The National Award for Development of Women/Journalism to me represents an acknowledgment of the sometimes nameless and voiceless women and
others I have tried to represent; whose stories I have written, and whose
views I have tried to articulate variously as a journalist, as an advocate and
activist, as an author, educator and media practitioner in the quest for equity
and inclusion, to open up spaces for women and advance a level playing field
for all.
We who are given opportunities have a responsibility to give back and
to leave our sphere better for those who come after. The wind beneath my wings
has always been my now octogenarian mother, who had little
such opportunity as what she tried to provide for my siblings and I, who
inspires with her humility and abundant love; who gives and asks for little in
return and who instilled in me that my wealth is my mind. It is to her courage
and resilience and quick wit that strengthens my resolve in substituting the pursuit of
material wealth for the pursuit of knowledge. It has energized me in the most
trying of times. I must thank all those who have believed in me and shared the
journey with me, because we are not an island in ourselves. The world in
return, has given back, particularly the close friends and relatives whose
prayers, with the endeavours of some very dedicated medics, unearthed a long buried dilemma and returned me to life
in the most miraculous way with a restructured heart to beat a few more beats
to enjoy this day.
The engagement with learnings and knowledge and the impulse to share has been a vocation rather than a career.
The engagement with learnings and knowledge and the impulse to share has been a vocation rather than a career.
Sharing some highlights below and some brief brief preview bits of Ma, from my upcoming autobiography, Life! HoleHeartedly!
To all the amazing women and girls and other peoples who have inspired me and whom I have and hope to inspire; to my sisters who make sure I have food in my stomach while I try to save the world; to my neices who motivate me to aspire to achieve a world of equity balance and inclusion Happy International Day of the Girl Child ...
Celebrating Jamettry: Celebrating Jamettry The Sacred and the Sacriligious
See also: The Walk of Excellence: https://goo.gl/wk4pBx
Migrants Motherlands Mothercultures https://goo.gl/MGrnPQ
Women Power Leadership Inauguration of Trinidad and Tobago's First Female President Paula Mae Weekes.Ma and me
Ma surprises me one day.
I thought the battle was won.
It is no mean feat to decondition centuries of tradition of
the notion that marriage is not the ultimate goal for a woman’s
self-fulfillment but I believe I had convinced Ma. I wasn’t in anyway averse to
the notion. But life gets in the way. So much to do and so little time to do it
in.
The hints and suggestions of appropriate life partners were
becoming less frequent. It was a long
time since I heard her speak of it. Perhaps she has resigned herself, I think.
Then Ma surprises me. We are talking now about my career. It
is difficult to explain. I do not have a career. I do not really have what
people consider a real job. The demands of the NGOs had escalated. It left
little time to visit, to talk. The schedule was getting hectic, one
international NGO meeting after the other
I was beginning to feel the strain. There was little time to earn a living
and there were bills to pay. One December, I was invited to a meeting to design
international policy for Information and Communication Technology in Geneva – a
follow-up meeting to the first WSIS meeting held in Tunisia some years earlier,
to assess the distance travelled in ICTs and the way forward. I had presented
on the need for gender-sensitive ICT policy, with a critique of gender
blindness in ICT policy. Rewind! FastForward, it was entitled.
Fastforward was the name of the national
ICT policy.
My friend Gail turns up to take me to the airport. I was
growing weary of the number of trips she, my friend Yma and Yasmin and Ganesh
made to the airport. I could take a cab, but they wanted to give me a sense of homecoming,
and warm send offs. But it was taking its toll on all of us. Suitcases stepped
over from previous trips to get on the other one. The world thought it was
glamorous, this jetting. I never thought that the air travel was impacting my
yet unknown condition.
Gail finds me sitting, half-dressed, my winter booths next to
me, pensive.
“Come on. You are going to be late!” She bristles, as I
slowly pull on my clothes. She sits me down and pull my boots on.
“I don’t think I should go,” I tell her. “Ma’s not feeling
well.” Ma had just turned 80. I told Gail of my visit with Ma the day before. The
tears in Ma’s eyes when I was leaving, tears that would never flow because she
would not let them. She celebrated the paths of all her children but she wasn’t
feeling well. She was weak. I could tell
that she was beginning to feel that every meeting and departure would be the
last we would see each other. But her tears never flowed, nor mine. I left to
get ready for my trip, but my thoughts were on Ma’s uncomplaining farewell.
“It’s only for a few days. You will be back soon. She will
be okay,” Gail reassures me. She pulls the boots on and zips my luggage. “Come
on, you are going to be late.”
The meeting saw me get locked into the Geneva headquarters
of the United Nations as long after the meeting ended and everyone had left, I
as dealing with emails and responses to things everyone thought was urgent,
losing track of time. As with many of
these meetings, it was one where I hardly saw outdoors. In the winter month of
December, I left the hotel in darkness and returned in darkness, not seeing
much of the outdoors or the place. If I wanted to do that I had to book in extra
time.
There were many family occasions missed too. I felt that my
nephews and nieces knew of me from what they read of and by me. For many years my birthday went uncelebrated or in other lands. In Uganda, coordinatng the outreach for the Women's Affairs Minister's Meeting, the women came together because Hazel Brown insisted that my birthday be noiced with a cake.
In the weeks that I tried to pull together my second book, Through
the Political Glass Ceiling so it could be out before the general
elections. I felt a launch before the elections was crucial, because for me
there were prophetic elements in the introduction, The Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in a Small Island with its inside into intangibles of political ideology that has often been overlooked in political and sociocultural analysesthat generally focus primarily on overt factors with which I wrapped the
chronology of speeches by the woman who was in line to shatter the political
glass ceiling as the first woman Prime Minister. When my family gathered for
Mother’s Day, I had to beg leave. The book had to get to the press; the launch
was in a few days. And a few days after that the elections. Ma understood. She
encouraged me to get it done. I took comfort that she would be at the launch.
How much we take our mothers for granted.
It was after the launch of Through the Political Glass
Ceiling that we are sitting. I had just finished giving her a massage,
with coconut oil, as she liked.
“When you going
settle down, girl?”
Oh dear. The conversation again, I think:
“But I am settled Ma.”
“But who you going to leave your wealth to?”
“What wealth Ma? I asked. Startled. I explained to her that
I generally worked for just stipends to cover daily allowances, and when time
permits, a few contracts that would have to cover the expenses of the months
not formerly working.
“I am doing what I am called to do,” I tell her.
That’s when Ma surprised me.
“Your wealth is your mind. Who you going to pass that on
to?” Ma says.At the grinding stone
‘Everytime I passing
gyul you peesaying masala….’
I discover the world in Ma’s kitchen: the crossroads of new
and ancient Asian, Arabian, African, American European culinary delights. The
scents in Ma’s kitchen are like the convergence of global force winds and
waters at the crosscurrents of the world.
Ma is humming, ‘Everytime
I passing gyul you peesaying masala’ as she presses out ancient family
culinary secrets from the mystical Orient beyond the Middle Passage through
Pacific-Atlantic Spice Routes, rerouted and rerooted. Like tantalising tall
tales of the Arabian Nights they tease my senses out of my comfort zones of
fairytales through Tunisia and Turkey, Venice and Manhattan to discoveries that
will overturn histories and empires and turn pages, heads and square, oval and
round tables of global diplomacy.
Everytime I passing
gyul you peesaying masala, Ma hums.
From the bowls of spices surrounding her, ancient unrecorded
lore transfers an exotic and erotic past from the perfumed gardens of the
ancient new world. Silken curtains swish against each other sinuously and in
sensual whispers seduces me to board closely guarded camel-drawn caravans laden
with dhania, pippali, nutmeg, cloves, maithi, nigella, cinnamon, cardamom,
mace, turmeric, across the deserts from Dravidian civilisations; aboard Persian
carpets of Iran and Iraq; pausing for refueling at the intersection of shipping
ports via the Arabian Sea into the Egypt’s Nile and the courts of Ramses; then
onward through to Mediterranean parts, Turkey, swashbuckling with the Ottomans
to enter Greece, to join Marco Polo through Rome, Venice; and Vasco De Gama
then Magellan in Portugal, and onto Spanish, French, Dutch Europe, and to the
British Empire.
Ma’s humming is
casual, in three notes, the Holy Trinity, a Trident of notes; the beginning,
middle and end as the keys of AUM evoked on a harmonium. Ma’s peesaying is a
havan to the deities of spices and aromas.
Everytime I passing gyul you peesaying
masala….
Ma is a musical
being. I would see that more clearly much later. When we are grown and she as
not as busy tending the house, tending the crops, tending the animals and
tending to us, her love for music is drummed out in dholak-speak. As most of us
have left home spread across the diaspora in the Americas, she entertains
herself recording old Bhojpuri songs of her days of yore, spiced with lyrics
composed of the chutney of her own experiences.
The years shed away.
‘Everytime I passing
gyul you peesaying masala,’ Ma hums.
Like the refrain, it’s an image indelibly impressed on my
mind - Ma’s pressing on spices and herbs. Ma is sitting on her peerhah – a low
bench just about one foot off the floor. She bends over a somewhat flat slab of
stone that sits on the ground to a height of about half a foot, a sill, or
seel, she calls it.
Self-sacrifice and surrender, Ma’s posture inspires
metaphor: at the grinding stone - routine, the daily grind – toil; grind it
out/stick to the grind – persistence, are all in Ma’s body bent over her sill
and lorha, cradling me in her womb, protecting me, murmuring to me the secrets
cures in her spices.
Ma is making her own masala. Ma is the Queen of
masala-making. In one hand, Ma holds the lorha, which, when not in use, sits as
a constant companion on the sill. It is a smooth, somewhat round stone.
The sill and lorha do only Ma’s bidding. Like Sita’s bow
destined only to be broken by her Lord Rama, the sill will not budge later when
I try to move it to sweep away dust and cobweb with my cocoyea broom.
The sill is glossy, as is its lorha, reflecting the stains
of its years of service to spice routes.
Ma is surrounded with portions of her potions of parched
pippali, dania, maithi/fenugreek, geera, dalchini/cinnamon, mace, nutmeg,
cardamon, nigella, ginger, kolonji, turmeric, mustard …
‘Everytime I passing
gyul you peesaying masala,’ Ma hums with her lorha.
The singing invade the twisted veins of my heart and they relax in confort, to hide their secrets for many years to come. Comforted in her womb, I am enveloped in scents sublime.
Like the wafts from the havan pyre as the pundit performs puja, Ma performs her
culinary ritual for harmony of the domestic spheres with a heart full of melody
and a spirit overflowing with song. Household harmony is the Holy Trinity of
three notes pressed out with a sill and lorha for world peace.
Ma’s lorha hums in harmony with the sill:
Peesaying masala, peesaying masala
Everytime I passing gyul you peesaying
masala.
Ma hums, a musical mixture of mystical melodies spiced with
the rhythm of the lorha sliding over the sill. Holding the lorha with one hand,
she scoops up some more grains. The seeds surrender their scents to Ma’s lorha,
like Ma’s posture over the sill, cradling me in her womb. I feel the muscles of
her stomach move around me as she grinds, and I sing with her lorha
Everytime I passing
gyul you peesaying masala
She deftly moves her hand closely up and down the sill,
applying pressure so the bits that are finely ground moves to the upper edge of
the sill, and the coarse bits move back down the end closest to Ma, get a
second roll of her lorha.
Everytime I passing gyul
you peesaying masala, Ma hums, with her lorha.
The emerging strains linger on the senses from the scents,
secrets of spirits escaping from Ma’s spice bowls onto the sill in rhythm to
the lorha, humming, with Ma, this whimsical refrain:
‘Everytime I passing gyul you peesaying
masala.’
‘Everytime I passing gyul you peesaying
masala,’
Clan-destine
confessions
I am a
bastard. The name I carry is not the one I was born with. And I do not refer
only to the truncated byline that accompanies this article.
(That was
the Guardian’s doing. Days into what
would turn out to be a career, not many moons ago, a dashing sub-editor faced
me with the ultimatum of truncating my name or run the risk of not being
credited for my articles. My given name would take up an entire paragraph, and
space was a valuable newspaper asset, he argued, rather convincingly. I
acquiesced. It reincarnated into Kris, his option over Krissy – that one had
come in the late years of primary school, so christened by a teacher from
“town,” fresh out of
For years
I harboured clandestine thoughts that I was a bastard. In times when I wanted
to disown my family, I convinced myself I was orphaned; on better days I
savoured my secret – that I was a love child!
While I
combed her hair, made wavy from decades of plaiting, or massaged her back, I
would smilingly indulge in this little secret I shared with my Ma. She groaned
approvingly every time I massaged an ache out. I dread to think what her real
reaction would have been had I voiced my thoughts…
But it
was not just my imagination running wild. My bastardisation was the doing of
the State.
It began
when I discovered my birth certificate a few weeks before sitting the Common
Entrance examination.
Under the
column “Father’s name” there was a dash. Nothing else. A dash, then blank.
Everyone assumed I was Rampersad because my many, many brothers and sisters
carried one of my father’s names, and when you’re number 10 on the list you
can’t really choose your name, or so they thought. I’d disprove it! Trice!
Though
all my official records made me his, his name was not on the birth certificate.
Instead, that carefully rolled, still crisp but yellowing piece of paper Ma
kept in her secret place stated I was a S.....
Even when
Rampersad went to the Red House in Port-of-Spain to swear I was his, I reserved
the option of being S...j when I wanted. Really, I should be Kris (blank) or
Kris — (dash).
Three
years ago, I again saw S...j’s named on paper. One then long-unknown cousin,
Nelson Ramdeen, was tracing his maternal ancestors and it led him to my mother.
He jotted down all our names, and the names of the children of my siblings, and
the names of ma’s siblings, and their children, and her mother’s name, and her
father’s name: S...j, a grandpa I had never known.
Her
unregistered Hindu marriage to my father not being recognised by law, not even
10 children later, I was stuck with her father’s name, her maiden name, hence
her love child, and my romanticised bastard status.
So
Rampersad is the name that defines my place in a place that didn’t recognise my
parents’ cultural relationships – an oral culture – in a place where the
emphasis is on things written.
Writing
made things real.
In that
way too, Moneah became real.
From
Ramdeen’s research, she popped to life. He traced my mother’s lineage to this
faceless woman, who, for whatever reason, at age 22, from a village in India,
packed her husband, Ramchurn, and her Jahaji bundle; boarded the Hougoumont on
October 13, 1870; braved four months of treacherous, unfamiliar kala pani, to
arrive in Trinidad on February 15, 1871, one day after what would come to be
known as Valentine’s Day.
Thus
began her love affair with Trinidad, which would outlive two husbands, spawn 10
(known) children, some 50 grandchildren (and counting, some blanks still
exist); each of those had on average 40 grandchildren; each of those some 30
grands.
Five
generations later, I need a better capacity for math than I now possess to
calculate Moneah’s contribution to Trinidad and Tobago’s voting and working
population and to the Trinidad diaspora in North America, Asia, Australia,
Europe and the Caribbean, which in a rough estimate is beyond 5,000 human souls
in various places, professions.
(All
except politics, the family jokes, and on the agenda is a motion to disown from
Moneah’s lineage any who enters that profession at the next clan gathering –
the first was 130 years after Moneah’s arrival, so the next might not be until
another century or so.)
Moneah
now lives: In the faces and the mannerisms and quirks of character of the some
3,000 women who can trace a bloodline to her.
From what
I know of some of those women in her lineage, I could see her, on Ramchurn’s
death two and a half years after their landing, pulling her widowed orhini over
her head and shrugging off considerations of becoming Suti and being burned on
a pyre with her husband, a tradition that died in the New World with the dying
embers of the Suti practice. I could hear her saying, “Sati who? Mere nam,
Moneah” (Meh name’s Moneah!).
She would
mourn him properly in the traditionally defined ways, and two years later
consort with our grandsire, Shewpersad, who said farewell to his cows and his
village, boarded the Brechin
Castle December 26, 1874 , to Trinidad and 25 years of Moneah.
Those two
would seed Trinidad soil with cane and
cabbages, pumpkins and pawpaws, and offspring like peas.
Though
only one of her sons, one great grandaughter, and two great, great grandsons
would demonstrably exceed her level of fertility, the average offspring of each
of the descendants over five generations stands around six.
Several
have inherited her genes of outliving husbands.
They
include beef-eating Hindus, pork-eating Muslims, bhajan-singing Christians;
through their veins have flowed T&T’s coconut water and Carib, French wine,
Scottish whisky, Japanese sake, India’s lassi, and whatever other beverages
rage in the places they have settled and spawned their own dynasties – in the
USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and India.
A solid bridge now stretches seven generations – each step boldly
labelled – towards. Because we know her name.
(Adapted from article fist published, Trinidad Guardian,
June 1 2003. Elaborated in upcoming autobiography, Life! HoleHeartedly)
Dr
Kris Rampersad work has spanned the arenas of Education; Literature, the Arts
and Culture; Media Communications and Information; and Gender Equity,
Empowerment and Advancement for access to opportunities from grassroots to high
level agenda setting international arenas. This has enhanced the impact and
ability to envision and advocate for meaningful gender and culture-sensitive
approaches to sustainable development in ways that bridge and span gaps between
and among fields and disciplines from agriculture, culture, industry,
education, governance and ICTs for all ages and across gender divides.
She
functions as an Independent educator, researcher, author, advocate, activist,
advisor, mentor, facilitator and consultant.
Highlights
of Media/Journalism Career: Spans print, television, education and advocacy
across spheres of conventional and new media prnt and production 1988-2018.
v Blog Demokrissy is a widely read by international
think tanks, including the UN community. It won the BBC/UNESCO Communication
Initiative policy development blogging for new media
v Coordinated international media for Summit of the
Americas and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings
v First sitting journalist to complete doctorate. Inspired
many journalist to pursue higher education.
v Articles and columns have occupied and guided public
opinion from editorial pages for some 30 years
v Doctorate on process of literary development and
influences of journalism on award winning writings considered seminal and
ground breaking in its depth and scope that spans 100 years of socio-cultural-political
evolution of Trinidad and Tobago. Published as Finding A Place
v Wrote first book on the first female Prime Minister
of Trinidad and Tobago, Through the
Political Glass Ceiling, released
on the eve of election of 2010 with prophetic insights into premiership of
Kamla Persad Bissessar.
v Third book LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction from
Trinidad and Tobago represents almost everything written in fiction
from Sir Walter Raleigh 1595 to the turn of the 21st century was commemorative
publication of 50th Jubilee Anniversary of Independence;
Presented ground breaking research at first World Summit on Information Society in Tunisia on engendering ICT policy. Has helped develop media, information and communication policy as integrated into achievmeents of Millennium Development goals and Sustainable Development Goals at global levels of agenda setting and policy making of the UN Commonwealth and OAS agencies.
Pioneered research on gender sensitive policy making in areas of Freedom of Information, Access to Information, and other spheres for hemispheric, commonwealth and UN bodies
v Served as Editor of Sunday Guardian and presided
over the transition from broadsheet to tabloid.
v Founding journalist of Newsday – wrote first lead story, ‘5000 Lives Saved, dubbed ‘the
good news reporter’
v Youngest journalist to win BWIA media award for
excellence in journalism. Won in social and economic commentary category for
gender bender article, War of the Sexes
Goes to the Calypso Stage from Discover Trinidad and Tobago series
v Won Pan American Health Organisation Award for
Excellence in Health Reporting
v Top student of diploma course in international journalism
, Rajasthan Patrika Award from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (Scholarship).
v Research and Writer of programmes of Cross Country
for AVM Television (as well as AVM Special Report, Survival (food programme)
Booktalk among others. Cross Country became rated as the number one local
programme that held prime time television spot for its duration and won several
BWIA Media Awards.
v Awarded Nuffield Foundation Fellowship to Wolfson
College, Cambridge
v Awarded fellowship by Foreign Press Centre of Japan
v Commonwealth Professional Fellow
Highlights
of Gender Actions
For almost three decades Dr
Kris Rampersad has been devoted to leveling the playing field for women and
girls in pursuit of:
•Gender equality in the
work place
• The elimination of all
forms of discrimination against women by the promotion of gender equity.
• Legislative and cultural
reform to ensure gender equity.
• Institutional mechanisms
for the advancements of women.
• Economic empowerment by:
overcoming marginalization, oppressive social norms access and rights to
resources;
• Incentive and awards
based initiatives encouraging women to fulfill their potential and
• Education- based
programs, initiatives or personal action that offer and afford women broader
choices & enhanced opportunities
Highlights
of Gender Actions & Achievements
Highlights of such
achievements in pursuit of implementation of the CEDAW recommendations for the elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women and promotion of gender equity include:
1. Research, preparation of the pioneering
comprehensive national report and spearheaded follow up action in the
InterAmerican system to encourage State bodies to implement the CEDAW
convention provisions and recommendations that informed the Summit of the
Americas, Commonwealth and UN processes.
2. Her work in awareness raising and
building capacities to understand gender sensitive policy and legislation to strengthen
the capacity of institutions in addressing gender inequalities as for reform to
the child marriage act, gender sensitive budgeting and engendered political
processes.
3. She coordinated the outreach and advocacy for
the Commonwealth Foundation’s campaign for gender equality for Commonwealth
Women Affairs Ministers Meetings. This fed into the Commonwealth Head of
Government Meetings to build acceptance of the Commonwealth Campaign on the
slogan, ‘Where’s the Money for Gender Equality.’ It spotlighted and propelled
the movement of gender equity beyond rhetoric to actioning developmental
programmes.
4. Her impact on gender equality in the
workplace has been not just in pursuing the rights of colleagues in the
workplace but for across-the-board equity in treatment, equity in promotions
and remunerations; representation of women at higher levels of administration
and decision making.
5. She
has been a strong advocate to removal of discriminatory practices and
revisiting entrenched notions of gender roles within social systems and
cultural practices through her work with traditional and grass roots
communities across the Caribbean.
6. She has herself blazed a trail for women
in the media and has filled several senior level positions as well as being the
first sitting editor to have completed a PhD while in the demanding and
high-stressed environment of the newsroom, as well as in her actions in
supporting women journalists.
7. From the inception of her career as a
journalist Dr Rampersad supported the global mandate for equality of women that
came out of the Beijing Platform for Women, and has a substantial portfolio of
articles, columns as Woman to Woman, interviews, investigations, that tell
women’s personal stories of trials and triumphs, revealing discrepancies and
imbalances from data, highlighting the plight of the underprivileged,
unearthing inequalities in national life, in the homes and in the work place,
and the campaign against domestic violence.
8. She has also been actively involved in supporting
and encouraging women’s development from community to international policy
arenas.
9. Her writings, from profiles of
achievements to policy critiques have encouraging women in public , civic and
entrepreneurial arenas, utilizing all her roles to this end.
10. She has initiated and developed a number
of awards for women.
i.
As
editor she partnered with the United Nations, corporate community, NGOs and
others to spearhead the Woman of the Year Award. S
ii.
She
conceptualized and piloted to national and international acceptance the
Commonwealth Caribbean ‘Women Agents of Change’ Award, which was the forerunner
to introduction of the Medals for Women in Trinidad and Tobago.
iii.
She
identified women to be recognized among others for the Trinidad and Tobago
Publishers’ and Broadcasting Association Awards for Media Excellence.
11. She created & produced television
documentary as the series That is Woman that features leading
women figures in national life to showcase women’s achievements and have them
tell their stories in their own words, and researched and scripted many other
stories of women for radio, television and print.
12. For the most part of the last fifteen
years she has been the spokesperson on women’s issues and gender parity,
shaping and supporting the work of local and international Networks for gender
equity and the advancement of Women of Trinidad and Tobago.
13. As an educator, she also trained women in
gender sensitive approaches to policy making, understanding and engaging with
media.
14. Among organisations that have benefitted
from her input are UN Women/UNIFEM; UNESCO dedicated programme actions on its
priority focus on women, the Caribbean
Institute for Women and the Commonwealth Women’s Organisation; CIVICUS – World
Assembly for People’s Participation.
15. She was researcher and lead spokesperson
for gender equality for the OAS Active Democracy Network in the build up to and
through the Fifth Summit of the Americas and presented pioneering research on
gender sensitive approaches to changing development policy agenda in areas of
Freedom of Expression, Access to Information .
16. At national level, she articulated to
build awareness as the Outreach and International
Relations Director of the
Network of NGOs for Women and articulated the vision around the Put A Woman
Campaign of the Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women, which drew from
the UN resolutions for gender parity in national decision making. It included
the slogan, A Woman’s Place is in the House – Of Parliament, that saw the
.drive for fulfilment of the quota of women in Parliament along with women in
the positions of Speaker of the House and President of the Senate. The same
campaign also supported the ascension into office of the First Female Prime
Minister and first Female President of Trinidad and Tobago in one decade.
17. She wrote the pioneering book, Through
the Political Glass Ceiling, that along with mapping the journey of the First
Female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago through her speeches also includes
revisionary research, study and analysis of the national politics of the day
through gender and cultural sensitive lenses that has become a text for gender
studies and analyses. This has become an important global text in appreciating
the challenges of women in ascension public office.
18. These contributions spilled over to her
functions in other arenas. As the Co-Chair of the UNESCO Executive Board’s
Public and External Relations Commission responsible for programme actions she
drove and supported international actions and motions to strengthen UNESCO’s
priority focus on women and gender equality as well as in championing rights of
journalists and others and for injecting gender sensitive approaches to
decision making in culture, education, information and other spheres.
19. She was herself acknowledged and featured in
Hazel Ward Redman’s celebratory series as CentreStage and Woman of Substance
and has been featured in articles as Express Woman, ‘Helping Dreamers Dream’
and Newsday Woman’s Weekly as Changing the World With Ideas.
20. She has mentored many at national and
international levels
Pioneering
Work
Dr Kris Rampersad's work is
pioneering in relation to her research and fearless and courageous and selfless
advocacy and actions in the face of tremendous odds and challenges of a small
island society. She has enhanced the image of Trinidad and Tobago and women
both in the national arena and abroad as a
flagbearer of national development interests through all her endeavours
as journalist, editor, advocate, educator, development specialist.
Through her work and in
networking with others she has actively created and improved the availability
and accessibility of spaces for women in the public sphere and has helped
spotlight challenges and streamline the focus on perceptions of their roles and
functions in the private/domestic spheres.
Her groundbreaking research
offer new insight into national phenomenon within local and international
contexts to enlighten approaches to agenda setting, policy and decision making
encompassing research, production, advocacy, institutional capacity building
and enhancement through to face to face and hands on leadership and youth
development initiatives in education and awareness and skills building for
women and girls.
Her life and work putting
service before self, often at little or no remuneration and at the expense of
her health and a life threatening medical condition, she has given up many
personal and professional comforts and security in her efforts at creating
opportunities and advancement of women
Through her passion,
energy, devotion, and commitment to actions for meaningful change, she has
inspired women and girls of all ages and across national to international
spectrums as an inspiration to women educators, women leaders, women in the
media and in the sphere of arts and culture.
Awards/Recognitions
& Service
Education
St Julien Presbyterian School New Grant Princes Town - Primary School:
St Stephen’s College, Princes Town - Secondary School:
PhD in Literatures in
English University of the West Indies
BA Literatures in English,
sociology, politics, University of the
West Indies
Diploma in Mass
Communication - Indian Institute of Mass Communication, India and its highest
award Rajasthan Patrika Award;
Fellow, Wolfson College,
University of Cambridge UK (globalisation);
Commonwealth Professional
Fellowship
Participated and benefitted
from numerous courses, lectures, workshops in
multimedia, information technologies, leadership, management, computing,
managing diversity, and conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage.
Scholarships and
Fellowships:
Wolfson (Journalism)
College, University of Cambridge UK;
Foreign Press Centre of
Japan (journalism fellowship);
Association of Commonwealth
Universities, Professional Fellowship;
UWI Post Graduate
Scholarship;
Awards &
Commendations:
Ø
Trinidad
and Tobago Luminary Award 2015/2016
Ø
Winner
Development Policy Blogs on New Media (BBC Trust/UNESCO Communication
Initiative); 2011
Ø
Award for Excellence in Health Reporting 1994 (World Health
Organisation/Pan American Health Organisation)
Ø
Award for Excellence in Journalism (BWIA) 1987;
Ø
Moms for Literacy Award for Literary Achievement
Ø
International Who’s Who in Cultural Policy Research (ConnectCP)
Ø
Award for Contribution to Literature and Culture; (Global Organisation
of Peoples of Indian Origin)
Ø
Rajasthan Patrika Most Outstanding Student Award (Indian Institute of
Mass Communication)
Ø
British High Commission Award for English Literature
Ø
UWI Award Student Awards.
Organisation Affiliations – International/National
Ø Founding Adviser,
International Institute for Gastronomy, Culture, Arts & Tourism
Ø Founding Member, U40
Coalition on Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expressions
Ø Founding Member,
Scientific Committee, International Culture University
Served on numerous committees and boards,
including
Ø UNESCO General Assembly,
Chair Education Commission
Ø UNESCO Executive Board,
co-chair Programmes and External Relations Commission, member of Special
Committee
Ø Chair, National Museum and Art Gallery;
Ø Chair, National
Commission for UNESCO of Trinidad and Tobago
Ø Member Trinidad and
Tobago Government Expert Panel on Arts and Culture Member, Trinidad and Tobago
Registry of Cultural Workers Committee
Ø Member, Trinidad and
Tobago Heritage Tourism Committee
Ø Founder,/Coordinator
Awards for Agricultural Journalism
Ø Founding member, Friends of Mr Biswas – St
James House for Mr Biswas
Ø Founder/Coordinator,
Trinidad Theatre Workshop Fund for Literature, Drama, Film
Ø Outreach & International
Relations Director, Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement
of Women
Other
Career Highlights
International Development Educator, Lecturer, Facilitator, Consultant: 21
years
MultiMediaMedia/Journalism: 30 years: editor, manager, investigative
reporter, script and storyboard writer, producer/publisher in print, electronic
and new media
Author: Finding A Place (Ian Randle Publishers, 2001); Through the
Political Glass Ceiling; LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and
Tobago
AudioVisual Producer/Director/Writer/Researcher:20 years
Academia - lecturing at tertiary level formal, non-formal and informal
sectors, course design, development and evaluation - 22 years
Some 30 years’ experience in developing formal and informal education
sectors as a researcher, writer, educator, outreach and communication
specialist and analyst of culture, migration, rural and urban development,
diversity, multiculturalism and related areas of cross sectoral sustainable
development;
Holds a PhD in Literatures in English. Doctoral theses examined issues of
globalization, migration processes of adaptation and society-formation drawing
from global-local knowledge and experiences of media and literary development
of a small island state.
Have written and published extensively on themes of identity, migration,
adaptation, urbanisation, and rural development in contexts of youth, gender,
trade, crime, ecology, education and other topics;
Numerous peer reviewed articles
and conference presentations, including three books that approach the issues of
migration and social adaptations from various angles: journalism/information
and communication (Finding a Place, Ian Randle Publications, 2002); gender
appreciation (Through the Political Glass Ceiling - Race to Prime Ministership
by Trinidad and Tobago’s First Female Kamla Persad Bissessar (2010) and popular
culture (LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and Tobago (2012);
Educator/Train
the Trainers & Capacity Building :
a: UNESCO: Training of Caribbean Stakeholders in diversity appreciation,
activating Cultural Heritage and Creative Sectors: Belize, Trinidad and Tobago,
Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Grenada, St Kitts/Nevis. UNESCO..
b. Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).
Training of Caribbean Agriculturalists in Outreach, Education and Development
of Academic Journals and Publications:
c. National Institute of Higher Education Research, Science and
Technology (NIHERST): Development of Outreach Initiatives for Science
Popularisation:
d. Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership: Develop Course Materials
and Train Caribbean Women Leaders in Gender Sensitivity, Diversity
Appreciation, Engagement & Outreach:
Guyana, Antigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada
e. The College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and
Tobago (COSTAATT): Development and
Delivery of Journalism and Literature Courses
f. Part Time Lecturer: Literatures in English; Foundational Courses;
Literature and Caribbean Society: University of the West Indies.
g. External Supervisor, MSc Thesis Cultural Diversity Management:
Institutional Reform
h. External Thesis Editor/Publication Adviser
i. Guest Lecturer: Literature, Culture, Media, Civic Empowerment for
Sustainable Development, University of Catalona, Barcelona, Spain
Career
Highlights: Education & Culture:
Educational Policy Development: Formal and Informal Education,
Literature, Media Outreach, Lifelong Learning and Global Citizenship Education:
a. Capacity development for cultural and civil society communities across
the Americas Successful trained stakeholders of all three Caribbean Small
Island Developing States which achieved World Heritage status over the last
five years (Antigua and Barbuda, 2016; Jamaica, 2015, Barbados, 2011 prior to
this last inscription was in 1998).
b. Pioneered several
international level policies through UNESCO/other international agencies for
relevant actions for integrated and transboundary approaches to positively
impact the Sustainable Development Agenda and integrate culture in development,
promote global citizenship, rationally explore issues of migration and
adaptation.
c. Devised models for
multisectoral media and cultural outreach including one adopted from a model
developed for the Caribbean for ACP-EU Seminar on Media and Agriculture,
Brussels;
d. Development of the blue print of the action plan being used English
speaking Caribbean countries for implementation of UNESCO Conventions; culling
appreciation and development of incentive and award schemes; integrating
developmental approaches across sectors and national boundaries and developing
transboundary connections.
e. More than 15 years’ hands
on experience in development and implementing policy programmes and actions in
the global to local cultural heritage and creative industries spheres in UN
agencies, UNESCO, OAS, ACP-EU, Commonwealth and civil society glocal
organisations;
f. Keenly committed to
working on realization of the sustainable development agenda, even beyond its
stated goals to proactive engagement of culture-centred development for equity
and fairness in all spheres and have participated in its development globally
& locally;
g. Lifelong experiences of
NGO work and community level experience in cultural development and have both
culled international policy and worked on implementing such areas as Creative
Cities, World Heritage, Intangible Heritage, Diversity of Cultural Expressions,
Creative Industries, Copyrights, Trade and Development; Slave, Silk and Indentured Indian Immigrant
Routes, Memory of the World, Rural and Urban cultural development, policy and
legislative reform, civil society, youth and gender participation, empowerment
and equity
Career
Highlights: Journalism, Media, Information and Communication
j. More than 30 years as a
communicator and journalist and about a decade as producer and publisher in
multimedia forms exploring comparative cross-cultural and issues;
k. Extensive experience in
research, writing for multimedia forms
and presentation of messages on
migration, diversity, inclusion for sustainable development, with
intimate knowledge of most of international policy instruments in these regards
and devising, developing, implementing and evaluating policies and strategies,
advice and technical support, managing the process and content, transactions
and operations in these areas and combined experiences in Management, having
been a staff manager of a major media house before an independent career in
cultural project management and policy development in the cultural and allied
spheres of education and communications
l. Extensive experience in
networking and collaborations both internally and externally, across
boundaries, sectors, stakeholder interests, institutions and agencies with
considerable successes in devising and developing networks around cultural
matters, working with the diplomatic community, embassies, intergovernmental
agencies, regional and international organizations, the European Commission and
the European Council, Organisation of American States, Commonwealth Secretariat
and commonwealth Foundation, InterAmerican Institutions and other organisations
of the UN system, and Africa, Caribbean
and Pacific Regions.
Find Dr Kris Rampersad on
Social Media as:
KrisRampersad:
LinkedIn/Instagram/YouTube/PInterest/
KrisRampersad1: Facebook;
@krisramp – Twitter;
Blog Demokrissy –
www.krisrampersad.blogspot.com
Related
Links:
The Funeral Scores. Sir Vidia Naipaul
final farewell in a fanfare of Naipaulian fictive irony https://goo.gl/NQibgR
My Collision with Stephen Hawkins: https://goo.gl/Fx47Ak
Authors
Tete-aTete Dr Kris Rampersad and Sir VS Naipaul https://goo.gl/gU11Jv
TheMagic and Realism of gabrial
Garcia Marquez RIP https://goo.gl/s7y2oc
Earth Quake Earthquake
One LiTTle bookshop:
LiTTscapes and the Nobel Laureate https://goo.gl/cpvr2T
Launch LiTTribute: https://goo.gl/g1mmED
Prophesy
A.Bourdain and Aboud. Port of Spain and Lebanon : https://goo.gl/zwtyWq
Devil’s WoodYard,
Earthquake Aug 2018 https://goo.gl/myXCAQ
Gender Bender Mia Mottley takes political helm in Barbados
https://goo.gl/xL3DEd
Murder and the Museum: http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
my-discoverie-columbus-lost-and-found https://goo.gl/ixGu7y
Pat-bishops-last-struggle-killings https://goo.gl/tQUySt
Them-red-house-bones
Murder and the
Museum http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
The Triumph of Gollum in the Land of Shut Up Suicide of the
Fellowship of Partnerships Book 11. A Sequel Futuring the Agenda Forward https://goo.gl/HU3rp3
Celebrating Jamettry The Sacred and the Sacriligious
Yo Ho ho and a bottle of rumhttps://goo.gl/TvXOHU
Changing the World with Ideas goo.gl/Pa6jAk
Lagahoo-tribute-to-independent-spirits
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/creating-revolution-through-knowledge.html
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-world-inspired-littscapes-turns-3.html https://goo.gl/J1EFn5
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com
/from-beirut-to-port-of-spain-how-west.html
The-price-of-passion-awards-and-rewards
Exploring a World Through MultiCultural Lenses
https://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/07/dr-kris-rampersad-exploring-world.html
my-date-with-narendra-modi-dat-merkel
affair
Things-that-make-me-go-steups-stars
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2016/12/things-that-make-me-go-steups-stars.html
The Walcott Files
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO Creative Cities
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO Creative Cities
Murder She Wrote: Death Written in
Stone in Dana Seetahal Assassination
Creating Centres of Peace in Trinidad and Tobago
The Price of Independence:#DanaSeetahalAssassination
Conceive. Achieve. Believe
Demokrissy: Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's ...
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Others: Demokrissy: Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 ...
Apr 07, 2013
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013
Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2.
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's New ...
Oct 20, 2013
Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an ... Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 10:36 AM ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Carnivalising the Constitution People Power ...
Feb 26, 2014
This Demokrissy series, The Emperor's New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Envisioning outside-the-island-box ... - Demokrissy - Blogger
Feb 10, 2014
This Demokrissy series, The Emperor's New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Futuring the Post-2015 UNESCO Agenda
Apr 22, 2014
It is placing increasing pressure for erasure of barriers of geography, age, ethnicity, gender, cultures and other sectoral interests, and in utilising the tools placed at our disposal to access our accumulate knowledge and technologies towards eroding these superficial barriers. In this context, we believe that the work of UNESCO remains significant and relevant and that UNESCO is indeed the institution best positioned to consolidate the ..... The Emperor's New Tools ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Cutting edge journalism
Jun 15, 2010
The Emperor's New Tools. Loading... AddThis. Bookmark and Share. Loading... Follow by Email. About Me. My Photo · Kris Rampersad. Media, Cultural and Literary Consultant, Facilitator, Educator and Practitioner. View my ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Creating Centres of Peace in Trinidad and Tobago
The Price of Independence:#DanaSeetahalAssassination
Conceive. Achieve. Believe
Demokrissy: Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's ...
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Others: Demokrissy: Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 ...
Apr 07, 2013
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013
Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2.
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's New ...
Oct 20, 2013
Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an ... Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 10:36 AM ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Carnivalising the Constitution People Power ...
Feb 26, 2014
This Demokrissy series, The Emperor's New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Envisioning outside-the-island-box ... - Demokrissy - Blogger
Feb 10, 2014
This Demokrissy series, The Emperor's New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Futuring the Post-2015 UNESCO Agenda
Apr 22, 2014
It is placing increasing pressure for erasure of barriers of geography, age, ethnicity, gender, cultures and other sectoral interests, and in utilising the tools placed at our disposal to access our accumulate knowledge and technologies towards eroding these superficial barriers. In this context, we believe that the work of UNESCO remains significant and relevant and that UNESCO is indeed the institution best positioned to consolidate the ..... The Emperor's New Tools ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Cutting edge journalism
Jun 15, 2010
The Emperor's New Tools. Loading... AddThis. Bookmark and Share. Loading... Follow by Email. About Me. My Photo · Kris Rampersad. Media, Cultural and Literary Consultant, Facilitator, Educator and Practitioner. View my ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
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