The Caribbean Memory Project: Community Archives and Caribbean Identity, a free colloquium will be held at the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, Belmont, on March 12 at 6 pm.
Founded by Kevin A Browne, PhD and Dawn Cumberbatch, The Caribbean Memory Project is a long-term archiving and documentary project that relies on a combination of engaged social participation and academic inquiry that is designed to help us understand Caribbean history, society and culture in more productive ways.
A release from the organisers said, "We provide a public, open-access repository of knowledge that, in time, will not only help to define our Caribbean identity, but will also provide the kind of awareness that can help ensure the continuity of that identity. In short, this project asks, and invites people to answer questions of who we are, from whence do we come, and what are we to do with the knowledge we produce as Caribbean people.
"The goal, as we see it, is collective uplift. The Caribbean Memory Project will therefore serve as a useful resource, a point of contact, and a point of entry into collectively figuring out what we've forgotten and finding what we've been actively encouraged to forget–whether through institutional neglect or the appropriation of cultural norms that fail to adequately represent us."
As a means of immediate engagement, The Caribbean Memory Project team will be conducting on-the-spot interviews (both on and off camera) for its oral history component. Attendees can also record memories directly to the Web site via an interactive application.
The organisers are also asking for attendees to bring along a few samples of old newspaper clippings, photographs, certificates, letters, postcards and any other documents of personal significance that they wish to share. With permission, these artefacts will be digitised on-site and uploaded to www.caribbeanmemoryproject.com.
