Thru Novel Lenses! New Vision New Perspectives New Ideas New Directions For the New World! Futuring Sustainable Development in the Post Pandemic Planet From Pre School to Policy Making
Join the Webinar on new opportunities for Caribbean Cuisine Tourism Agriculture. The webinar is a short presentation on strategies, best practise and sustainable solutions being rolled out in awarding Regions of Gastronomy. It will provide information on opportunities to become a founding member of the World Region of Gastronomy Platform and set out on candidacy to be awarded 1st Caribbean Region of Gastronomy.
The presentation will be followed by an open question and answer session chaired by International Cultural Heritage Educator/Facilitator, award winning Journalist , Author and Creator of the GLoCaL Knowledge Pot, Dr Kris Rampersad. Webinar Link: GOTOMEETING LINK: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/245466397 Free Webinar on Strategies and solutions for sustainable cultural and food tourism from the World Region of Gastronomy Platform will take place on DATE: Wednesday 29 July 2020 at 11.00h (Caribbean; 17.00h CET) through the GOTOMEETING LINK: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/245466397
MultipleChoice navigates through ethnic & religious dissension to draw readers into layers of the learning fabric & intricately interwoven diverse tracks of knowledge transmission embedded in festivals, rituals, beliefs, languages & lifestyles embroidered on a shared educational, cultural & ecological tapestry. From these Dr Rampersad draws significant lessons for societies newly challenged by multiculturalism.
This unfolds from the canvas of traumas and triumphs of settlement, adaptation & accommodation that faced post-colonial societies of Latin America and the Caribbean. It shifts the focus from lament to praise song in the integration of traditional learning systems into new ones, evolving to meet the challenges of the 21st century. History, heritage & legacies lace research into a fine filigree of oral storytelling & social lore on how the experiences from colonisation may inform the emergence from the pandemic as stronger more resilient societies through technology-driven learning processes & systems that value multicultural traditions. More at www.krisrampersad.com. Subscribe for texts, tools, templates and talks.
outh Elderly Post Pandemic Planet Resistance Project: With COVID-19 social distancing, gaps between generations expands as elders become high risk group. GloCal redress actions bridging intergenerational divide.
The new COVID-19 threat is not just a health pandemic but a socio-cultural, economic and political one as well. It is upturning the way of life of the world, leaving many sectors grasping for foundation.
Futuring it may mean that many communities may have to turn inwards towards their own knowledge, skills, experiences, tools and resources to meet their needs. Join the Global Local Caribbean GloCal COVID Post Pandemic Planet Challenge, FEDs Any Age, Any Interest, Any Community. Stimulating actions and education in preparation for the Post Pandemic Planet. Tips, Tools, Tests, Templates. Sign on at www.krisrampersad.com and stay tuned for more #GloCalFEDsCOVIDChallenge#GloCalFEDs#GloCalPostPandemicPlanetChallenge#GloCalPostPandemicPlanet#KrisRampersad Sign up here
UNESCO Culture Consultant Kris Rampersad conducted a two day workshop for UNESCO, cultural policy-makers, and related interest groups from the Caribbean on the UNESCO Cultural Diversity Programming Lens (CDPL) in Grenada. She explained that the Caribbean is not making adequate use of international spaces where it can lobby for more significant representation of the region’s assets, such as its culture. Rampersad also warned against formulating cultural policies that may not be relevant to national and regional realities, saying that there is a delicate balance that must be maintained between the intrinsic value of culture and the economic potential of cultural products.
Rampersad stated that “The Caribbean has much to offer the international community when it com
es to our experiences of migration, adaptation, globalization, multiculturalism, cultural identities and evolution of old and the creation of new cultures.” She noted that the Caribbean has “a record of achievement of social cohesion from its cultural diversity.” However, she said, much of these Caribbean achievements and advances have not factored into the drafting of international instruments as the UNESCO Culture Conventions, and the discourse that has since arisen surrounding diversity, and protection and conservation of cultural heritage and assets.
Rampersad said the CPDL can help the region assess the value of these contributions. She pointed out that only six Caribbean countries to date have ratified the UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity, but there is now a “mad scramble” to do because of the launch of the Fund for Cultural Diversity which is only accessible by countries that have ratified the Convention. She stressed that Caribbean countries should ratify the Cultural Diversity and other conventions, but must do so with a clear purpose and an awareness of how cultural policies can “adequately reflect Caribbean experiences and are more relevant to Caribbean realities.”
See video this page on new release: Festival Fables I the Sky & Me the Sea by Kris Rampersad. LiTTscapes - Landscapes of Fiction: Available on Amazon.
Kris Rampersad is an independent media, cultural and literary consultant l She holds a PhD in Global Literatures in English from the University of the West Indies.. She was founder and coordinator of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop Fund for Literature, Drama and Film and a founding member of the Friends of Mr. Biswas (Literary Restoration) Committee and the Commonwealth Film Fund.
For more, to connect and to explore new resources and directions go to the GLoCal Knowledge Pot Website www.krisrampersad.com
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Details of funds and activities that would impact small island developing states (SIDS) within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will come before the agency’s executive board’s 197th session in Paris next week.
This was among items promoted by Trinidad and Tobago’s representative on the board, Dr Kris Rampersad, along with Caribbean colleagues, at the Board’s spring (April 2015) sitting, which has had widespread support from SIDS and other states of the 58-member executive board.
“While SIDS has been on the agenda of UNESCO for some time, we felt that UNESCO’s focus on actions should be sharpened, and the budgets available to implement these be specified so as to not be lost among the wide range of activities of UNESCO in the spheres of education, culture, information and communications and science," Rampersad said.
“We requested the director general to present specific details of UNESCO’s focus on SIDS so as to assess what gaps needed to be filled, whether in relation to programmes or budgets," she added.
Rampersad has co-chaired UNESCO’s programme and external relations commission since 2014. One of three constitutional organs of UNESCO, the executive board is elected by the General Conference to prepare UNESCO’s programme of work and budget estimates and provide oversight to implementation of programmes and actions by the director-general.
Rampersad noted that some 45 other items will receive the board’s attention over the two- week period, including the contribution of the programme on management of social transformations (MOST) to the UN Post 2015 agenda, as she recalled that Trinidad and Tobago hosted the Latin American and Caribbean MOST ministers in 2012 while she chaired the national commission for UNESCO.
The board will also consider proposals to introduce an international day for the defence of the mangrove ecosystem and an International Access to Information Day, the contribution of UNESCO to combating climate change in COP 21; and UNESCO’s relations with non-governmental partners, she said.
Rampersad, who will also chair the Education Commission of the UNESCO General Assembly to take place in Paris in November, stated the executive board will further consider a protocol to set up a Conciliation and Good Offices Commission that would settle disputes between states parties to the Convention against Discrimination in Education, and a roadmap for UNESCO’s programme on preventing and addressing school-related gender-based violence.
It will examine recommendations for promotion and use of multilingualism and universal access to cyberspace, on the status of the artist, status of teachers (CEART) and higher-education teaching personnel.
Enhancing UNESCO’s Contributions to Promote Culture of Respect, reinforcement of UNESCO’s action for the protection of culture and the promotion of cultural pluralism, preparation of a global convention on the recognition of higher education qualifications; the outcomes of the World Education Forum 2015 and geographical distribution and gender balance of the staff of the UNESCO Secretariat are other agenda items that are of particular relevance to Trinidad and Tobago and the Latin Americans and Caribbean regions, Rampersad said.
Beyond the Boundaries of Cricket: what do you do at the end of play? Join us in exploring the landscapes, lifestyles and cultures of the games we play. Cricket Lovely Cricket and other traditional SporTTscapes, CiTTyscapes, Festivals, Folk Champions & Heroes of the islands.
Specially customised to any interests, industry, age to entertain, educate, and empower through exploration and experience.
From CLR's metaphysical explorations in Beyond the Boundaries through the heritage that has made and unmade heroes and champions.
Tours. Teas. Talks. See video
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Visit Us: Twitter: @lolleaves @krisramp FaceBookLinkedInInstagram LiTTscapes
No tourist guide can give more
comprehensive introduction to nation as LiTTscapes
Review
& Appraisal of LiTTscapes by
Professor Al Creighton, Deputy Vice
Chancellor of the University of Guyana and of the Guyana Prize for Literature
at LiTTribute II – LiTTurgy to the Mainland at Moray House Trust, Georgetown
We are in the presence
this afternoon of a neat kind of confluence.
Guyana at this time is in the middle of celebrating nationhood – the
peak of it is Republic Day one week from now.
The publication being launched in Guyana today is a celebration of
nationhood as it is captured through photography, an explanatory text and the
literature of Trinidad and Tobago. The
easiest way to begin an analysis of this book Littscapes by Kris Rampersad is to describe it – give an idea so
that the audience gets a clear picture of exactly what it is. But that is not the easiest way, because it
is a text that defies easy description.
There are more types that it is than things that it is not.
The publication is Littscapes : Landscapes of Fiction from
Trinidad and Tobago by Kris Rampersad, published in St Augustine, Trinidad,
in 2012. The bibliographical details
describe it as “First Edition 2012”, which is not surprising, given its
multi-tasking nature and its wide reach, and this suggests that, also
considering the several things that it seems to set out to cover, there is more
to come in future editions.
It is 200 pages of
written and visual text, presenting the landscape of Trinidad and Tobago in
passages of descriptions, explanations and quotations, very impressively
supported and complemented by hundreds of colour photographs and excerpts from
the literature of the country. Rampersad
always interweaves into her own descriptions, the pieces taken from the
literature, so that one gets pictures of the several varied subjects from the
point of view of the writers and of their fictional characters. These are taken predominantly from works of
fiction covering a range of short stories and novels, but to a lesser extent,
there is reference to poetry and drama.
The idea of
“littscapes” comes from this drawing from the literature to give scenes, views
and visions of landscape and life in clear, colourful, illustrative pictures as
well as snippets of how they are treated in the literature. It is a quite thorough artistic concept. It is a portrait and biography of the nation
of Trinidad and Tobago which actually pays tribute to the Republic in 2012, the
year of its 50th anniversary of Independence. The book is attractively, neatly and
effectively designed, using a recurring motif of the double-T – “TT”, which, of
course, is “Trinidad and Tobago”, but is also “literature” so that there is not
only the visual impact but the tribute to nationhood as reflected in the
various works of literature.
Littscapes is a work of art; but also it is a
documentary, a travelogue, a critical work with visual and literary power. It takes us on a tour of the country, giving
some exposure to almost every aspect of life.
It may be too heavy and too academic to be called a tourist guide, but
no tourist guide can give a better, more comprehensive introduction to
Trinidad. It entices and attracts just
as the glossy tourist literature; it looks a weighty volume, but an important
factor is that it is very easy to read.
Neither is this link to tourism accidental, because one of the
objectives of the book is that it must show the value that literature has in
promoting and presenting the nation. It
must show different uses of literature, encourage new approaches to it and make
it more attractive and interesting. The
book does for literature, what literature does for the country.
Rampersad tours the countryside and highlights
features of it, at the same time exploring the literature to indicate how the
writers treat the subjects, what they or their fictional characters say, and
how they are used in the plots.
Photographs of several sections of Port-of-Spain are accompanied by the
descriptions and literary excerpts: this treatment is given to the capital
city, other towns, streets, urban communities, villages, historic buildings and
places, vegetation, animals, institutions, culture and landscape. There is considerable visual beauty, what
Derek Walcott calls “visual surprise” in his Nobel Lecture; an impressive
coverage of social history, geography, and politics, but also a strong literary
experience. It is a survey of Trinidad’s
landscape and of its literature.
The publication
reflects a considerable volume of reading, drawing from as early as Walter Raleigh
at the dawn of Caribbean literature, which adds historical character and depth
to the landscape and culture. The
references include early fiction such as ARF Webber’s Those That Be In Bondage.
The connectedness of nationhood becomes relevant again here, since both
Webber and Raleigh have ties to Guyana as strong if not stronger than those
with Trinidad. Just as the historical
development of the country is reflected in the places and monuments, so it is
in the rise of social realism through the fiction of the 1930s in
Port-of-Spain. Rampersad presents her
subjects through the eyes of CLR James and writers from the Beacon group such
as Alfred Mendes, and has done the painstaking work analogous to that of a
lexicographer, of sorting out their several hundred references to her
subjects.
This account includes
some memorable passages of real literary criticism, although these are
brief. They include the entries on The Humming Bird Tree by Ian McDonald,
another writer that is more Guyanese than Trinidadian, with instructive
insights into the novel’s title and its meaning. Others are the references to Lion House in
Chaguanas and the Capildeo family which hold great interest for background to
VS Naipaul. He immortalises his mother’s
family in Hanuman House and the Tulsis, and Rampersad provides additional
information about Naipaul’s use of his migratory existence in her discussions
of various parts of Port-of-Spain. There
is also similar enlightenment in the way such locations as San Fernando, Mayaro
and Princes Town accumulate greater meaning when used to treat the work of
novelist Michael Anthony. Yet another
passage of deep criticism is the reference to “girl victims” as they are
treated in the fiction.
There are the entries on politicians, calypsonians and
superstitions, all of which abound in the fiction. This work does so much
already that it might be unfair to judge it on its omissions or reduced
treatments.
Trinidad is in all respects the major and dominant island, and this is
overwhelmingly reflected in Rampersad’s treatment. She says in her text that Trinidadian writers
on the whole neglect Tobago, treat it as the lesser of two sisters or do not
treat it at all. In this book,
therefore, the imbalance is noted.
In the end, Rampersad’s
Littscapes does achieve an innovative
approach to literature in bringing it alive in the description of landscape,
life, culture and people. It encourages
people to take ownership of it, see themselves, their home or familiar places
in it and accept it as a definer of identity.
But the book is as much photography by Rampersad and others as it is
literature, and the pictures help to illustrate, highlight and make the fiction
real.
Above all Littscapes: Landscapes of Fiction from
Trinidad and Tobago has an extremely
powerful sense of place and reinforces what in Rampersad’s words is “the pull
of place on authors”. It may claim to be
an accessory to what she calls “the body of fiction inspired by Trinidad and
Tobago”. It communicates the character
of the country.
No one book can be
everything; no one book can set out to achieve everything that a literature and
a visual text can do for its people and its nation; but whatever you say one
book can’t do, this one almost does it.
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