SUNDAY 1ST NOVEMBER, 2015 – UWI TODAY
9
HUMAN COMMUNICATION STUDIES CONFERENCE REPORT
OpeningtheHumanCommunicationStudies
International
Conference on the morning of a resplendent Republic Day,
Dean Heather Cateau brought greetings and located the
Communications discipline within the wider discourse on
the Humanities. While the Communications programmes at
the St. Augustine Campus are well subscribed, the reality is
that a crisis looms in the study of Humanities courses overall.
She shared her concerns for the discipline of
Communication and others under the Humanities umbrella
and called for greater engagement showing the applicability
and practicality of the areas of study.
Just two days after the conference, the UK Guardian
newspaper published a story “Japan’s humanities chop sends
shivers down academic spines. Japanese universities are
cutting humanities and social sciences in favour of ‘practical’
subjects, sparking global concern.”
The article went on to detail very similar sentiments of
The UWI Dean that esoteric research takes a back seat and
is treated as less important. This however meets with the
argument that in order for us to understand and innovate we
need the cultural and historical research and understanding
which the Humanities brings.
Her push for us communicators to show the world
our skill and its applicability to Caribbean and global
society may be one of the reasons that resonated with the
conference theme, “Identity, Context and Interdisciplinarity.”
Conference Chair and Senior Lecturer in Communication
Studies, Dr. Godfrey Steele and his team of planners
including Dr. Korah Belgrave of the Cave Hill Campus and
Dr. LivingstonWhite fromMona, chose this theme to focus
on the nature and development of human communication
studies in the Caribbean, highlighting its many fields,
Upload yuh talk
Communicators told it’s time to be uploaders not downloaders
B Y W Y N E L L G R E G O R I O
Communicate
withus
Itwas evident at the end
of the two-day conference
that attendees benefited from practical takeaways
spanning a wide range of topics, renewed
relationships, new connections and a collective
energy to move the discipline forward. Classes
continue to be maxed out in the Communication
courses at the St. Augustine Campus, but as we
forge ahead, practitioners, employers and faculty
should look critically into its future and longevity
given the direction of the Humanities globally.
Two avenues for this are contributions to The
Journal of Human Communication Studies (The
JHCSC) and The Association of Association of
Human Communication Studies in the Caribbean
AHCSC)
Selected, double-blind, internationally
peer-reviewed articles and essays are expected
to be published in future issues of The Journal of
Human Communication Studies in the Caribbean
(The JHCSC), launched in May 2015. Online
subscription and access to The JHCSC is US$55,
and at a discounted rate of US$25 for students. An
annual subscription to The JHCSC and AHCSC
annual membership are mutually inclusive.
At the business meeting which closed the
conference, the AHCSC was launched officially,
after ratifying the association’s aim and scope,
plans for the founding executive board, widening
the membership base, the development of a
constitution and a programme of benefits and
activities for members.
including media, culture and society, interpersonal and
family communication, organizational and corporate
communications, and health communication.
Dr. Steele indicated that the time had come to discuss
an academic rationalization of academic programmes
linking communication, journalism and film at UWI St.
Augustine in a new configuration in keeping with global
and regional trends.
Similar ideas necessitating relevance were expressed
by Campus Principal, Professor Clement Sankat who
shared his vision for the interaction among disciplines of
Communication Studies with the main goal of offering a
holistic experience for the student. He charged the faculty
leaders to connect the Communication courses with other
related fields on the Campus, including Film Studies,
Animation and Media. This interdisciplinary approach he
said, will seek to fill the society’s needs for an all-round
communication programme.
Keynote speaker, Professor Hopeton Dunn, Director
of CARIMAC at the Mona Campus, offered an informative
presentation which echoed sentiments expressed at the
opening ceremony and plenary, with his talk, “Cultural
resilience and Globalization from within.”
While Dean Cateau opened the conference with the
state of the Humanities globally and called for a response,
so too did Professor Dunn with a rally cry for us to create
our own content to become a society of ‘uploaders’ rather
than ‘downloaders.’
He expressed the firm belief that there is no monopoly
on good ideas and hence we as Caribbean communicators,
should be producing and exporting more of our great
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the St. Augustine
Campus, Dr. Heather Cateau, said a crisis looms in the field.
PHOTO: RYAN DURGASINGH
Conference Chair and Senior Lecturer in Communication Studies, Dr. Godfrey Steele, who shaped the conference themes, with Dr. Prahalad
Sooknanan (right) of the University of Trinidad and Tobago, as they answered questions.
PHOTO: RYAN DURGASINGH
