Sunday, September 17, 2017

RAYMOND RAMCHARITAR


Résumé
                                               
Academic Qualifications

Poetry Fellow: Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Middlebury College, Vermont (2011)

Visiting Scholar: New College, University of Toronto, Canada (2010)

Post-Doctoral Fellow: Warwick University, UK (2008)

Ph.D., History: The University of the West Indies (St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago). Thesis Title: “The Hidden History of Trinidad: Underground Culture in Trinidad, 1870-1970” (2008)

M.A., Literatures in English: The University of the West Indies (St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago). Thesis Title: “Contextualizing Caribbean Critical Theory” (2002)

B. Sc., Economics: The University of the West Indies (St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago) (1991)

Academic Interests
Cultural History
Cultural Theory
Poetry, Fiction & Drama (Creative Writing)
Post-Colonial Literary Criticism and Analysis



Research in Progress
The Enlightenment and Freemasonry in 19th Century Trinidad
A History of Creole Trinidad 1956 - 1986
                                               
                                                Academic Employment

Adjunct Lecturer                                                                                 2003 - 2017
University of the West Indies, Centre for Creative & Festival Arts (CCFA), Faculty of Humanities, and Department of Psychology. Delivered occasional courses and lectures in contemporary theatre, and media and cultural studies.
·      Designed and taught in 2009 “Literature & Psychology: Creative Writers as Proto-Psychologists”;
·      Designed and taught from 2003-2007 “Seminars in Contemporary Theatre”
·      Occasional lecturers to graduate cultural studies seminars


Lecturer                                                                                                     2002-2009

College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad & Tobago, Department of Literature and Communications. Delivered courses and lectures in media, journalism and Literature

            Publications: Academic Writing

Books

Breaking the News: Media and Culture in Trinidad, Trinidad: Lexicon, 2005

A Will and A Way: The Autobiography of Anthony N Sabga (2015) (Editor, amanuensis, researcher, co-author with Bridget Brereton)

Books in Progress
A History of Creole Trinidad – 1956-1986 (2017)


Book Chapters
“The Caribbean in the Metropolitan Imagination,” in Adventuring in the Englishes: Language and Literature in a Postcolonial Globalised World (eds. Piers Smith & Ikram Ahmed Elsherif), London, Cambridge Scholars Press, 2013
“Underground History: The Hostile, Recalcitrant Past”, in Breaking Ground (ed. Daive Dunkley), New York: Lexington Publishers, 2011
“The Short Story and the Colonial Imagination in the Work of the Beacon Group in Trinidad” in The Caribbean Short Story, Critical Perspectives (eds. Mark McWatt et al), Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2011
“The Moment Before the Dawn”— A new introduction to the classic Caribbean novel, A Morning at the Office, by Edgar Mittelholzer, Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2010
New Perspectives in Caribbean Tourism, chapter on “Tourist Nationalism in Trinidad”, (eds. Marcella Daye et al) New York: Routledge, 2008
The Gowanus Anthology, chapters on “Snapshots of Elsewhere” and “The Magic Eye” (ed. Thomas Hubschman), New York: Gowanus Books, 2001

Journals

“The Hegemony of the Monad: Eric Williams and the Creole Imagination in Trinidad: 1956-1981” Caribbean Quarterly, March 2012
 “Gordon Rohlehr and the Culture Industry in Trinidad”, in New West Indian Guide, Vol 85 (Nos 3&4) 2011
“The Return of the Critic: The West Indian Novel in 2004”, in The Arts Journal, Vol. 1, No 2, Georgetown:  The Arts Forum, 2005

“A Destructive Freedom” (essay) in The Trinidad & Tobago Review, St Augustine: Trinidad & Tobago Institute of the West Indies, June 2005

 “The New Nationalism” (essay), in The Trinidad & Tobago Review (ibid) November 2004

“Meeting Derek Walcott” (essay) Mangrove, No 13, Miami: University of Miami, 2004

 “The Architectonics of Nationalism” (essay) in The Trinidad & Tobago Review, St Augustine: Trinidad & Tobago Institute of the West Indies, June 2004

“Interview with Derek Walcott” in The Trinidad & Tobago Review (ibid) April 2003

V.S. Naipaul: A Life in Full, in Caribbean Quarterly: Special Issue on V.S. Naipaul, (ed. Bhoe Tewarie) June-December 2002, Kingston: UWI, Mona

Publications: Creative Writing

Books
Here (Poetry) Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2013
The Island Quintet: A Sequence (Fiction) Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2009 (short-listed for the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book, Caribbean & Canada, 2010)
American Fall  (Poetry) Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2007

Theatre
Paradiso, performed in June 2003, at the Warehouse Theatre in Croydon, UK 
Academic Conferences
Conferences
“The Caribbean in the Metropolitan Imagination”, GUST English Language and Literature Conference, Gulf University of Science & Technology, Kuwait, April 2012
“The Emotional Economy of the Caribbean—A Preliminary Assessment”: University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI), 2010
“The Media and the Creation of a False Public History in Trinidad”: Society for Caribbean Studies, Nottingham, UK, 2005
 “Cyborg Carnivals: Some Notes on Laughter in the Post-Human Caribbean”: Society for Caribbean Studies Conference, Liverpool, UK, 2003
 “Art and the New Colonialism: A Study of Caribbean Contemporary Arts (CCA7) in Trinidad and the Implications of its Practice for Caribbean Art”: Presented at the Caribbean Studies Conference, University of Antwerp, Holland, 2003.
 “Art, Politics and Ethnicity in Trinidad”: Presented at Northeastern Illinois University’s “Where Choice is Born” Conference, Chicago, US, 2002
 “Far from the Brahmin Crowd: Notes on the Construction of the Trinidad Indian with Reference to the Novels of Harold Sonny Ladoo”: Presented at the University of the West Indies Conference on Indo-Caribbean Literature, St Augustine, Trinidad, 2000.

Public Lectures (Trinidad)
  The ‘cult’ in Multi-Culturalism: Trinidad’s Experiment with Multiculturalism with Reference to the Work of Neil Bissoondath”, National Library, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, 2013
“Indians, Democracy and the Law”, Indian Arrival Day Conference, Trinidad, 2008
 “Indian Ontology in Literature and History”, Indian Arrival Day Conference, Trinidad & Tobago, 2006
 “The Polished Hoe”, Feature Address at the Trinidad Launch of The Polished Hoe, by Austin Clarke, delivered at the National Museum in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, September 2003
“How to Read Caribbean Culture” Lecture given to the Convocation of Caribbean and Latin American British Council Representatives, British High Commission, Port of Spain, September 2003 

Awards


Shortlist, Commonwealth Prize 2010, for Best First Book, Canada & the Caribbean
Post-graduate Scholarship, UWI, St Augustine, 2007 (History)
Radio Drama Writing Fellowship, British Broadcasting Corporation, London, 2003
Winner, The Warehouse Theatre’s (UK) International Playwriting Festival, 2002
Private Fellowship, (Sept 2000-Dec 2000), in poetry and drama to Boston University (Massachusetts, USA) awarded and funded by Derek Walcott
Vera Rubin Fellowship in Creative Writing, to Yaddo, the artists’ colony in Saratoga Springs, NY (1994-1995).



Other Employment

Communications & Media
Advisor: Social and Cultural Affairs                                         2010 - Present
To the Chairman Emeritus of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies in Trinidad. Advised the Chairman on issues of quality, content, and branding, relating to the media companies in the group—radio, television, and press.
Corporate Communications Consultant                                      2010 - Present
The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence. Designed branding strategy, organized publicity events (public lectures and academic panels) and managed media relations for the Awards throughout the English

Writer/Editor                                                                                    1991 - Present
Various publications. Columnist and journalist for Trinidad Guardian, freelance journalist for the Trinidad Express.

 



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