The creation of LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction stemmed from a vision for interpreting and representing the Caribbean intellectual traditions in its own terms.
It represented a model to wean away from the conventions of the ailing and failing inherited and entrenched colonial British-styled education system that denied the value of traditional modes of education and knowledge transmission.
Transform Teaching of Literature
It also meant to transform teaching of literature and other disciplines from just text-based – part of the British education tradition – to value imagination and experience and tap into the rich oral and aural traditions of the region.
From LiTTscapes sprung LiTTours and the Global LiTTributes to connect our oral and literary knowledge streams and our diverse intellectual traditions to diasporas. They incorporate the endemic biocultural heritage and stimulates the imagination to retrace the roots and routes of our expansive pre and post colonial diasporas.
Following on the launch of LiTTscapes to rewrite the history of the colossal White Hall and the LiTTribute to the Republic hosted by the First Lady both of which refocussed the need to reinterpret and more adequately represent our heritage, Guyana was the next stop with LiTTurgy to the Mainland.
LiTTurgy to the Mainland
LiTTurgy to the Mainland delved into the colonially severed, lost and to yet largely unexplored interlinkages between island and continent and the larger ecosystems of the Southern Continent.
It teamed up with iconic leaders of the Guyanese intellectual landscape, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana and head of the Guyana Prize for Literature Professor Al Creighton and distinguished daughter of arts and letters Paloma Mohammed Martin. Venue was the Moray House Trust as part of the ongoing drive to recognised the architectural heritage.
The Guyana Drama Guild under the creative guidance of Paloma Mohammed Martin provided unique reinterpretations of the representations of the Caribbean in LiTTscapes through music, recitations and dance.
Professor Al Creighton delivered a comprehensive review and analyses of LiTTscapes that resonates its vision and potential impact for the future of education and intellectual reinterpretations and re-envisioning the region in the world. Listen to Professor Al Creighton’s Review of the Intrinsic Interconnections in LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction. Click on link here or below
From the Archives
Guyana hosts readings by local author
The Guyana Prize for Literature in association with the historic Moray House Trust and the Ministry of Culture/ Government of Guyana will host readings from the book LiTTscapes–Landscapes of Fiction from Trinidad and Tobago by local author Dr Kris Rampersad.
The event dubbed LiTTribute II–LiTTurgy to the Mainland takes place on February 15, at Moray House, the heritage building in Georgetown, Guyana. It’s a popular venue for many of Georgetown’s cultural activities. The event will feature dramatised readings and performances and tributes to Caribbean writers from the Guyana Theatre Guild and other icons.
LiTTurgy to the Mainland follows on the recent LiTTribute to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, hosted by Dr Jean Ramjohn Richards, the wife of T&T’s President George Maxwell Richards and Dr Rampersad at the 19th century-styled Knowsley Building, Port-of-Spain, in September.
Asked about the imminent reading, Rampersad, a journalist and educator in Caribbean culture, said, “I am thrilled the Guyana Prize for Literature and the Moray House Trust have initiated this as it meshes with the vision and energies that forged LiTTscapes to connect the Caribbean and stimulate appreciation of heritage and culture through literary and related arts.”
From Trinidad Guardian, Sat Jan 26 2013 https://www.guardian.co.tt/article-6.2.394197.b50ba7152d
About Dr Kris Rampersad
Dr Kris Rampersad is an international development specialist, educator, cultural diversity facilitator and multimedia creator and global change agent rethinking revisioning and redirecting the developmental paths of Latin America and the Caribbean and small island states and the so branded developing world.
To request presentations or facilitations, LiTTribute, LiTTour or LiTTscapes or sponsor a school of community or to support, collaborate, sponsor make contact here.
The Caribbean Digital Dilemma
Listen to Dr Kris Rampersad discuss the digital dilemma and challenges of creative education in the Caribbean here