Trinidad/Tobago j-term 2025

                              January 23 Blog Post!! Today, we all went to our last UWI lecture for our first week taking classes at the university. We also joined a class called Cinema and Gender that discusses important themes that are relevant to the diaspora of Caribbean/Trinidadian identity.   Prior to our class discussion, we were able to enjoy lunch at the Tea House on UWI’s main campus (picture above). In class, we discussed important themes that relate to Trinidadian nationalism and its interaction for Indo-Trinidadians to Indian nationalism, particularly at a time when India gained its independence from Britain. Another important topic was the relationship between media, resistance, and oppression. It is interesting to examine how historically media has been used to perpetuate stereotypes and reframe history to better serve a colonial narrative. In contrast, it was admirable to see h...

  January 22 - FIRST WEEK OF UWI 💛🐦 Left: Bri and I on Open Campus          Right: UWI Club Fair Hey y’all 😎 This week has been a hectic one! UWI classes officially started on Monday and we have all been working hard to finalize our busy schedules. We have all had a fun time learning about all the different clubs on campus and some of us have even started using the school gym. Campus is extremely large, meaning that we have to take the school shuttle system to and from Sir Arthur Lewis Hall. Through trial and error we have all figured out that the shuttle comes whenever the shuttle wants to 🤣 But after taking it a few times, we are all starting to get the hang of how everything works!  Being on campus has given us all sorts of opportunities to see what we are learning in class be demonstrated in real society. For example, the class session we just had this morning was addressing all of the many different ethnic, racial and religious groups that mak...

  Good day,   While in Tobago for a brief moment, our class read about the origins of carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. In Tobago, things were a lot slower paced; there wasn’t the same kind of hustle and bustle as we had seen and experienced in Trinidad, particularly in Tunapuna and exploring the central market. As it relates to the content we indulged in for class, we saw the presence of carnival culture all around the island of Tobago, such as the countless advertisements posted on the sides of the winding roads showing off the elaborate costumes women wear for this big series of fetes. In a way, these ads serve the purpose of not only presenting the vibrancy of carnival culture but also commodifying the culture through the commercialization of the event, especially in Tobago, a very tourist-centered space in contrast to Trinidad.   Additionally, more tied explicitly to the texts we read about carnival origin, we learned how there was a desire to create the fal...

  January 16 – UWI TOUR 🏫🚌 First day on UWI campus🤩 Hi friends and family!! Today was a busy day full of orientation, campus tours and our J-term class, which is coming to an end in the next two weeks. We were given an extremely warm welcome in the incoming exchange students orientation session and were able to learn how to register for our classes as well as meet other students from around the world who are also in Trinidad for the next five months! UWI is different from our colleges and universities back in the US, especially when it comes to the size of the campus. The campus is very large and is split into different sections. We had to take the campus shuttles from campus to get back to Sir Arthur Lewis Hall (SAL), where we all live. There are also a lot of small shops and restaurants on campus which is super fun and different from what we’re used to! Now that we have all received a tour of campus and learned important tips about student life, we are feeling a little bit mor...

  Hey y'all, what's up??       Today was a pretty chill day all things considered. It was a nice calm day to try and relax a little before school really picks back up. Everyone kinda did their own things whether it was doing the readings for class, catching up on sleep, or just simply watching a show. Later on, Aleema sent a text in the group chat letting us know that she was about to make some muffins, and those muffins have got to be some of the best. The fluffiness of the inside combined with the crisp outside really brought out the banana-chocolate flavor combo. A big plus side was that there was definitely enough to share with the class so everyone got a chance to taste it before class started and we all had to focus.     The conversation was quite interesting, but in the interest of time, here's a quick synopsis. Women from Africa and India who were brought into Trinidad to work the plantations replaced Native women who had been coerced thro...

  January 15th Hi everyone! Today, we had a more academic and preparatory day to help us envision how the rest of this semester will go. Candice walked us through to of our major classes Living and Learning and Caribbean Culture and Society, where we learned about the many creative ways that we will be able to demonstrate our learnings on Trinidadian culture and our experience here. In past years, students did belly dancing, performances modelled after the Moko Jumbie stilt walkers, and even did monologues dressed up as an important Trinidadian drink… Rum!  Following our sit-down class, we made our way over to the Massy Supermarket using public transportation (Maxi’s) and were able to observe a wonderful combination of local products and some goods that many of us are used to seeing back at our supermarkets in the US.  I was able to catch a beautiful sunset from my dorm window after our J-Term class discussion on the Pride movement and gender equity in Trinidad.  In ...

Hello!  I hope your week has been just as good as ours as week come off a high from our Tobago trip and slowly transition into to the UWI life.  This week we lead discussion on the Steel Band and how it became a symbol of Trinidad... or did it? Steel bands were created from left over Oil Barrels from Trinidad's oil boom and it emerged alongside many other black revolutionary musics such as R&B, Vodou Jazz, Reggae and so on. They quickly became a staple of Trinidadian society in which the middle of every town has their very own pan yard where community gathers to watch the band practice for their various performances (mainly panorama*).  So why didn't it become a symbol of Trinidad you ask? Well, lets rephrase that, not all Trinidadians felt it represented them, especially the Indo-Trinidadians who considered the instrument to be more aligned with Afro-Trinidadian culture. And in its early days, pan was seen as more of a mans pursuit.  Now, the culture of pan has ...

  January 8th – Tobago 🤗 Greetings! We’re back and better than ever here on the beautiful island of Tobago. We have been on the smaller, rural island for about two full days and are absolutely loving it! Our group has grown closer and has spent the last two mornings learning how to cook breakfast together in the cute kitchen of our cabin by the beach. We have tried the local food around Charlotteville and made sure to spend hours playing in the ocean and in the sand 😁 We have also had two full class sessions and are having some great discussions on the subject of politics in Trinidad & Tobago, as well as the father of the nation, Eric Williams!  Who was Eric Williams👤?   📍”Father of the Nation”  📍Former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago  📍People’s National Movement (PNM) leader and politician  Short Hike to Fort Campbleton!  There are many small forts in Tobago. Instead of a more traditional fort with a large structure or building on the ...

            Introducing: THE ERIC WILLIAMS!       Hello friends and family! This week we were introduced to a polarizing leader in the history of this beautiful island we are calling home for the next 5 months! The infamous Eric Williams ( depending who you ask) brought a two party system and immense governmental reform in the 1950s. Arriving in  Trinidad as the Commission's Deputy chairman of the Caribbean Research Council, Williams was able to lead Trinidad & Tobago to national independence with the establishment of the People's National Movement.      As the first political party to successfully govern the country, Williams was able to enact policies such as the Education Act which led to an increased focus on the funding of schools and university institutions. In a conversation we had with our security advisor, who has spent his entire life in Trinidad & Tobago and therefore is a first hand account of...

January 10th -- TOBAGO 😍 Pirates Bay, Charlotteville☠ We have been in Tobago for about 4 days! We have been living in the Man-O-War Cottages on the beach in Charlotteville and even got to have class outside on our porch. Today, after class, we made the short hike to Pirates Bay to swim and spend the day on the beach. While on the beach we spotted jellyfish and took quite a few tumbles in the large, powerful waves 😂After our excursion we were very tired and headed back to Charlotteville to get food, which you can see in the pictures below! Overall, our Friday was full of fun, laughter, and good food!  Food from a local restaurant in Charlotteville😋 As well as having lots of outdoor fun, we also learned about Carnival and the beginning of the Steelband Movement in Trinidad and Tobago! Although Carnival can appear to other parts of the world as one big frivolous party, it is in fact full of important meaning. Carnival is an instigator of national culture and works to reflect the co...

Parallels between immigration and the Parang        I n our discussion and assigned reading on how hegemonic powers commodified different ethnic groups that immigrated to Trinidad, there was an emphasis on the poly-ethnic makeup of Trinidad, which we got to experience during our first week in the country. Parang was one of the highlights, in which we got to see what the performers referred to as a “preservation of culture”. The art form originated in Venezuela during the late 18th century when Trinidad and Venezuela were both under Spanish colonial rule. It was initially performed by most Spanish, Mestizo, and Amerindian peoples; however, it evolved into a Trinidadian staple that includes everyone. The songs are all performed in Spanish, but the performers had heritage from all over the region, whether it was Indo-Trinidadian, Afro-Trinidadian, Venezuelan or white. The instrumentation also influenced many ethnic groups, including African drums, maracas, the Venezuela...

January 4th in Trinidad:  Today during class, we discussed the content from readings that outlined Trinidad's history from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. M: A quote that stuck out well was, "If those men do not fear you, they will despise you." This quote stood out to me due to the commonality of leaders figuratively choosing the easy way out and making their men fear them instead of forming a relationship based on respect. Specifically, this is seen in the 6 years of Picton’s rule over Trinidad, where he ruled with an iron and dictatorial fist. In those years, there were mass reprisals against people at random based on how Picton himself felt. This was especially interesting given the context that when the British found out, they were horrified and shocked by what took place even though they were the ones telling him to do so. A: In class today, the question that was the most thought-provoking for me surrounded the rationale behind categorizations...

 January 3rd - First Week in Trinidad & Tobago! Us in front of Sir Arthur Lewis Hall 😁

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