Emeritus Professor Barry Higman was honoured for his valuable contribution to the Department of History at University of the West Indies and to historiography of the West Indies at the recent 'History at Fifty' conference held at the University in Mona, Jamaica.

Emeritus Professor Higman was special guest at the at opening ceremony of the conference which commerated Jamaica's fiftieth anniversary of Independence and was presented with the following citation by Head of Department, Dr Kathleen Monteith:

The Department of History, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, noting its long association with Barry Higman since 1967, wishes to record with pride that;

Whereas the said Barry Higman has been a true friend to the Department of History and a facilitator of the aims for which it stands; and

Whereas Barry Higman has been a brilliant, original and skilful historian, unsurpassed in the breadth of contribution to the historiography of the West Indies over the last forty years; and

Whereas Barry Higman has made a powerful imprint by his research and publications on the fields of historical methodology, the demography of West Indian slavery, the interpretation of Jamaican plantation cartography and Jamaican material culture and heritage; and

Whereas Barry Higman has been an impressive leader, innovative institution-builder and joyful Head of the Department of History from 1984 to 1987 and again from 1990 to 1993; and

Whereas Barry Higman has been the just recipient of numerous prizes and awards from Jamaican, Caribbean, and international cultural bodies;

The Department on the occasion of its History at Fifty Conference to mark fifty years of Jamaica’s independence, on this 8th day of November 2012, congratulates and salutes the said Barry Higman, Emeritus Professor of History, and presents him to the world as a star in its intellectual firmament.