SUNDAY 19 MARCH, 2017 – UWI TODAY
11
CARNIVAL SYMPOSIUM
It has been well over 175 years
since the newly freed
slaves of Trinidad took to the streets and began the
transformation of a French Catholic feast into what
has become the island’s most powerful formof cultural
expression. Carnival has grown and changed shape and
spread throughout the region and beyond. And in line
with its importance is its impact. What has Carnival
meant to the society? What does it have the potential
to become?
Policymakers, entrepreneurs, economists,
historians, gender theorists, artists and educators
discussed these questions and others at a Carnival
Symposium organised by the Cultural Studies Section
of The UWI St. Augustine’s Department of Literary,
Cultural and Communications Studies. Titled
“Memory, Politics and Performance in the Trinidad
Carnival Complex,” the symposiumwas held onMarch
2 and 3 at the Government Campus Plaza Auditorium
in Port of Spain and the Daaga Auditorium of the
St. Augustine Campus. The symposium was held
in collaboration with the Ministry of Community
Development, Culture and the Arts.
Dr. Suzanne Burke, one of the organisers said
the symposium’s objective was “to bring together
the various Carnival stakeholders…. to examine and
discuss the importance of Trinidad and Tobago’s
development.”
The symposium, she said, “served as a vehicle to
enhance the voice of Trinidad and Tobago’s academic
community in global discourse on the Trinidad
Carnival.”
Grappling with the
MASQUERADE
Dr Keith Nurse gives his keynote address. Looking on are Dr Suzanne Burke, Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and Dr. Maarit Forde,
Head of the Department of Cultural Studies.
The objective is to bring together
the various carnival stakeholders
including practitioners, policy-makers,
researchers and entrepreneurs to
examine and discuss the importance
of carnival to Trinidad and Tobago’s
development.
The symposium opened with a keynote lecture
by Dr. Keith Nurse, Senior Fellow at the Sir Arthur
Lewis Institute of Economic Studies at UWI and one
of the region’s foremost scholars on cultural industries.
Participants discussed topics such as the Canboulay
Riots, the steelband movement, gender and sexuality,
and calypso.
One of the highlights of the event was an address
byMinister of Community Development, Culture and
the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly. The Minister spoke
on the need for greater integration among the various
special interest groups involved in the production of
Carnival to improve the festival “in a holistic way.”
