Ralph a Jemmott

The Barbadian Cultural Renaissance Ralph a Jemmott

This book examines the development of Barbadian Culture through the Arts during the period after Independence leading up to the year 2016, and is written and offered in recognition and celebration of Barbados' 50th anniversary of Independence. It is a retrospective on the state of cultural awareness over the past 50 years. It is divided into three parts, the first of which examines an earlier belief in a 'non-existent Barbadian culture', and discusses the legitimacy of a Barbadian Cultural Renaissance and a 'gradual awakening after the year 1966. Part Two examines the 'iconographic reconstruction' of Barbadian culture, where the previously dominant Eurocentric values are partially replaced by an awareness of the cultural significance of the Black populace, and highlights the more significant contributions of certain 'cultural icons' over a period of 50 years. Part Three challenges the direction in which some aspects of Barbadian culture are heading. "To some degree it may reflect the writer's own cultural ambivalence between the more liberal ingredients... and the older more conservative aspects... What matters ultimately is that 'the culture' in the full sense speaks to those things that advance a genuinely humane enterprise and an enlightened progressivism consonant with human dignity." "All is not lost; the author's conclusion inspires some sense of achievement and hope."
- Dr. Viola Davis -