1. – Shoman, Assad. Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize. Belize City, Belize: Angelus Press, 1994.
– Shoman, Assad. A History of Belize in 13 Chapters. Belize City, Belize: Angelus Press, 2011.
This text is the only single volume history of Belize written by a Belizean. It is written in clear, lucid prose that assumes no previous knowledge while maintaining the complexity that inevitably accompanies a history spanning five hundred years. Many secondary school students in Belize are assigned this text due to its accessibility.
Shoman adopts the perspective of the common people for this history, opening the book with the quote, “Until lions have their owns historians, histories of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. I have tried to tell the story with the lions in mind, the majorities who endured oppression and exploitation and survived…” He invokes the anti-colonial spirit of the nationalist Belizean past and carries it forward in addressing present anti-imperialist imperatives. The first half of the book lays out the colonization and subsequent exploitation of the Belize, along with the sociology that supported the racist colonial slave society. The second half of the book examines the anti-colonial struggle in the 20th century from its roots in disparate expressions of discontent to the achievement of political independence and beyond. Shoman concludes with a chapter reflecting on the present Belizean conjuncture – he discusses continuing the fight for true democracy, the limitations of national politics amid global capitalism, and the potential of political movements.
A second edition was released in 2011. Perhaps most significant among the changes was the insertion of a thoroughly cited bibliography for the chapters in the second half of the text. In addition to adding sources, the 2011 edition was updated to take into account historical events through 2008. While the sourced portion of the 2011 edition is excellent, the 1994 edition and the non-sourced portion suffer from partial and inconsistent referencing.
If approaching Belizean history for the first time, I recommend beginning with the second half of the 2011 edition. It covers more recent Belizean history and thoroughly recounts actors, events and places, many of whom remain important in the present. The text was intended to be an introduction and is superb at achieving this goal.
About the author: Assad Shoman graduated from St. John’s College in Belize and received a law degree from the University of Hull and a PhD in History from London University in England. He served in government ministerial roles, as Attorney General and Minister of Economic Development from 1974-1979 and as Foreign Minister from 2003-2006. Today he is considered Belize’s foremost intellectual and diplomat regarding the Guatemala-Belize territorial dispute, a contentious international situation that may be resolved by the International Court of Justice in the near future. Shoman leads the Belizean delegation to the ICJ.
Links:
Ohio State University Libraries does not have the 1994 edition nor the 2011 edition.
OhioLINK 1994 edition – Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize
OhioLINK does not have the 2011 edition. This edition is difficult to find in the US (I obtained a copy during fieldwork in Belize). However, it may be able to be accessed through inter-library loan.
1. Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize by Assad Shoman
2. The Making of Modern Belize by Cedric Grant
3. The Formation of a Colonial Society by O. Nigel Bolland
4. The Economic History of Belize by Barbara Bulmer-Thomas and Victor Bulmer-Thomas
5. Colonialism and Underdevelopment by Norman Ashcraft
6. Decolonizing Development by Joel Wainwright
Further Reading