Jacques Adélaïde-Merlande
Jacques Adélaïde-Merlande is a French historian, born on 1st June 1933 in Fort-de-France, Martinique. A former lecturer at the University of the West Indies and Guyana, of which he was president from 1972 to 1977, he is the current president of the Guadeloupe Historical Society. Biography. Childhood and education. Jacques Adélaïde-Merlande was born in Fort-de-France and is of Guadeloupean and Martiniquean origin. After completing part of his studies in Martinique, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he became interested in the history of colonisation under the direction of Charles-André Julien  and in the history of the labour movement under the direction of Jean Bruhat. In particular, he took a postgraduate diploma () on the birth of the Martinique workers' movement under the direction of Charles-André Julien and Jean Bruhat. At the same time, he was active in the Martinique Students' Association Academic career. He was admitted to the agrégation d'histoire in 1962. In 1964, he was the first director of the , a forerunner of the University of the French Antilles. In 1972, he became the first president of the Centre Universitaire Antilles-Guyane until 1977. He taught courses in contemporary  history, but also in ancient history, particularly in the context of preparation for teaching examinations. He was an important leader of the Société d'histoire de la Guadeloupe and Martinique and one of the founders of the Association of Caribbean Historians in 1969. In October 2000, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the West Indies. Study. Jacques Adélaïde-Merlande has worked to popularise the history of Guadeloupe during the revolutionary period and the origins of the West Indian workers' movement. The publication of the , of which he edited volumes 3 and 4, gave fresh impetus in French -language West Indian historical studies. Furthermore, his work as a founder and leader of learned societies also played a key role in the development of Caribbean historical studies. Publications. Jacques Adélaïde-Merlande's work includes numerous articles, published mainly in the Bulletin of the Société d'histoire de la Guadeloupe, the Revue du CERC and the Cahiers du Cerag, and papers, mainly at the congresses of the .