On 5 October 2022, the Civilisations Cultures, Societies and Interculturality master's programme at the University of Guyana welcomed lecturers and students from the Social Development & Policy master's programme at Anton de Kom University in Surinam for a day of international exchange.
L rofessor Jack Menke, Drs Kirtie Algoe and Jair Schalkwijk and their students were welcomed to the DFR LSH by the Vice-President for International Relations, Didier Béreau, and the Director of the DFR, Ahmed Mulla, before embarking on a day of exchanges with the teaching staff of the Societies and Interculturality master's programme (headed by Professor Agnès Clerc-Renaud) and the students. During the day, teams from the two universities presented their master's degrees and research projects to the teachers and students. The day continued with a tour of the campus and the university library. Despite the fact that the day was conducted in English, the language barrier did not prevent a friendly and good-humoured atmosphere. A number of cooperation projects between the two masters programmes have emerged as a result of these exchanges.
The afternoon was given over to a scientific seminar on borders and cultural diversity in Surinam and Guyana, with some interesting presentations. Jack Menke and Kirtie Algoe presented a fascinating paper on Surinamese migration to French Guiana. Marianne Palisse took a look at multiculturalism in French Guiana. Finally, students from the two masters courses presented their work, which gave rise to a wide-ranging debate on subjects as varied as religious recompositions on the Haut Maroni (Jérôme Colon de Franciosi), the cuisine of Burkinabè migrants in French Guiana (Alexia Philippart de Foy), wassai knowledge in West Guiana (Cindy Tingo), the wage gap between men and women in Brazil (Maria Pirthising) and the oil and gas industry in Surinam (Zuvina Soidjojo).
The following day, two archaeologists from the master's programme teaching team, Martijn Van den Bel and Nathalie Cazelle, led the Surinamese delegation on a tour of Cayenne and the ruins of the Loyola dwelling. On Friday 7 October, they were received in Saint-Laurent-du Maroni by Professor Monique Blérald and her team as part of the Assises du carnaval, for an event focusing on African divinities with colleagues from Benin.
The fruitful exchanges showed a willingness on both sides to set up regular exchanges between the two Masters courses and to relaunch international cooperation after the pandemic.
