Saint Lucia celebrates Sir Arthur Lewis centennial

In observance of the 100th anniversary of his birth, the CDB, the UWI Vice Chancellery, and the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia will jointly host a conference focusing on the Nobel Laureate’s work.

Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony will, next week, present the feature address at the opening ceremony of a conference held to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Sir William Arthur Lewis.

Jan. 23, 2015 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sir W. Arthur Lewis in Castries, St Lucia.

Given the continued and growing interest in his work, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the University of the West Indies (UWI), of which he was respectively the first President (1970-73) and Vice Chancellor (1962-63), have established a partnership with the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) to mark the occasion with a variety of activities.

A high point of these will be the joint hosting of the 16th Annual SALISES Conference by the CDB and the UWI Vice Chancellery, in association with the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia. The conference will be celebrated as the W. Arthur Lewis Centennial, under the theme “Towards Caribbean Prosperity and Happiness in an Equitable and Sustainable World.”

The sub-themes of the conference seek to capture the main topics covered in Lewis’s work, the concerns raised by his critics, and the contemporary issues to which scholars believe his work can be applied.
The conference will be held at the Bay Gardens Hotel, Rodney Bay, from Jan. 14 – 16. The opening ceremony for the conference will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the National Cultural Centre. For details and the cost of registration, visit the website.

SALISES will also be holding its annual Sir Arthur Lewis Distinguished Lecture in St. Lucia this year.

The lecture will be held at the National Cultural Centre on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. The featured speaker for this event will be Dr. Didacus Jules, Director General of the OECS.