”

1970–75

In the 1900s, the Bahamas remained an isolated backwater colony of the British Empire.¹ Its economic history to that point has been described by some as a series of ‘booms and busts’. ² Episodes of short-lived prosperity were followed by long droughts of poverty. However, when prosperity returned in another period of ‘boom’, it was always by a different name; Ship wrecking gave way to blockade running during the American Civil War then onto rum-running during US prohibition then sponge harvesting and so on. ³ No economic activity seemed that it could endure in the shallow soils and shallower seas of the Bahamas for very long.

So too with tourism when it was introduced to the islands in the 1850s, when the government began to actively promote the industry, it was at best a seasonal activity that lasted only during the winter months of the year. ⁴ The colonial government invested in the tourism product over the years which meant increasing the number of rooms available, building hotels, securing steamship transport from the United States, yet by 1900 the visitors to the Bahamas “were still counted in the tens and hundreds.”⁵

In the 1950’s Bahamian lawyer and businessman and Chairman of the Development Board,”⁶ Sir Stafford Sands saw the promise of the still seasonal industry and was determined to make Tourism a year-round occupation.⁷ With the introduction of air conditioning to Bahamian hotels the hot and humid summer months could at last be colonized by northern sun worshippers who began coming to the country in droves.⁸ The response was outstanding; by 1975 the Bahamas the highest per capita GNP (Gross National Product) in Latin America.⁹