The University of Guyana (UG) hosted the Sixth Annual Caribbean Sociological Association (CASA) Conference, bringing together sociologists, researchers, scholars, practitioners and students from across the Caribbean and the diaspora to examine the social implications of rapid economic, technological and environmental change.
The three-day conference, held from September 23 to 25, 2026, was held under the theme “Sociology of Societies in Transition: Exploring the Tensions Between Stability and Change.”
CASA is a regional body dedicated to advancing the study and understanding of Caribbean societies through sociological research, collaboration and advocacy, while promoting social justice, equity and regional cooperation across the Caribbean and its diaspora.
The conference comes at a time when Guyana and several other Caribbean societies are undergoing significant socio-economic transformations, driven by factors including oil and gas development, migration, technological advancement, climate change, geopolitical developments and post disaster recovery.
President of CASA, Dr Duane Edwards, said Guyana’s ongoing transformation made it an important setting for the conference. “The conference being held in Guyana promises to bring participants from across the Caribbean and the diaspora to discuss countries experiencing various kinds of transitions and change. There is perhaps no better place to hold this conference than in Guyana,” Edwards said.
The conference features approximately 40 presentations examining social, economic, political, environmental, geopolitical and digital transitions across the Caribbean and the Americas.
During a panel discussion on societies in transition, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr Vindhya Persaud said Guyana’s rapid development must remain centred on the quality of life of its people. “It is imperative that there be people-centric development, and this is where the social services remain pivotal on the Government of Guyana’s radar,” Minister Persaud said.
She said Guyana’s changing population dynamics, including increased migration from rural and remote communities to urban areas and rising life expectancy, require the country to continually assess how resources are allocated and which areas should receive priority.
Chairman of the University of Guyana’s Transitional Management Committee, Professor Stafford Griffith, said the work of Caribbean sociologists is particularly important as countries across the region navigate rapid development and its social consequences. “The work of this Caribbean Sociological Association is very critical at this juncture of the development of the region, and in particular, I’d like to see Guyana,” Professor Griffith said.
He said Guyana’s rapid development was bringing a range of socio-economic challenges that required deeper understanding, adding that Caribbean researchers are uniquely positioned to examine the experiences of the region.
Professor Griffith also urged scholars to ensure their research reaches beyond academic journals and becomes accessible to policymakers, administrators, professionals and the wider public.
He said researchers should use conferences, seminars, workshops and other platforms to communicate their findings and contribute to national and regional development. “Research that is socially and developmentally relevant to the needs of the Caribbean should be a critical responsibility of scholars in the Caribbean,” Professor Griffith said, quoting from an article he contributed to in 2024.
Former UG Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana and keynote speaker Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin used her keynote address to examine how societies respond to the fear created by periods of rapid change.
Professor Mohamed Martin, a Guyanese behavioural scientist and scholar who served as UG’s first female Vice Chancellor, said the conference theme closely reflected two decades of her research. “Fear, I would argue tonight, is the most salient effect of tensions arising between stability and change. Fear is what a society feels when it stands at the hinge between the stability it knows and the change it cannot fully comprehend,” she said.
Drawing on her research into Guyanese society, Professor Mohamed Martin said fear can influence how individuals and societies respond to economic, technological and social disruption.
“What fear does above all for many people is to inhibit them. It stops people from acting in public and social and professional life. It dissolves trust,” she said.
She also examined the role of technology and artificial intelligence in periods of disruption, arguing that technology itself does not determine the outcomes of change. “Technology is an amplifier, not an author,” Professor Mohamed Martin said.
Turning to artificial intelligence, she challenged scholars and policymakers to consider whose interests and assumptions are being embedded in the technologies being adopted. “Whose mental model does it actualize in our lives?” she asked.
Professor Mohamed Martin also argued that resilience should be understood as more than simply enduring hardship, calling instead for societies to develop the capacity to emerge from disruption with greater capability. “Resilience, properly understood, is not bouncing back. It is bouncing forward, emerging from disruption, reorganized, wiser, more capable than when we first entered it,” she said.
She urged Caribbean societies to draw on their own histories, scholarship and experiences in developing responses to contemporary disruption.
Dean of UG’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Dr Diana Da Silva-Glasgow, in her greetings on behalf of the faculty, said the conference theme was particularly relevant to Caribbean societies confronting multiple forms of change.
She noted that Caribbean societies have historically navigated transitions arising from colonialism, independence, globalisation, migration, geopolitical tensions, technological advancement and climate change.
For Guyana, she said, the rapid expansion of the petroleum sector presents significant opportunities while also raising questions about inequality, migration, labour markets, family structures, community relationships and institutional adaptation.
Dr Da Silva-Glasgow encouraged participants to consider what would be required to ensure that Caribbean futures remain resilient and inclusive. She also called for continued collaboration among scholars across disciplinary and national boundaries.
The conference brought together participants from Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and the wider Caribbean diaspora, with presentations covering spatial, racial, class and gender inequality, domestic violence, social welfare, resource extraction, environmental impacts, demography, governance, democracy and sustainable development.
