Fonseca Weighs In on Shoman’s Controversial Book Cover

The controversy over a colonial-era version of Belize’s Coat of Arms has now drawn a response from Culture Minister Francis Fonseca. The National Kriol Council argues that using the image on the forty-fifth-anniversary edition of Assad Shoman’s A History of Belize in Thirteen Chapters revives a degrading portrayal of Black Belizeans. Shoman maintains that he chose it to confront the country’s painful colonial past, not celebrate it. Fonseca says he understands the council’s concerns, but also recognizes the author’s intent. We asked him whether the image serves as an important history lesson or gives an old insult new life.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture

“I am sensitive to the concerns being expressed by the Belize Kriol Council. But I also understand the point that Assad has made. I think he was, as he often does, was trying to provoke discussion and stimulate discussion about our colonial history, which is a colonial history of oppression, of slavery, enslavement, of really extraction, extracting from Belize, our resources, and he has made the point that the cover phot is really the 1907 quote of arms, the colonial quote of arms and his thinking was that he would put that on the cover of the book to remind Belizeans and provoke discussions about that colonial history and heritage of oppression. I am sensitive to the views of the Kriol Council, and I understand the points they have made. But I also understand very clearly what Ambassador Assad Shoman was trying to do.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

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