Biography

Oneil Hall is a full-time MPhil/PhD student at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. He was born in 1989, and spent most of his life in one of Jamaica's most historic towns of Spanish Town. He started his elementary education at Spanish Town Primary School. From 2001 to 2008, he attended the prestigious Jamaica College, and then the University of the West Indies, Mona. After his first year at Mona he went to Cave Hill Campus for a year on a regional exchange programme. At Cave Hill he developed very close friendships and decided to transfer in 2010. From Cave Hill, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (honours) in History with Political Science. He has served as the secretary for the Cave Hill History Society 2009-2010. He is currently doing post graduate research on the relationship between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands 1863-2000. He has done research on the Michael Manley's social engineering projects in the 1970s and the informal Justice System in Jamaica. Other research interest includes the Christopher "Dudus" Coke affairs of 2010.

Article Title

Cayman and the Federation; Relationships Saga! Blame Jamaica!

Abstract

"Islands of the blue Caribbean Sea side by side we stand." The BWI Federation (1958-1962) was an avenue for the Anglophone West Indian colonies to gain formal independence as one great nation from the United Kingdom. Sadly, the federation never survived. This year will mark the 50th year of the end of the federation. The federation collapsed because of a number of factors. These include weaknesses in its structure, disunity among Caribbean politicians, insularity among its members, lack of communication between islands, and Jamaica’s withdrawal which led to its final demise. Jamaica’s withdrawal meant that she would opt for independence by herself and her dependent territory, the Cayman Islands, would refuse to join her. Instead of being independent with Jamaica, Cayman opted to remain a dependency of Britain. Jamaica and the Cayman Islands relations can be traced back as early as 1661. In 1863 the British passed an act making Cayman Islands a dependency of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica shared the same Governor until 1962 when Jamaica became Independent. This paper will argue that Jamaica’s withdrawal from the federation led to a new relationship between the two territories. Also the paper will examine Caymanians’ attitude towards the federation; how the federation reacted to the Caymanians and how the end of the federation changed the relationship with her closest neighbor, Jamaica.