Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee

I remember the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970. I was a child in Glasgow, and the Commonwealth was still a living word in the house, though not always a clear one. Only later did I understand how much was contained in it: Scotland, the Caribbean, migration, sport, law, family, and the unfinished language of empire.

I grew up in Glasgow, with Scottish and Caribbean family history around me. I did not understand all of it at the time, but it became important later. I began working on these questions in the early 90s, first through publishing, translation, cultural programming and documentary research, and later through historical and anthropological research.

I did not begin as an academic historian. In the 90s I was working in publishing, translation, cultural programming and documentary research, mostly between Paris, Italy and the Caribbean. Much of the work was practical. I edited texts, translated catalogue essays, helped prepare exhibition material, checked dates, followed references, and worked around private collections, family papers, old houses and research files. It was not always called history, but it involved many of the same habits: looking carefully, checking names, noticing what had been included, and noticing what had not.

My research has been connected with institutions including the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, the Université des Antilles in Martinique, the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill and the University of Glasgow. I have written and lectured on Caribbean slavery, Scottish merchant families, plantation credit, compensation records, private archives and the place of slavery in European family and institutional history.

I am currently working on a book about slavery, Scottish land and the Highlands. It includes MacKinnon’s Estate in St John, Antigua; the Georgia estate in Jamaica, connected to the Gordons of Cairness; Lucky Hill in Jamaica; Gordon of Cluny’s estates in Tobago; and material connected to MacKinnon, MacLeod of MacLeod, Mackenzie of Gairloch, Cameron of Locheil, Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Campbell of Islay and Argyll, and Gordon of Cluny. Part of the book looks at how slavery-derived wealth was connected with land purchase, estate management and the Highland Clearances. I do not see this as a simple story, but it is part of the history of both Scotland and the Caribbean.

I am always interested in hearing from people working with this material, whether in universities, archives, translation, genealogy, architecture, local history or clan societies. I am particularly glad to hear from those working with family papers, estate records, compensation claims, plantation documents, oral history, or clan archives connected to the Caribbean. You can reach me on LinkedIn.