History is usually taught or conveyed through anecdotes or timelines of events but there is a new Belizean history book that creates a more vivid perspective on history. The book is called British Honduras: The Invention of a Colonial Territory. It demonstrates Belizean history through 19th century maps. The author Odile Hoffman is a geographer at the Institute of Research for Development in France and it took her and Belizean researchers and observers about 8 months to complete the book. A launch was held today at the Leo Bradley Library to celebrate its publication. Director of Cubola Productions, Montse Duran says that in this book the narrative resonates from both the land as well as its occupants.
Montse Casademunt, Director of Cubola Productions
"She has this publication and she approached Cubola to see if we would join with this institution to publish the book and it was really a privilege to work with them. They are very professional and of course she is a great academic. This book analyses maps, how maps tell the story and it depends on who commission the maps, you read a different story. The research was done in different archives and of course in the UK, Spain, France and Mexico. So you have differences for the maps and you are in the history of Belize reading from a map perspective."
Lucesita Bacab, Belize Adventist College
"I am a social studies teacher, so we are going to use it especially for the history part, like for example in 1st form and 2nd form, they do colonialism, so the material will be very helpful to us. It will bring us more knowledge in the classroom and of course we will share that with our students."
Keisha Gentle, Library Assistant, UB
"We have Belize connection and many times our students come in to borrow books that sometimes the book store doesn't have, so if they want they can come to the library to find out if we have the book and they can borrow the book to use within the library."
Several secondary and tertiary level schools will receive copies of the book as well as library's in the city. The book is available for purchase at the Image Factory.
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