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January 4th Blog by Aleema and Marc

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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...
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January 13th Bri, Sid and Marc: The Steel Band and the Evolution of its Culture

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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 ...
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