The legacy and memory of the historian Lois Johnson-Roberts (1920-2021) will be honored this Wednesday in a posthumous commemoration event organized by the Guayas Prefecturechaired by susana gonzalez. This, in recognition of his investigative contribution in favor of the province and the country.
Her granddaughter stephanie crawford He affirms that his family receives this recognition with great joy, after the painful loss of his grandmother at the age of 101, on May 15, 2021 in California. “Without being a person who was interested in recognition, we are sure that, if this recognition is going to help perpetuate her books, it would make her very happy”express.
Historian Lois Johnson Roberts has died at the age of 101
Sergio Cedeno Amadorcorresponding member of the Academy of History of Ecuador, points out that J. Roberts was a great reference for historical research, mainly in the two most important crops in Ecuador: cocoa and bananas. “Very few researchers had done such a deep investigation and strictly attached to the truth.”, maintains Cedeno.
Motivated by the discoveries and studies she made in the country, in 1980 J. Roberts published Ecuador in the cocoa season, which becomes the first book on the history of cocoa in the country and which was an adaptation of his doctoral thesis.
In its second edition, launched in 2010, “it incorporates the CCN-51 variety into the history of cocoa in Ecuador, which (which) currently represents 70% of the country’s cocoa exports,” says Cedeño.
Another of his important books is Ecuadorian banana entrepreneurs. “The only book on the history of bananas in Ecuador, despite Ecuador being the largest exporter of bananas in the world”says Cedeno.
“Since 1952, Ecuador became the world’s leading banana exporter and since then it has almost always remained in this position, although many people do not know it”, expressed J. Roberts herself in an interview for La Revista, from EL UNIVERSO.
The also professor was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 14, 1920, but her bond with Ecuador was never broken since her first visit and brief stay. “She always maintained the relationship with Ecuador, because her son continues to live here, and she always came to visit him and to visit the people who had been her collaborators”, Crawford mentions.
“She had come to a country like Ecuador and had been deeply struck by the fact that, on the one hand, there was so much land wealth and so many possibilities; and, at the same time, so few resources”Add.
For her part, Cedeño remembers her as an American who proclaimed herself one more Ecuadorian. “Her profession as a historian and her love for Ecuador were the reason for her historical research. At her advanced age she visited Ecuador constantly, since she loved this country”assures Cedeño, who shared with the historian a friendship of years.
In the work of J. Roberts, an investigation dedicated to the Lebanese colony in the country also stands out. Is about The Lebanese in Ecuador: a success story (1997). The importance of this text lies in the fact that “a large part of the distinguished members of this colony have contributed to the country in almost all economic areas, such as commerce, agriculture, aquaculture, industry, politics, etc.”, explains Cedeño.
“My grandmother had the opportunity to have many friends from Lebanese society, since they were very forward-thinking people, very hard-working, very professional; Y She was struck by the fact that in such a short time they have formed such a strong company with a very important presence at the business level.. She took eleven years of research, of interviews, of going back and forth; She frequently traveled to Ecuador to visit her son, ”she details, on her side, her granddaughter.
Contributions that allowed him to be part of the Academy of History of Ecuador as a “corresponding member,” says Cedeño.
Crawford notes that one of her grandmother’s main interests in her research was commitment to future generations. “My grandmother never had a commercial interest. And throughout her life, in conversations with her, in the very prologues of her books or even when she received the distinction from the Academy of History of Ecuador, he defined it in a very simple way: that being a historian was also being a humanist, which implied a responsibility for future generations”.
“She said that she had been very naive in thinking that, with her history books, she was going to be able to change the course of life, that she was going to be able to enable future generations to improve the development of the country. That was the only goal of hers.”, add.
For this reason, Crawford is preparing a reissue of the three books, to also digitize them and make them available to everyone. “I am interested in republishing the three books in a joint edition, for which we are already in talks with two publishers… To make it available in universities, in libraries, without any commercial value, just so that it can be reprinted. consult, in case it is needed”He says.
the decoration post-mortem will be delivered in the auditorium of the Prefecture of Guayas, this Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. The award will be received by Russell Crawfordson of Lois J. Roberts. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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