University News Last updated 28 October 2010
A criminologist from Birmingham City University is celebrating after becoming a 'Local Hero' at a recent award ceremony held in the city.
Martin Glynn, 53, from Handsworth Wood, scooped the award at a glittering ceremony attended by the High Commissioner of Jamaica and hosted by the Association of Jamaican Nationals.
Beverly Lindsay, Chairman of the Association of Jamaican Nationals, said: “This award ceremony celebrates our rich Jamaican culture and heritage past, present and future here in Birmingham and also back home in Jamaica. The event brings recognition and remembrance to that legacy of sacrifice and achievement by extraordinary individuals in the selfless pursuit of the wider common community good both past and present.”
Martin’s work around desistance, rites of passage, masculinity, anti-social & criminal behaviour has gained him a national and international reputation. He has received commissioned work in theatre, radio drama, live literature, and poetry.
As a criminologist, Martin was the only person in Birmingham to be awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship earlier this year, and as a result has recently returned from Baltimore in the United States where he examined the impact of fatherlessness in anti-social behaviour.
He looked at issues related to community violence and crime among young black men as well as compared and contrasted urban street crime violence between the UK and Baltimore. His Fellowship research will assist in the understanding of issues affecting young black men in the region as well as inform his current PhD ‘The Sankofa Paradigm – Towards a Critical Race Theory of Desistance.’
Martin said: “To be acknowledged validated by my father’s country of origin is both an honour and a privilege. It is important never to forget where you’re coming from. To quote famous Jamaican national hero Marcus Garvey, ‘a person without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots’.”
Beverly Lindsay added: “Martin has worked in Jamaica and with the Jamaican Community over a number of years and is one of nation’s greatest assets.
Martin may be a Birmingham Based Jamaican but he has an international constituency. His work is simply World Class.”
Photo-caption: Martin Glynn receiving his Local Hero award from Marcia Fletcher – Chief Representative Officer - Victoria Mutual Finance LTD (subsidiary of Victoria Mutual Building Society – Jamaica)