Beverley Bryan

Beverley Bryan (born 1950) is a retired Jamaican academic who was a professor of language education at the University of the West Indies in Mona.

Early life

Bryan was born in Portland, Jamaica, but immigrated to England at an early age as part of the "Windrush generation". She and her parents settled in Brixton, London, which had a large Afro-Caribbean community. Bryan studied teaching at Keele University, Staffordshire, and moved back to Brixton to teach at a primary school. Bryan later undertook further studies at the University of London, graduating with a B.A. in English, an M.A. and Ph.D. in language education.[1] She was a member of the British Black Panthers in the early 1970s, and later helped found the Black Women's Group, which shared similar radical views.[2]

She co-authored with Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe the book The Heart of the Race, published in 1985 by Virago and reissued in 2018 by Verso (with a new foreword by Lola Okolosie, and including and an interview with the authors by Heidi Safia Mirza, focusing on the impact of the book since publication and its continuing relevance).[3]

In June 2020, Bryan spoke about her involvement with the Black Panther Movement in a rare interview with Tell A Friend podcast[4]. She spoke about the challenges she experienced during the 1970s era of racial discrimination.

Career

In 1992, Bryan moved back to Jamaica to join the University of the West Indies (UWI) as a lecturer in educational studies. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 2002 and to professor in 2011, and served as head of the Department of Educational Studies. Bryan is a leading authority on Jamaican Creole learners of English, and has worked as a consultant to the Ministry of Education on language policy. She has also advised other Caribbean governments on literacy policies, as well as serving as a member of the United Nations Literacy Decade Experts' Group.[5] She was one of the founders of the Caribbean Poetry Project, a collaboration between UWI and the University of Cambridge which aims to increase the visibility of Caribbean writers in the UK.[6]

Bibliography
  • The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain, with Stella Dadzie, Suzanne Scafe; Virago Press, 1985, ISBN 9780860683612. New edition, Verso Books, 2018, ISBN 9781786635860
  • Between Two Grammars: Language Learning and Teaching in a Creole-speaking Environment, Ian Randle Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-9766373528

References
  1. Professor Beverley Bryan, Jamaica Gleaner, 5 December 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  2. THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE WOMEN BEHIND THE BRITISH BLACK PANTHERS Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Debrief, 10 March 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  3. "The Heart of the Race" at Verso.
  4. Knight, Bryan (5 June 2020). "Tales From The Struggle (feat. Dr Beverley Bryan)". YouTube.
  5. Dr. Beverley Bryan Promoted to Professor, University of the West Indies. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  6. Caribbean Poetry Project, University of Cambridge. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
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