US professor calls for obeah conference

AN AMERICAN professor has recommended that Trinidad and Tobago host an annual conference on obeah and traditional practices so “we may begin to understand and preserve the knowledge our ancestors left us.”

Professor James Small, who is also a student of African philosophical systems in Ghana, the Congo and Nigeria, was speaking at City Hall in Port-of-Spain in the 2003 Kwame Ture Memorial Public Lecture Series sponsored by the Emancipation Support Committee. He dealt with “African philosophy and the challenges of the 21st Century.” “We must call our African scholars together to write manuals on rites of passage for our young men and women, to teach the ethnical and moral principles of good character from age 6 to 20, so that our society remains grounded and grows stronger,” said Professor Small. He said African philosophy had contributed to transforming Trinidad and Tobago from a “slaveocracy” to a modern nation.

A packed City Hall auditorium also heard Professor Small say that the best calypso, jazz and other traditional African music and classical music should be used to create avenues for celebrating in formal and respectful ways. “Let us bring the Orisha shrines before the public, just as the church, mosque, temples and synagogues are in the public and let us engage in celebrations where we wear our traditional African attire and garments as our formal wear,” he said. “We must begin to teach the African way of life in our schools, our homes, our churches, our shrines, our sororities and our fraternities.”

Professor Small said love, harmony and balance will put the black man back in harmony with the rest of the world. He called on the African community in Trinidad and Tobago to pool their resources and pointed out that credit unions can be turned into banks. According to Professor Small, Trinidad and Tobago stands as a beacon in the African world, in spite of the problems this country is experiencing. Thursday night’s lecture is the first in a weekly series which will continue until Emancipation day. The next lecture takes place at the Simon Bolivar Auditorium.