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When I was invited to write the foreword to this book, I readily accepted because I believe that it is a worthwhile book: it is informative and its images make it attractive to the eye, a combination that ensures it will reach a substantial audience. I am told that one of the reasons for writing the book is the authors' belief that so much of our history has either been forgotten or never known in the first place. Starting from this belief they nevertheless did not want to write a history book, because history books are academic treatises, mostly read by those who have to answer questions in an examination room. So the authors wrote a series of short pieces describing the achievements of outstanding individuals in language that is not academic. Because there is no shortage of outstanding people from Trinidad & Tobago, they attempted to reduce the list by narrowing the terms of reference to those who, using the authors' criteria, have "achieved world class status." Even so the list exceeds 100 hundred individuals. This is no surprise to me because I share the authors' conviction that our country has been blessed with an inordinately large number of exceptionally gifted individuals: scientists, athletes, performing artistes, writers, political theorists and activists, all of whom are included in the book. But always in the abbreviated manner of a sound bite. As a former educator and Governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation I am only too aware of the relationship between the length of a sound bite and the attention span of the modern individual. The format of this book utilizes short sound bites and is therefore ideal for effectively communicating with a readership whose attention is shared with so many competing stimuli. Some of the contents will be a surprise to those readers at home who may not be aware of all those in the diaspora with roots in Trinidad & Tobago. Conversely some in the diaspora have lost touch with the homeland, and their children are not aware of how much has been achieved in the country of their parents and grandparents. And indeed continues to be achieved. That is another reason for my delight in this timely publication, which facilitates the exchange of experiences between those in the diaspora and those back home. Pearl S. Buck it was who said that "one faces the future with one's past," an observation that has particular relevance to the descendants of immigrants, who can sometimes be overwhelmed by the host society and its history. Familiarity with our past will allow our children in the diaspora to hold their heads high, confident in the knowledge that they too have a history and a heritage of which to be proud. One recognizes that teaching history in such a way that it is retained is not an easy task. Recent history is discarded from our minds with almost the same frequency as the daily newspapers; far less the more distant history. One hopes that this book will have a longer shelf life, because it deals with aspects of our heritage and history which I think ought to be preserved. It is an ideal reference book because it tells of our achievements across a broad spectrum of human disciplines: from an Olympic gold medalist to a Foreign Minister of China; from internationally renowned scientists to beauty queens; from an aviator with a an endurance flying record to a Nobel Prize winner; from a cricketer with the most impressive collection of world records to a political theorist whose monumental works have placed an indelible stamp on the modern interpretation of history; and from a string theorist to the inventor of an instrument made out of metal. Yes, the book does delve into the country's cultural achievements, proud achievements such as the invention of the steelpan, the only new family of acoustical instruments invented in the twentieth century; the development of the calypso, a worldwide craze as early as the 1950s; and the limbo, the most internationally recognizable dance. Trinidad & Tobago's cultural contributions are well known. What is less well known though is that the country is highly industrialized and can lay claim to having one of the oldest petroleum industries in the world. The book documents the first oil well in the Western Hemisphere which was drilled near the Pitch Lake in Trinidad. The authors go on to trace the evolution of a national energy sector and the development of the country's natural gas reserves to the point where, as the world's largest producer of methanol and ammonia, it has now "achieved international recognition as providing the most successful model for the development of an export gas industry." It was my great pleasure to have been asked to be a part of an exciting project such as this. Taking a leaf out of the book, I have used a short sound bite which, appropriately I hope, was brief enough to hold the attention of you the reader. Dame Jocelyn Barrow, DBE
Dame Jocelyn Barrow was born and grew up in Trinidad. In her distinguished career in England she was most notably the United Kingdom's Member of the Social and Economic Committee of the European Union, Governor by Royal Consent to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Governor of the Commonwealth Institute, Governor of the British Film Institute and Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law. Her numerous other appointments include: General Secretary of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD); Vice-Chairperson of the International Human Rights Committee; Founder and Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Council; Vice-President of the United Nations Association in the UK and Northern Ireland; and Chair of the Mayor's Commission on African and Asian Heritage. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1972 for her work in the field of education and community relations, and a Dame of the British Empire in 1992 for her work in broadcasting and her contribution to the work of the European Union. Dame Jocelyn has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of East London, the University of Greenwich, and the University of Middlesex. |
