Executive Chairman of the Board of Governors of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), Professor Selwyn Cudjoe, is defending the inclusion of East Indian elements in UTT’s African Emancipation Day celebration last week, saying similar cross-cultural presentations have long formed part of commemorative events hosted by the institution.
Critics of UTT’s Emancipation celebrations argued that the inclusion of East Indian cultural performances alongside Emancipation Day observances diminished the historical significance of the occasion and was disrespectful to the legacy of emancipation.
Speaking on Trinidad and Tobago Today, Professor Cudjoe rejected suggestions that the inclusion of East Indian performances alongside African drumming was unprecedented.
He noted that similar cultural contributions have formed part of previous Emancipation observances hosted by the university.
“In 2023, under the guidance of Gadsby-Dolly, there was a programme. I think 22, 23, 24 at UTT at the same NAPA under which there were Indian drummers, and, I think, the recording demonstrates she says there were Indian drummers with, there were Indian drummers there and then.”
Professor Cudjoe maintained that UTT’s celebration of Emancipation was intended to educate.
He explained that the event was anchored by Reverend Philip Henry Douglin’s “Jubilee of Emancipation” address, first published in the San Fernando Gazette in August 1888, 50 years after the abolition of slavery.
“We are an educational institution, and so we used his major lecture as a way around which to talk about our celebrations. What we did, we had some professional and non-professional people read from that document, we call dramatic readings and built our programme around that. And that’s what we tried to do. The controversy, I suspect, comes into play in terms of our having used several, two or three Indian performers.”
The Executive Chairman stressed that the academic institution is fulfilling the purpose for which it was created.
“An institution is supposed to throw light and knowledge on these matters. That’s why we write. I’ve just done a massive long piece which I hope will be published. And our mandate as an institute – and that’s our sole function – to educate, to liberate, and if you educate to liberate, that is where you start.”
‘Uhuru’, hosted by UTT last week Wednesday, paid tribute to the emancipation of African people while celebrating the profound and enduring influence of African heritage on the social, cultural and artistic development of Trinidad and Tobago.