New Opportunities for Caribbean Cuisine Tourism Agriculture

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

For more details go to: https://krisrampersad.com/caribbean-opportunity-to-join-world-regions-of-gastronomy/

Treating with Columbus and the Colonial Legacy of Heritage Trauma

Dear Mayor, and noble and other honourable citizens of the colourless world

I see there is a call for suggestions on how to treat with the colonial legacy and monuments - which must be close to the millionth such call to which I have responded. But now aware that there will be no action along the lines that I have used, tried and tested with other similarly trauma-inflicted communities of our region, I am not even tempted to point out that most times I feel like I have been talking to stone or that we only reaping the whirlwind that will continue to gather strength as we add fury to savagery, I propose the following as a preliminary list for your immediate action to assuage the bloodthirsty masses. I am sure these would meet with nods and applause of approval from noted historians, educators, leaders, opinion leaders and the like from whom you seek counsel. This list is to exorcise the ghosts roaming Port of Spain, while I compile the much larger list for exorcism across the country, and beyond, Dear Mayor. I come, you see, Mr Mayor, to not praise, but bury Columbus, along with the colonial legacy embedded in our psyche, landscapes and institutions and monuments of memory.
More at: https://krisrampersad.com/exorcising-historical-trauma-black-white-of-monuments-memory/

Related: https://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/07/my-discoverie-columbus-lost-and-found.html

Institutionalised Inequities on the Internet Dear Google....

An open letter to Google on knowledge equity through the internet in the Googleverse - partnering for paving a pathway and a level playing platform in the Post Pandemic Planet

Dear Google,

Thank you so very much for the beautifully illuminated GOOGLE candles that greeted me when I opened my favourite internet browser on my birthday....

As I huffed and puffed and tried to blow out them there virtual candles, Dear Google, I wished that in your great reach and might across this universe, that the same privileges and courtesies that you extend to select parts of the world, could be evenly spread, in other less significant and less recognized parts, like these from whence I am....

You see, while I have touted the tremendous potential and opportunities of the internet and new media and social media in leveling the playing field to equalize opportunities and create an equitable platform for all, that is yet to be realised, Dear Google.

See full letter:

https://krisrampersad.com/dear-google-my-birthday-wish-for-knowledge-equity/

The Learning Revolution: MultipleChoice in a MultiCultural Place 1845-20...

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.

Youth Elderly Post Pandemic Planet Resistance Project

Youth 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

The GloCal FEDs COVID (SARS-COV2) Challenge #1 Collect

Building family and community resilience and resistance to the Novel Corona Virus, this challenge empowers all into self sufficiency and to become relevant and essential into rebuilding homes, communities, social, cultural, economic and political institutions and recreating the planet into the World We Want. Visit the GloCal Knowledge Pot for tips, tools and templates on what to collect. Quarantine and Social Distancing Safe activities for all ages, all interests, all families and communities, on and offline. Reintegrate into the human family. Peer reviewed by National Geographic Educators. More at www.krisrampersad.com.

Bridging the Distance in Social Distancing

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

Kris Rampersad Speaks about Caribbean Cultural Assets

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

For full article, see http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-23584–16-16–.htmlKris Rampersad Speaks about Caribbean Cultural Assets – Repeating Islands

UNESCO actions and funding under scrutiny, says Trinidad representative - Caribbean News Now

UNESCO actions and funding under scrutiny, says Trinidad representative

September 28, 2015

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Dr Kris Rampersad

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.

UNESCO actions and funding under scrutiny, says Trinidad representative - Caribbean News Now

https://zizonline.com/unesco-actions-and-funding-under-scrutiny-says-trinidad-representative/

With BBC gone, who goin' take over town?

As the troops pull out, the triumphant shot of ownership, according to The Mighty Sparrow, was heard by the locals .....set against the lament when the BBC pull out ... revisiting this insightful exploration of post colonial mentality ....

The hue and cry from online and others readers, citizen journalists and media and other practitioners in the region over the BBC’s announcement of the forthcoming closure of its Caribbean radio news service is puzzling, and admittedly too, a wee bit amusing.   
Read More. Go to this link