UWI Conference in honour of Rohlehr

The theme of the conference is, “From Apocalypse to Awakenings”. Members of the public are invited to share in this weekend celebration, which will include papers by scholars who have worked with Professor Rohlehr, as well as testimonials to his extraordinary work over the past decades. Papers discussing the work of Professor Rohlehr will be presented on October 4 and 5 from 9 am to 5 pm at the Centre for Language Learning (CLL), St Augustine. There are also scheduled lunchtime readings. Registration begins at 8.30 am each day.

For further information on the conference, contact Prof Funso Aiyejina faiyejina@fhe.uwi.tt, Dr Jean Antoine jantoine@fhe.uwi.tt or Dr Paula Morgan pmorgan@fhe.uwi.tt.

A number of other events will mark the tribute to Prof Rohlehr’s pioneering research and commentaries on calypso, oral tradition and literature, the first being the premiering of a documentary on the life and works of Gordon Rohlehr. This screening will take place at the award ceremony scheduled for Thursday October 4, 2007 at 7.30 pm, at the Learning Resource Centre (LRC), St Augustine.

Another highlight is a night of calypso, on October 5 at 7 pm, which will include a reading by Trinidadian novelist, Earl Lovelace. Tickets for this event are now on sale. For further information on this double bill, call 662 2002 Ext 2288 or 3493. Group rates are available.

The Centre for Creative and Festival Arts (CCFA) will bring the proceedings to a climax with a evening of jazz at which the Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite will give a special reading. This will take place at 7 pm at the CCFA, Gordon Street, St Augustine.

Gordon Rohlehr was born in Guyana on February 20, 1942. He was educated at Queen’s College, Guyana, and obtained a first class Honours degree in Literatures in English from the University of the West Indies, Mona in 1964. Thereafter, he left for the University of Birmingham, where he wrote a doctoral thesis entitled ‘Alienation and Commitment in the Works of Joseph Conrad.

While in Birmingham, among other activities, Rohlehr toured England playing steel pan. After receiving his doctorate in 1967, rohlehr took up an appointment as a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

He introduced the first undergraduate course in West Indian Literature at the St Augustine campus in 1970 in this way opening up debate about the nature of Caribbean writing at a key moment in Trinidad’s conceptualisation of its cultural identity.

His lectures on West Indian literature became legendary and drew students from many disciplines during the 70’s. Professor Rohlehr has been instrumental in shaping Caribbean Studies for secondary schools in Trinidad and the Caribbean.

In this regard he was a member of the CXC/Cape Caribbean Studies Panel from 1996 to 1998, which designed a draft Syllabus for Caribbean Studies at Advanced Proficiency Level.

Rohlehr has presented a radio series in Trinidad on Caribbean culture and over the past four decades has also provided countless television commentaries and written in newspapers and journals on different aspects of West Indian culture and its emerging aesthetic.

He has also been the subject of interviews and discussions both locally and internationally, including the BBC.

He published his seminal work on the poetry of Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Pathfinder, Black Awakening in the Arrivants of Edward Kamau Brathwaite in1981.