UG scholar wins prestigious international award for pioneering research on women’s History

– encourages emerging researchers to take risks, ask uncomfortable questions, challenge dominant narratives

Dr. Estherine Adams, Head of the Department of History and Caribbean Studies in the Faculty of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana, has been awarded the prestigious ASSLH Edna Ryan Prize for Best Article on Women’s History (2023–2024) for her groundbreaking study, “‘At Work, in Hospital, or in Gaol’: Women in British Guiana’s Jails, 1838–1917,” published in the Journal of Labour History.
According to the University of Guyana, Dr. Adams’s paper presents a powerful and original argument that the prison system in colonial British Guiana was not only a mechanism of punishment but also a tool to extract and control labour, particularly from African and Indian indentured women. The judges praised the article for being “original, clearly positioned in relevant recent literature, and beautifully written to imagine and illuminate the lives of female indentured labourers in British Guiana.” They added that it advanced “an important argument about the centrality of prison labour to the colony, illustrating the intersections of coerced labour, capitalism, and colonialism.”
Dr. Adams said she was genuinely stunned to learn that her paper had won the prize, particularly because she had not known it had been submitted. She explained that the journal had entered her article without her prior knowledge, and the notification came as a complete surprise.
Reflecting on the often solitary nature of research—spending long hours in archives and writing late at night—she said learning that her work had resonated strongly with others was both affirming and humbling.
The judges’ comments held special meaning for her, as they recognised not only the academic strength of her research but also its human depth. She noted that the recognition honoured the women whose stories she reconstructed from archival silences, highlighting that her work went beyond research to recover lives erased from history.
Her motivation for exploring this subject was guided by a central question: Where were the women in the carceral histories of slavery and indentureship? Dr. Adams explained that the prison was one of the earliest colonial institutions designed to regulate and exploit labour, yet women—particularly African and later Indian indentured women—were almost invisible in the archive. She aimed to centre them not as footnotes to male histories, but as labouring subjects whose experiences reveal how power operated through gender, race, and the prison system.
One of her main challenges was the lack of detailed records on incarcerated women. To address this, she employed what she calls a “fragmentary methodology.” In many cases, women appeared only as numbers or anonymous references buried in disciplinary reports. She read against the grain, analysing what the records left out as much as what they included, piecing together details across inventories, health reports, punishment books, and plantation records. “If the archive whispered, I tried to listen as closely as possible,” she said.
Dr. Adams hopes that this international recognition will inspire more researchers in Guyana and across the Caribbean to interrogate history courageously. She said the award signals the value of confronting historical silences, particularly in colonial archives, and encourages emerging researchers to take risks, ask uncomfortable questions, and challenge dominant narratives.
She also reflected on the significance of the award for the University of Guyana. Dr. Adams noted that UG scholars juggle teaching, research, and administrative duties simultaneously, and that world-class scholarship can be produced from Guyana for global audiences. She emphasised that the award is shared with her department, her students, and the women whose lives she sought to honour through her research.
The University of Guyana has congratulated Dr. Estherine Adams on her outstanding achievement, stating that her work continues to advance the institution’s mission to contribute meaningfully to national and global scholarship while inspiring future generations of researchers to uncover and honour the untold stories of the region.