I am Nesha Ramnanansingh – 316102767

I am from the beautiful islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

I am pursuing the BSc in Social Work

 

 

 My expectations for this course were to learn and gain deep insight about the history of the Caribbean and how it developed and how the past has influenced my life and my culture. 

 

 1st THOUGHTS:

My 1st thoughts about this course were that I would be able to learn about history, my heritage and culture. History is fascinating, and this is a whole new perspective, therefore I am ready to learn and have an open mind. Tracing back to the days of my ancestor, also African slavery and the hardship they had to endure, I would be able to have insight into the way they paved and the history that was created because of them. 

 

Challenges faced was more of a personal one where finding time and a balance between family, work, social life and three courses were quite difficult. Also, even though the course was a very interesting one, it was too fast paced for me. As the information was relatively new, grasping and remembering all these concepts was challenging. In addition to that, I found the delivery of some of the BBC sessions were not clear at times. The accent of different lecturers was also difficult to comprehend and that made understanding difficult. It took extra time and effort to replay recordings just to have a clearer understanding of what was said. 

 

·         Time management and support system is vital for me to ensure successful completion of the course.

·         I allocated time for additional reading and personal research 

 

·         I included others in my learning, who were able to help clarify and help me understand

 

I thought that this course was really interesting and informative. It opened my mind to so much information that pertains to history and the past civilizations. The modules and content were well detailed and was well related by Dr. Campbell. I have deep appreciation for our ancestors and different settlers who created this history that has provoked my interest to want to learn more. It is unbelievable that I was only introduced to this course in tertiary education. This course should be introduced at secondary level education so others can be aware of what our history entails at an earlier age.

 

 

This course has equipped me with a great wealth of knowledge. I now have a better understanding of the history of the Caribbean. How the different settlers came and defined the Caribbean region with their cultures and norms. Also, along with the different historical event the entire concept of slavery, and how all this have contributed to the history and the Caribbean’s identity.

·         Sara Bol- Group Leader from Belize

·         Rajvi Ramdass from Trinidad and Tobago

·         Shaquille Allen from St Vincent and the Grenadines

·         Lisa Brereton from Trinidad and Tobago

·         Cletus Austin from Saint Lucia

·         Jerene Clyne from Trinidad and Tobago

·         Nesha Ramnanansingh from Trinidad and Tobago

 

Caribbean Civilization is a riveting and intriguing course. Our respective expectations were high for this course as we were directed towards acquiring deep insight about the history of the Caribbean. The way in which past societies lived and how they adapted to their environment. Also, the manner in which the past had influences our lives and how it affected our society and the world at large. Our interests were also aimed at how our cultures developed and the history of our ancestral background and how it defines us as individuals today. 

My name is Jerene Clyne. UWI ID # 315100854 and I live on the beautiful twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago. I am pursuing my Bsc in Social Work. I am a mother of twin boys aged ten. They are very active and demand plenty of my time. I have also been employed at Servol for the past 9+ years. My involvement in this organization has increased my self-awareness and personal development. This is when I realized my desire to further my education. And here I am!

2.       Expectations –

 My expectations for this course are quite simple. Notwithstanding the fact that challenges will arise, I intend to do my best to be successful at the end of this course. I also expect that being that this is an online course and most if not all the students are working adults that we be given the support from our tutors and each other. I also expect that we work together as a team by communicating effectively with each other be it staff or students. I expect this semester to be a great one and that the information which we receive would be shared with others.

3.       1st thoughts on the course – 

When I first started this course Caribbean Civilization, I thought to myself ooh great ‘History’. I had never done a history course before and I was happy to be able to do it at the university level.  When the course actually began, Dr Campbell assured us that this course was nothing like what we were taught. He also assured us that what we would be exposed to is the truth, factual information which was researched.  

 

4.       Challenges faced – 

This semester has been a rocky one for me. My computer died and I had to replace it with another. There was a death of my uncle to the downside of the organization which I am working for (others and myself still don’t know our fate). Balancing school, full time work and being a single parent has been the most challenging for me. My boys are 10 and soon they would be doing the SEA exam. I feel that it would be unfair for me to focus on my studies and neglect them so I had to make time to assist them with their assignments. Lack of sleep – sleep is important because part of my duties entail accounting and that takes focus. Errors are not to me made.

5.       Strategies for overcoming challenges – 

I have thought about these challenges for the longest time. Definitely I cannot ignore my responsibilities so I thought long and hard about a strategy to overcome my challenges. The only thing I could come up with is time management. I need to create a schedule and I also need learn the art of improvising when certain objectives cannot be met. I also need to include in that schedule time for recreation and family or else I would feel like I am going crazy.

6.       Assessment and Recommendations of the course – 

This course Caribbean Civilization is quite a good course. I think that the information should be distributed throughout the various academic levels and not just university so that all can be enlightened.

7.       Conclusion – 

This course was well structured by Dr. I especially enjoyed the music videos and the beginning and end of classes. My interest in Caribbean Civilization has heightened since partaking in this course. Being exposed to the realness of what actually took place and not what was thought in The books suggested by Dr. Campbell seem like a really good real and I intend to purchase them for my book collection. I would like to thank the members of my group ‘the A Team’ for all their hard work and support.

·         Sara Bol- Group Leader from Belize

·         Rajiv Ramdass from Trinidad and Tobago

·         Shaquille Allen from St Vincent and the Grenadines

·         Lisa Brereton from Trinidad and Tobago

·         Cletus Austin from Saint Lucia

·         Jerene Clyne from Trinidad and Tobago

·         Nesha Ramnanansingh from Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean Civilization is a riveting and intriguing course. Our respective expectations were high for this course as we were directed towards acquiring deep insight about the history of the Caribbean. The way in which past societies lived and how they adapted to their environment. Also, the manner in which the past had influences our lives and how it affected our society and the world at large. Our interests were also aimed at how our cultures developed and the history of our ancestral background and how it defines us as individuals today. 

At the start of this course, the thoughts of how it would be were mixed. These thoughts ranged from thinking that it would have been simply another history course; a repetition of what, as Caribbean students, we had already learned about slavery, migration and colonization, to being excited as to the new information that it would bring. For some members of the A-Team, initial thoughts about the course Caribbean Civilization are that it would serve as an important tool to analyze our past as Caribbean people; that it would provide fundamental knowledge about Caribbean history that may have not been taught to us in our earlier education. Other members felt that this course would provide a fascinating perspective about their heritage. Furthermore, what we expected from this course was that it would provide new insight of African slavery and the enslaved perspective from the start of enslavement up to the time of emancipation.

As full-time employed adults, one of the greatest struggles for our team members was finding balance with our family life, work, social life and studies. Many of us had difficulty staying focused on school work and initially, developing a routine to deal with our studies was an arduous task. It was challenging to keep up with the weekly lectures, long plenary sessions and when doing group assignments; settling on adequate dates and times for group meetings. Also, for some, learning how to handle the Learning Exchange interface and the different new ways of communication between students and e-tutors was somewhat complicated.

For each member, the strategies for overcoming the challenges faced during this course varied. For some, the utilization of agendas such as Google calendar and alarm clocks helped them to keep up with lecture sessions and course deadlines. Others, developed time management skills and were able to balance everyday activities. Overall, we each had our own support system, whether with family, friends or classmates. This helped to keep us going when in doubt. As team members, being considerate of each other’s obligations and difference in time zones help us complete the required course work.  

The course was well planned and executed and captured most of what we anticipated and we found it unbelievable that we were only introduced to this course at a tertiary level. In addition, this course has an effective way of reaching out to the students. The live tutorial sessions were interesting and interactive, while the reading units were very informative and encouraged critical thinking. It also taught us to further scrutinize words and to realize that we need to carefully consider how we express ourselves verbally. Our only concern was that most of the information presented was based on Jamaica and to some extent Haiti, the first Caribbean Republic, leaving the other Caribbean regions in the shadows. It is highly unlikely that all of the Caribbean countries faced similar historical backgrounds and thus their culture would vary to some degree. However, what impressed us was that the course presenters acknowledged the existence of historical bias as well as discussing this topic in detail. Never, would we have imagined that the reason the Caribbean being so diversified in agricultural production was because of the influx of Europeans and other settlers who saw it profitable to invest in planting crops for export to their mainland, or Indians being advanced fishers, to an extent, as we learnt that the first peoples or the neo-Indians were able to do deep water fishing before Columbus arrived in the West. Our recommendation is the truth about the development of the Caribbean and slavery are taught at a level where students will get a better understanding of their history from an earlier age. We would certainly recommend this course to anyone uninformed about the region and its history.

It is fit to say that we have all learned new things from this course. Caribbean Civilization, through the knowledge that it has provided, has taught us as students and as individuals to better appreciate the region called home and the diversity of its people. Overall, it was a great experience and an eye opener, allowing one to better understand the history of the Caribbean. We can appreciate how different settlers came and defined the Caribbean with their cultures and norms. Also, explored in-depth by this course was the concept of slavery; how all past events contributed to modern day Caribbean identity. Furthermore, it allows us to take into account the transition of culture in the Caribbean and to see how it is directly controlled by the developed countries, by means of knowledge and wealth that they possessed. They are able to influence events in third world countries. It was knowledge that allowed slaves to understand what was happening around them, hence why they started revolts and resistance strategies so that the managers and absentee owners were forced to take evasive action to maintain control of those slaves. Today, the people of the Caribbean are controlled by the superior countries. Our cultural norms are shaped by theirs and as we become more developed we resemble them in more ways, however, their economy is fed by ours. Should we be worried and irritated as a result of this? Probably not; because if it was not for them the Caribbean may not be as advanced and able to enjoy the wealth that most persons now enjoy. It is now that we can truly appreciate James Baldwin’s quote: “Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go”

The members of The A-Team would like to extend their gratitude to our e-tutor and course coordinator who guided us through this semester with patience and understanding.