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Calypso Music and our Caribbean Identity

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Calypso Music and our Caribbean Identity

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Earlier this year, our veteran Calypsonian Calypso Rose has won the World Album of the Year award at the Victoire de la Musique award ceremony in France. This award is considered the French equivalent of a Grammy award.  While accepting her award, the musician thanked the government of T&T and all her fans, saying "They have kept me going with the beautiful music and the vibrations I give them." (Trinidad Guardian Article. February 10, 2017). This has been truly a great accomplishment for Ms. Rose, and others like her, who have put Caribbean music on the international map and made people more aware of the treasures that lies in Caribbean people. Some people who lives in what we considered “First World” countries have never heard of Trinidad & Tobago or anywhere in the Caribbean, however through our artist accomplishments and putting us on the map it has made people more aware of the Caribbean and interested in Caribbean Culture and our identity. As a parent, it is my role to continue to share stories like these with my kids and the younger generation, so they can embrace their own culture and be proud of whom we are in the Caribbean.

Reference

Calypso Rose wins World Music Award in France. Trinidad Guardian, article published on February 10, 2017. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2017-02-10/calypso-rose-wins-world-music-award-france

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Caribbean Civilization within my Geographical Location/My Workplace

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Caribbean Civilization within my Geographical Location/My Workplace

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In 2008, an announcement was made by the Executives of one of the largest financial institutions within the Caribbean, was being sold to a top Financial Institutions in the North American region (due to privacy reasons within my workplace I would not reveal the names of the banks) and as an employee of the local bank, I felt a bit of uncertainty, as I was not sure what to expect. One of the first bits of changes made, that we as staff were accustomed to, was celebrating all the different religion holidays. For every upcoming religious holiday, the branches would usually celebrate by decorating their respective locations and giving the clients “tokens”.  This is not a practice done by our new leaders, as part of being diversed, emphasis is not placed on any one religion and over the years other initiatives have been adopted from our new “Employers”.

In the public domain, we are definitely considered as a Northern Caribbean bank and not Caribbean.                      Since I’ve started doing the course, one of the things I’ve often pondered about was how can I keep my Caribbean Culture alive, while most of our decision makers in my workplace are not Caribbean people? One of the ways I think we can achieve this and bring back that “Caribbean flavor” is by playing only local music in our banking halls. Our Local Music is part of our identity, which functions as a voice of the local community and once the clients can relate to something “local” while in our branches, they would feel more at home.

Reference

FOUN 1101, Unit 8 Readings. Caribbean Cultural Expression: Festivals, Music and Sports. Retrieved from

http://201620.tle.courses.open.uwi.edu/pluginfile.php/60267/mod_resource/content/3/FOUN1101%20Unit%208.pdf

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Caribbean Festivals (Reflection)

Trinidad and Tobago Carnival

History of Carnival
Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago are celebrated just before the start of the Lenten Season. The French developed their version o Carnival from 1783 which lasted for half a century and was noted as a season of carefree, elegant festivities. The festivities took place from Christmas to Ash Wednesday and consisted of dinners, balls, concerts and hunting parties.
Then from 1833 the Africans started started to participate iafter the Emancipation Bill was passed. The Africans brought Canboulay (Jouvert) to its festivities which was originally played on Emancipation Day (August 1)  but then took place after midnight on Dimanche Gras, the Sunday before Carnival. In 1943, after some protesting Carnival was restricted to Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
Carnival in TT is celebrated by most religious and social groups. it is that one time that the people all over the country come together to enjoy the festivities. It has also bring the Caribbean people together as we have representatives from each island, taking part in the calypso/soca competition.
We also have people from all the different islands travelling to Trinidad to part-take in the Carnival celebrations.

References

History of Carnival and its Elements.   Retrieved from National Carnival Commission of Trinidad and Tobago website .http://www.ncctt.org/new/index.php/carnival-history/history-of-carnival.html

Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Orange_Carnival_Masqueraders_in_Trinidad.jpg

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Understanding a Problem of Regional Importance - The Implementation of the Online Purchase Tax in TT

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Understanding a Problem of Regional Importance - The Implementation of the Online Purchase Tax in TT

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On October 19, 2016, a new Online Purchase Tax of 7% has been implemented in Trinidad & Tobago when citizens purchased particular items such a clothing, shoes, gadgets etc online.  The current government found it necessary to implement this tax “as a drive to manage currency outflows due to online shopping and to assist local manufacturers and service providers in their trade. The levy is also meant to generate an increase in revenue for the country”. (Daily Express dated October 20, 2016)

As stated in my Learning Activity 6.3, Fashion was one of the things that influenced the US Imperialism in the Caribbean, especially in Trinidad and while the government has found out it necessary to implement this charge to encourage people to “buy local” there are a number of factors why people prefer to “shop online”. Some reasons are:

·        Not only that it can be easy accessible by the click of the button on your computer but the prices are much cheaper than what our local stores would charge you for the same item, as the mark up is sometimes more than 100%

·        There is also a wider variety that the shopper can choose from rather than purchasing limited styles in our stores.

·        Some people are of the belief that foreign goods are far more superior in quality than local goods.

However, while some people have curbed their spending, there was no major decrease in online shopping, as one colleague said to me “I am still paying less if I purchase the item online”.

Reference

Online buying tax in effect from yesterday. Published on Oct 20, 2016. Daily Express. Retrieved from http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20161020/news/online-buying-tax-in-effect-from-yesterday

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Examining US Imperialism

Three ways in which the Caribbean identity is shaped by US imperialism to this day are:

Fashion - Most of the top US fashion brands such as Nike, Levis, Forever 21 and Michael Kors to name a few are easily accessible to Caribbean people as retail store dealers usually travels abroad and purchase these brands to be resold in their stores. Also, online shopping has become a very popular method of shopping in the Caribbean where people can easily go on to the website for the brand, purchase their item using a credit card or visa debit card and then ship the item at a cost to any place of their choice.

Music - Music of the United States such as pop , hip hop and R&B are very popular amongst the youth in the Caribbean.  In Trinidad this music is played on our local radio stations more often than our "Caribbean music". Also, Cable TV is very influential in the type of music heard on televisions.

Movies- "Going to the movies" or "watching a movie" is a regular form of entertainment in the Caribbean and since most movies are made in the US and supported by US actors this shapes our Caribbean Identity as Fashion ideas are also derived from watching movies.

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Reflection - Who am I?

Who am I? Am I different to others? What makes me so unique? These are questions I always asked myself and as I reflect through my journey and the learning in this course, I go through what gives me a different identity.
Theorist Benedict Anderson (1999) argues that people identity is defined and continues to constructed by their group of interests, such as Education, Race, Politics, History, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Geographic origin and Economic Activity. (FOUN 1101, Unit 6). The four of the reasons I think give me a different identity are:

Gender – Ana Kari from the World Health Organization defines Gender as “to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men”. Women are often seen as the “gentler” or “softer” as our genetics are subtler than men which sometimes cause us to be referred as weak. Even though we are “weaker” than men, we play a vital role in the family. Women in the Caribbean are still seen as the caretaker of the home, the one in the family to take charge of the household chores even as we see more women holding very senior positions in companies, organizations and government structures.

Geographic Location – Part of our identity is also where “we come from” as we have seen people who lives in the same area share similar characteristics defined by race and they share similar objectives defined by similar economic status. I was born and raised in the Western part of Trinidad, which is considered the urban part of the islands. People often refer to us as "west people" or "town girl' which also has a stigma that come with it.

Race – One of the definitions in Merriam Webster for race is “a class of people unified by shared interests, habits or characteristics”. I believe race plays an important role in my identity as this is how we see ourselves within the world and relationships are not only through our unique characteristics (the way we look) but also by similar interests. F

Education – This plays an important role in our identity because our decisions, future successes and life goals are all formed by the information gained through our Education. Presently I am pursuing a BSc in Psychology which has been part of a life goal for me

References
Ana Kari/WHO. Gender, equity and human rights. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/

Foun 1101, Unit 6 Readings. Caribbean Identity: Defining a Caribbean Self. Retrieved from http://201620.tle.courses.open.uwi.edu/pluginfile.php/60257/mod_resource/content/3/FOUN1101%20Unit%206%20Version%201.pdf

Merriam Webster dictionary, (n.d) Race. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/race