Name Oruno Lara | ||
Dr. Oruno Denis Lara is a Guadeloupean historian born in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, not to be confused with is grandfather Oruno Lara (1879-1924), also a historian. He has written extensively on the history of the Caribbean.
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He is the director of the Centre de Recherches Caraïbes-Amériques (CERCAM) of Université Paris X-Nanterre. He wrote and defended a thesis in 1971 on Africa and the Caribbean entitled "From the Atlantic to the Caribbean: Maroon Blacks and Slave Revolts, XVIth and XVIIth Centuries". He created L'Institut Caraïbes de Recherches Internationales en Sciences Humaines et Sociales (aka Caribbean Institute for International Research in Human and Social Sciences) in Guadeloupe in 1972. He has taught in Guadeloupe, at the Université Paris VII, at Université de Yaoundé, and at the department of Black studies at City College in New York.
Beginnings
Oruno D. Lara was born in Basse-Terre, on a street named Rue Baudot close to the ocean. He spent his childhood in that town, the capital of Guadeloupe, situated at the foot of the Soufrière volcano. His parents are from Grands Fonds, Sainte-Anne and Moule, all cities in Guadeloupe. As a child, he was frequently beaten by his father in complicity with his mother's silence. He was often the only person to frequent the local library where Ms. Segrettier the librarian often ordered him books. He was an avid collector of stamps and attended stamp collector meetings on Sundays while a young boy.
Origins
His known ancestors include Bertilde, a Guadeloupean woman enslaved until 1848 and her son Moïse Lara, who was enslaved in Guadeloupe until 1843. Moïse is the father of the elder Oruno Lara (1879-1924).
Origins of the name Lara
Dr. Lara's great grandfather Moïse adopted the name Lara after he was emancipated from slavery. Dr. Lara has written that the name was likely inspired by the fact that Moïse's ancestors were from Venezuela.