tourism and Bermuda's place on the literary map By Patrick Burgess The place of Bermuda in world literature came under focus this week at the second International Conference on Caribbean Literature.

Held at the Bermuda College, it featured presentations by three Bermudian scholars, and a host of others who focussed on writing by English, Spanish, Dutch, and French speaking Caribbean writers.

"I'm not sure a non-Bermudian could appreciate the irony of a conference on Caribbean literature being held here,'' local graduate student in literature Kim Dismont Robinson told those at the seminar entitled "Locating Bermuda on the Literary Map: Revisiting the History of Mary Prince''.

"You must understand that not only was Mary Prince born and raised in Bermuda,'' Ms Dismont Robinson said, "but she is called a West Indian in the title of the book.

"But the book is probably the least known book here. It ties Bermuda to the islands to our south. Here is where `West Indian' is a term of contempt. "The History of Mary Prince A West Indian Slave'' challenges Shakespeare's Tempest which is seen as literary enslavement.'' Mary Prince was born in Brackish Pond, and worked as a domestic before leaving Bermuda with her master, ending up in London and with an abolitionist group.

Her narrative is distinctive because it is the first by a black slave woman and is considered by scholars to have changed thegenre completely with its frankness.

Carol Marsh-Lockett, told a lunchtime gathering that local writers must "engage the historical moment, move the centre, and erect their own artistic monuments''.

Dr. Marsh-Lockett, a Bermudian who teaches at Georgia State University, said this would help them resist "external definition'' to slough off the "mantle of tourism''.

She added that Bermudians, like their counterparts in the Caribbean, have a public face -- "a smiling mask of the ever so accommodating'' -- that is displayed to tourists but hides colonial and post-colonial anguish.

"Our orientation to language was guided according to a colonial rubric,'' Dr.

Marsh-Lockett said of being raised here in the 1950s and 1960s.

Such Bermudianisms as "fourdy'', "shru de trees'', and "micin'' were subject to linguistic de-programming which denied locals a literary "voice''.

Maritime Museum researcher Clarence Maxwell said the question of whether Bermuda is a "West Indian'' island "depends on who you ask''.

"From a British perspective, particularly up to the 20th century, Bermuda means West Indian island,'' Dr. Maxwell said. "Bermudians had and have a different view. Certainly there were economic ties, but migration from there to here in the 1890s led to the distinction.'' Using Mary Prince's story as a backdrop, Dr. Maxwell detailed the "politics of resistance'' during Bermudian slavery, adding that during most of the 218 years of slavery here, people who had been freed were expelled from the Island.

"Laws to `better govern the conduct of negroes' -- that's what they were called -- were the first laws made in Bermuda,'' he added. "They served to ensure a distance between freedom and slavery and the distance between free whites and free blacks was made larger.'' These laws were the ground work for the practice of racial segregation after emancipation.

American Nicole Aljoe, of Tufts University, called Mary Prince's experiences "emblematic of the social and literary process of creolisation'' or the creation of an enslaved person.

Eva Thompson, of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, traced the development of Mary Prince's writings, pointing out her words were "not necessarily transcribed but translated'' by an English author and then further edited by an abolitionist.

Canadian husband and wife team of Duncan McDowall and Sandra Campbell presented papers on "Literary Views of Bermuda from Offshore'' and English woman Susette Harriet Lloyd who visited the Island in 1829-1831.

Susette Lloyd lived with the family of Anglican Bishop, Aubrey Spencer and acted as a missionary among blacks during her stay.

Her book is a series of letters back home to family and with Dr. Campbell's work is beginning to be seen as important as a commentary on slavery, race, and colonialism.

Dr. Clarence Maxwell Kim Dismont Robinson Duncan McDowall