Students get help with media studies

The workshop was designed by Sixth Form teachers Freddy James and Kristal Washington. It was by funded by the Education and Tourism Division to help students get a more practical understanding of mass media as identified in the curriculum for Caribbean Studies.

“Schools in Trinidad and Tobago are now adopting CAPE so this is all very new, so we thought that we could integrate a practitioner into the learning process. We selected Lisa because she has both academic training and a track record in the industry,” says James.

Wickham worked through the issues related to the impact of the media on cultural identity.

“I believe that students must explore and understand what our own identity is and that one can begin to experiment with fusions with other cultures.

But they need to have a strong sense of who they are and where they have come from in order to be strong enough to embrace but not be fully influenced by external cultures,” says Wickham.

The E-Zone Show was used as a case study to explore the cultural and identity links among the Caribbean states as well as the impact of the Caribbean festivals on international communities.

To demonstrate her point Wickham told the students that Caribana contributes some CN$300 million to the City of Toronto and the Nottinghill Carnival generates ?93 million to the City of London.

“They were fascinated to see how internationally, West Indians adapt to their environment by transferring their culture which is now converting to economic benefits to the communities in which they live,” Wickham said of the students response to the workshop.

“They were pleased to realise that the Caribbean can make such an impact on world culture and economies and that it does not have to be a one-way flow of cultural images into the region,” she added.

The students were extremely pleased with the workshop which was highly interactive and participatory.

In the words of one student “It beats (the hell out of) reading it from a book. Another student added, “I am really motivated. Now I will really get a one in my Caribbean Studies examination.”