Achi news desk-
A joint team from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) will now travel to Glasgow to retrieve the specimen in what is said to be the first return of a natural history specimen in the Caribbean.
It follows the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between UWI and the University of Glasgow (UofG), which aims to foster collaboration in research and education and address the historical legacy of colonialism.
UWI vice-chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles said: “The restorative justice movement deals with various issues of different scales that need to be addressed.
READ MORE: University of Glasgow runs world’s first restorative justice course
“By returning the Galliwasp to its rightful place, we are taking a small but significant step towards laying the groundwork for a regional and international discussion on return.”
Giant Jamaican Galliwasps were last confirmed alive in the 1800s but the species is now considered extinct.
Their disappearance was due to the sugar cane plantation economy, which led to the loss of natural habitat and the introduction of predators such as rats to the island.
The specimen in the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum entered the university’s collections in 1888 after the transfer of ethnographic and zoological specimens from another Glasgow collection, the Andersonian Museum.
The lizard, which is a mature adult, is contained in a glass stoppered jar and stored in 70% ethanol and is said to be in good condition for a wet specimen that is approximately 170 years old.
Steph Scholten, director of the Hunterian, said: “We hope that this return will help build further relationships between the University of the West Indies and the University of Glasgow, as well as deepen understanding of homecoming issues in the museum sector.”
The university said one of the most tangible outcomes of the MoU is the Glasgow-Caribbean Center for Development Research (GCCDR), which funds research projects that advance development goals in the Caribbean, facilitates academic partnerships, and raise global awareness of the ongoing impact. of historical slavery.
He said the return not only represented the return of a valuable piece of Jamaican heritage but also a sign of the university’s commitment to righting past injustices and ensuring Caribbean ownership of its scientific and cultural treasures.
The team from UWI and IOJ will return to Jamaica with the lizard specimen on April 24.
An official handover ceremony will take place there and the lizard will be deposited at the Jamaica Museum of Natural History on permanent loan in the national flora and fauna collection for safekeeping and to ensure it is accessible to all Jamaicans .
