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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 2 JUNE 2019
CAMPUS NEWS
Alexandra Stewart, Rehannah Khan and Otancia Noel,
three creative writing students in the Master’s in Fine
Arts (MFA) programme at UWI St Augustine’s Faculty
of Humanities and Education have shown the power of
their pens (or key boards) in one of the Caribbean’s most
prestigious literary spaces, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest 2019.
Alexandra Stewart was crowned the first place
champion of the biggest night in poetry, the First Citizens
National Poetry Slam Final. She was also part of the
“Inspired by the Archives” panel discussion. Rehannah
Khan was shortlisted for the 6th and final edition of the
CODE Burt Award for Caribbean Young Adult Literature.
Otancia Noel was long-listed for the Johnson and Amoy
Achong Caribbean Writers Prize.
The students join UWI St Augustine Lecturer in
Literatures in English, Dr Kevin Browne, who made
history as the first overall winner of the 2019 Bocas Prize
for Caribbean Literature with a work of non-fiction with
his book –
High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean
Culture.
The NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago’s annual
literary festival, hosts several events and activities, as well
as prizes in prose, poetry, non-fiction and spoken word in
partnership with other organisations and individuals.
A legal scholar in UWI St Augustine’s
Department of Management Studies
in the Faculty of Social Sciences has published two books that “recognise the
jurisprudential triumphs and travails of the Caribbean people in their own voices”.
Rajendra Ramlogan, Professor of Commercial and Environmental Law, says
he wrote the books in part to help citizens of Trinidad and Tobago as well as the
region, “develop faith and confidence in our jurisprudence and what we are capable
of doing.”
Commercial Law: Cases andMaterials from the Commonwealth Caribbean
, tells
the story of how the region’s legal system developed to address commercial legal
principles.The other book,
The Rise of Environmental Law in the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago
, looks at the evolution of environmental law from 2001 to January
2019. They were launched in April at a gathering on the St Augustine Campus that
was well attended by academics, legal luminaries, commercial and environmental
specialists, and friends and family.
Speaking at the launch, Justice Winston Anderson of the Caribbean Court of
Justice said
The Rise of Environmental Law
, “after nearly 60 years of organised legal
education in the Caribbean, it remains the case that far too often our legal discourse
has been conducted through the British writers of legal texts. These texts have
served us well in constructing a solid foundation for a stable and sound Caribbean
jurisprudence. But it is time we honour that past by recognising the jurisprudential
triumphs and travails of the Caribbean people in their own voices.”
The books, said Professor Ramlogan, were written in honour of theManagement
Society of The UWI at St Augustine Trinidad and Tobago and all proceeds go to
the society. Monies generated from sales have already been allocated to provide
partial funding for a week-long student study trip to the Stetson University School
of Business Administration in Florida, USA.
“I see it as a way of giving back to the students,” Ramlogan says.
He sees the recording of Caribbean jurisprudence, as was done in his books, as
important not just for the legal profession, but for the society as a whole:
“The essence of society is our adherence to law, our willingness to follow rules.
And rules must be defined. Rules must give us hope that our society is operating in
a manner that we can feel confident in a given situation to predict what will happen
based on the principles that have emerged. I feel strongly that very few societies have
emerged successfully where we have not adhered to some sort of rule of lawdoctrine.”
CODE Burt Award gave her a great sense of validation, but
“it’s just the beginning for me and my writing career. There
is a long way to go, and I look forward to seeing where my
writing takes me next. UWI has givenme more confidence,
allowing me to explore things from multiple perspectives.”
Being an MFA student at UWI St Augustine, says
Alexandra Stewart, gave her the opportunity to have her
first reading at the “Inspired by the Archives” event during
Bocas. “I applied to submit a pitch about a story based on
the research I conducted about the women in the Michael
Goldberg Collection and my story was selected to be read
at Bocas. This would not have been possible without the
unrelenting support from my professors and my family.”
Dr Amaye was overjoyed at the success of her students:
“Our MFA students come to us with their talent and we are
able to help them to shape what they do and push them to
find their best work. However, it has to be recognised that
the talent is theirs alone and we are both proud and humbled
to have the chance to work with all our students.”
Applications are open for UWI’s Master’s in Fine Arts
(MFA) programme and other postgraduate programmes.
For more information, please visit:
UWI CREATIVEWRITING STUDENTS SCORE
TOP HONOURS AT BOCAS LIT FEST 2019
Speaking on her nomination, Otancia Noel noted that
she wouldn’t have entered the Writers Prize competition if
it wasn’t for her supervisor, Dr Muli Amaye’s (lecturer in
the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication
Studies and coordinator of the MFA in Creative Writing
programme) encouragement. “She pushed my limits to tell
a story that needed to be told.”
Rehannah Khan noted that being shortlisted for the
Taking ownership of the environmental and
commercial law legacy of T&T and the region
Professor Rajendra Ramlogan
PHOTO: ATIBA CUDJOE
