Coming in from the Cold is one of Bob Marley and the Wailers greatest hits, and this April a very special native of Jamaica returned home after more than 170 years abroad. The Jamaican Giant Galliwasp, a species of lizard presumed to be extinct, was repatriated by the University of Glasgow (UofG) in Scotland to The UWI Mona campus in Jamaica.
The specimen is thought to have been collected in the 1850s and was held in The Hunterian at UofG. This is reportedly the first repatriation of a natural history specimen in the Caribbean. A statement from The UWI said the exercise “symbolises an important milestone for scientific research, cultural heritage preservation in the region, and repatriation as part of the reparatory justice for the Caribbean.”
UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles said, “The reparatory justice movement deals with various issues of different scales that must be addressed. By returning the galliwasp to its rightful place, we take a small but significant step towards laying the foundation for a regional and international discussion on repatriation.”
A joint team from The UWI and the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) travelled to Glasgow to retrieve the specimen. They returned to Jamaica with the lizard specimen on April 24.The galliwasp will be held in the Natural History Museum of Jamaica on permanent loan in the national flora and fauna collection for safekeeping and public viewing.
Steph Scholten, Director of The Hunterian, said “We hope that this return will help foster further relationships between The University of the West Indies and the University of Glasgow, as well as deepen understanding of repatriation issues in the museum sector.”
The repatriation exercise is within the sphere of the execution of a 2019 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between The UWI and UofG, aimed at fostering collaboration in research and education, and addressing the historical legacies of colonialism. One of the outcomes of the MOU is the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research (GCCDR), which funds research projects that advance development goals in the Caribbean, facilitate academic partnerships, and raise awareness about the ongoing impact of historical slavery.
