Abstracts

ABSTRACTS
 
‘Prime Time’ Geographies: Dancehall Performance, Visual Communication and the Philosophy of ‘Boundarylessness’ – Sonjah Stanley Niaah
 
The video camera or more popularly the ‘videolight’, forms part of the popular mechanism for channeling images and messages of/from Jamaican popular culture into ‘prime time’ visibility, both inside and beyond Jamaica. Using ‘boundarylessness’ as a theoretical point of departure, this paper expands research I have conducted on the phenomenon of the videolight, the making of dancehall celebrities, and the evolution of the dancehall performance aesthetic afforded by the spectacle of, and for the videolight. Premised on over fifteen years of research examining a period of over sixty years, and using a combination of participant observation, visual ethnography, case studies and content analysis, the paper establishes that dancehall celebrities of urban Kingston are produced and catapulted into the global domain on their own terms using creative performance modes that communicate first at the community level as they simultaneously establish a world wide web of performance practice beyond the innercity. Ultimately, this paper analyses the unique ways in which this music and its videoscape provide agency and mobility for largely disenfranchised youth, their messages and lifestyles behind and in front of the videolight. While a focus on urban visualscapes characterised by reggae and dancehall has been largely underrepresented in the scholarship on communication and visual culture studies broadly, this paper positions the context of amateur dancehall video creation vis-à-vis professional video commercialisation in contemporary debates about visual culture.
 
Norman & Dawbarn, the UCWI, and Tropical Modernist Architecture in Jamaica – Suzanne Francis-Brown and Peter Francis
 
British modernist architect Graham Dawbarn laid the design baseline for the University College of the West Indies and its associated teaching hospital in the late 1940s and early 1950s, with layouts and buildings that reflected responsiveness to climate and a spare sensibility. The UCWI was one of the early greenfield universities of the period, contemporaneous with Ibadan in Nigeria and others, as Britain sought to ameliorate negative conditions in its colonies towards the end of empire. Dawbarn, the surviving partner of recognised British architectural firm Norman & Dawbarn, did work that paralleled that of other, better recognised British architects working in the tropics post-World War II; work that would continue in other universities in the decolonising empire. In the end, the firm’s contribution to modern architecture of the tropics, through the UCWI project, married new technology, available materials, an efficient ordering and planning system, and a respect and response to environmental conditions, if not historical landscape or context.
 
Building Belmopan: Establishing a Capital for an Independent Belize – Shannon Ricketts
 
As the British colony of British Honduras prepared for independence, it adopted two important symbols of its emerging identity: the name of Belize was chosen for the new country and a new capital was planned from which this emerging nation would be governed. That new capital was called Belmopan and was to be established inland from the old coastal capital of Belize City. Designed by the British planning and architectural firm of Norman & Dawbarn, this new city followed in the tradition of British Garden City planning, while its
architecture made discrete reference to the Mayan heritage of the region, within the modernist architectural vocabulary typical of so much of the infrastructural development taking place at this time in various nations emerging from colonial status.  
 
New capitals were being designed and constructed throughout the former British empire: 1954 saw the rise of a new Punjabi capital, Chandigarh, while in 1960 two new capitals appeared, Islamabad (Pakistan) and Brasilia (Brazil). In 1970 – the same year that Belmopan was officially opened – Dodoma was begun in Tanzania and Abuja in Nigeria. The designs for these new cities followed established European precedents, usually organised on Garden City planning principles, while the architecture reflected the tenets of the modernist movement in both aesthetic and philosophical objectives. New nations were being prepared for independence with shining new examples of “tropical architecture”, providing muchneeded amenities such as hospitals, schools, university campuses, and administrative  buildings.  
 
While Belmopan was, perhaps, the smallest example of these new planned cities, it followed in the same tradition. This article examines the historical, aesthetic and theoretical underpinnings of the work of the architects and planners involved in these designs, comparing the work of continental European architects and their admirers to British-inspired designs appearing in the new Commonwealth countries. Finally, the article looks at the original plans for Belmopan, its original architecture, and discuss how the city has evolved over the twentieth century to answer the needs of its growing population.
 
Albert Helman: Between Erudition and ‘Primitivity’ – The Odyssey of a Europeanised Surinamese – Johanna W. Visée
 
Through three works of the Surinamese author Albert Helman (1903–1996) – South-SouthWest, The End of the Map and Chieftains of Oayapok! – the traumatic experience of “colonialism in the soul” is examined and thus the psychological dichotomy of distance/proximity, the sense of alienation and the wish to “belong to”, the traumatic split between two worlds (in this case Surinam/South-America and the Netherlands/Europe), the relation between culture (ratio) and nature (instinct, “primitivity”), civilisation and identity.  Centuries of humiliation stay at the roots of the problem leading to different kinds of reaction or counter-action at an individual and collective level – on the other hand the way peoples of the colonising part of the world have learned to look at the ‘other’.
 
Challenging the Negative Image of Postcolonial, Post-conflict and Post-disaster Destinations Using Events: The Case of Haiti – Hugues Séraphin, Mustafeed Zaman and Anestis Fotiadis
 
Postcolonial, post-conflict and post-disaster (PCCD) destinations may struggle to attract visitors because of their negative image, or the lack of education of tourists at the pre-visit stage. One study on Haiti found that pre-visit education of tourists can affect destination image recovery, but no studies so far have shown the effect of combined tourist education and events development. This article addresses that gap by providing some preliminary evidence that festivals and cultural events are an effective type of activity to be used at the pre-visit stage of the tourism process to give a positive image of a destination and encourage potential visitors to travel to the destination. That said, further research on the potential of festivals and cultural events like needs to be conducted, in order to identify the extent to
which people will actually visit a PCCD destination after having attended an event related to that destination in their own country.

ABSTRACTS
 
‘Prime Time’ Geographies: Dancehall Performance, Visual Communication and the Philosophy of ‘Boundarylessness’ – Sonjah Stanley Niaah
 
The video camera or more popularly the ‘videolight’, forms part of the popular mechanism for channeling images and messages of/from Jamaican popular culture into ‘prime time’ visibility, both inside and beyond Jamaica. Using ‘boundarylessness’ as a theoretical point of departure, this paper expands research I have conducted on the phenomenon of the videolight, the making of dancehall celebrities, and the evolution of the dancehall performance aesthetic afforded by the spectacle of, and for the videolight. Premised on over fifteen years of research examining a period of over sixty years, and using a combination of participant observation, visual ethnography, case studies and content analysis, the paper establishes that dancehall celebrities of urban Kingston are produced and catapulted into the global domain on their own terms using creative performance modes that communicate first at the community level as they simultaneously establish a world wide web of performance practice beyond the innercity. Ultimately, this paper analyses the unique ways in which this music and its videoscape provide agency and mobility for largely disenfranchised youth, their messages and lifestyles behind and in front of the videolight. While a focus on urban visualscapes characterised by reggae and dancehall has been largely underrepresented in the scholarship on communication and visual culture studies broadly, this paper positions the context of amateur dancehall video creation vis-à-vis professional video commercialisation in contemporary debates about visual culture.
 
Norman & Dawbarn, the UCWI, and Tropical Modernist Architecture in Jamaica – Suzanne Francis-Brown and Peter Francis
 
British modernist architect Graham Dawbarn laid the design baseline for the University College of the West Indies and its associated teaching hospital in the late 1940s and early 1950s, with layouts and buildings that reflected responsiveness to climate and a spare sensibility. The UCWI was one of the early greenfield universities of the period, contemporaneous with Ibadan in Nigeria and others, as Britain sought to ameliorate negative conditions in its colonies towards the end of empire. Dawbarn, the surviving partner of recognised British architectural firm Norman & Dawbarn, did work that paralleled that of other, better recognised British architects working in the tropics post-World War II; work that would continue in other universities in the decolonising empire. In the end, the firm’s contribution to modern architecture of the tropics, through the UCWI project, married new technology, available materials, an efficient ordering and planning system, and a respect and response to environmental conditions, if not historical landscape or context.
 
Building Belmopan: Establishing a Capital for an Independent Belize – Shannon Ricketts
 
As the British colony of British Honduras prepared for independence, it adopted two important symbols of its emerging identity: the name of Belize was chosen for the new country and a new capital was planned from which this emerging nation would be governed. That new capital was called Belmopan and was to be established inland from the old coastal capital of Belize City. Designed by the British planning and architectural firm of Norman & Dawbarn, this new city followed in the tradition of British Garden City planning, while its
architecture made discrete reference to the Mayan heritage of the region, within the modernist architectural vocabulary typical of so much of the infrastructural development taking place at this time in various nations emerging from colonial status.  
 
New capitals were being designed and constructed throughout the former British empire: 1954 saw the rise of a new Punjabi capital, Chandigarh, while in 1960 two new capitals appeared, Islamabad (Pakistan) and Brasilia (Brazil). In 1970 – the same year that Belmopan was officially opened – Dodoma was begun in Tanzania and Abuja in Nigeria. The designs for these new cities followed established European precedents, usually organised on Garden City planning principles, while the architecture reflected the tenets of the modernist movement in both aesthetic and philosophical objectives. New nations were being prepared for independence with shining new examples of “tropical architecture”, providing muchneeded amenities such as hospitals, schools, university campuses, and administrative  buildings.  
 
While Belmopan was, perhaps, the smallest example of these new planned cities, it followed in the same tradition. This article examines the historical, aesthetic and theoretical underpinnings of the work of the architects and planners involved in these designs, comparing the work of continental European architects and their admirers to British-inspired designs appearing in the new Commonwealth countries. Finally, the article looks at the original plans for Belmopan, its original architecture, and discuss how the city has evolved over the twentieth century to answer the needs of its growing population.
 
Albert Helman: Between Erudition and ‘Primitivity’ – The Odyssey of a Europeanised Surinamese – Johanna W. Visée
 
Through three works of the Surinamese author Albert Helman (1903–1996) – South-SouthWest, The End of the Map and Chieftains of Oayapok! – the traumatic experience of “colonialism in the soul” is examined and thus the psychological dichotomy of distance/proximity, the sense of alienation and the wish to “belong to”, the traumatic split between two worlds (in this case Surinam/South-America and the Netherlands/Europe), the relation between culture (ratio) and nature (instinct, “primitivity”), civilisation and identity.  Centuries of humiliation stay at the roots of the problem leading to different kinds of reaction or counter-action at an individual and collective level – on the other hand the way peoples of the colonising part of the world have learned to look at the ‘other’.
 
Challenging the Negative Image of Postcolonial, Post-conflict and Post-disaster Destinations Using Events: The Case of Haiti – Hugues Séraphin, Mustafeed Zaman and Anestis Fotiadis
 
Postcolonial, post-conflict and post-disaster (PCCD) destinations may struggle to attract visitors because of their negative image, or the lack of education of tourists at the pre-visit stage. One study on Haiti found that pre-visit education of tourists can affect destination image recovery, but no studies so far have shown the effect of combined tourist education and events development. This article addresses that gap by providing some preliminary evidence that festivals and cultural events are an effective type of activity to be used at the pre-visit stage of the tourism process to give a positive image of a destination and encourage potential visitors to travel to the destination. That said, further research on the potential of festivals and cultural events like needs to be conducted, in order to identify the extent to
which people will actually visit a PCCD destination after having attended an event related to that destination in their own country.   
 
 
 

Social and Economic Equity and Stability: Achievable for Most if Not for All – Jane E. Bennett

 Sustainable development is a realistic objective on the political agenda of every nation.  Belize, even as a fledgling nation, is no exception and to achieve this global objective the political will must be in place to ensure social and economic equity and stability for most, if not all, members of the Belizean population. According to theorist John J. Macionis, there is debate among sociologists on some economic situations that consider the shape and capacity of the economy and other social institutions, and how these are interwoven.  In his historical overview of the economy, Macionis says that food, clothing and shelter must be compared to luxury items like automobiles, swimming pools and yachts.  Other factors to consider include the role of religious leaders, as well as the inclusion of (other) political roles: physicians, police officers and telephone operators.  He also discusses examination of the value of goods and services to ensure survival, to make life easier and more interesting or more beautiful. He states that products and the consumption thereof are also important to our self-image and social identity; how these are distributed in our society shapes the lives of each of us in different basic ways.  Macionis includes in this discussion complex economies which mark modern industrial societies that are products of centuries of technological innovation. The theories of Macionis are one of a few perspectives reviewed as it applies to the Belizean context for the purposes of this paper. This paper will examine the evidence of social and economic equity and stability, or the lack thereof, in the Belizean society today and how sustainable development is attainable using existing and accessible technology in correlation with relevant models from the global platform.

Human Capital Theory: Implications for Educational Development in Belize and the Caribbean – Lerory Almendarez

 The belief that education is an engine of growth rests on the quality and quantity of education in a country. Formal education is highly instrumental and necessary to improve the production capacity of a nation and therefore, it is imperative that substantive investment is made in human capital. Empirical evidence of human capital models identify and reveal that investment in education has a positive correlation with economic growth and development. Criteria for the applicability and problems associated with the theory are identified and the implications for educational development are highlighted. Conclusively, this paper recommends that for education to contribute significantly to economic growth and development, it must be of a high quality to meet the skill-demand needs of the economy.

A Model for Designing and Facilitating Virtual Learning in Belize: Addressing Faculty Needs and Contextualisation – Kathleen P. King

 Faculties are faced with a constellation of challenges embedded in virtual learning. One of the greatest needs for them in this context is how to design distance learning courses which address the needs of current and prospective students while upholding academic excellence, remaining feasible to develop, addressing the goals of both learners and stakeholders, and providing a dialogue-based learning experience (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Palloff & Pratt, 2004; Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). Course design and faculty facilitation are two powerful ways to maintain retention and increase participation in virtual courses. This paper provides a model as well as trends and lessons for faculty support, course design and facilitation. The significance and purpose of this paper is to assist institutions and faculty in Belize to determine how to envision, plan, design, and facilitate online classes which will best address the many demands they need to satisfy.

Training Caribbean Literacy Professionals Online: Challenges and Possibilities – Michelle McAnuff-Gumbs

 Prior to the year 2000, no specific training program for literacy professionals at the Masters’ level was available in the English-speaking Caribbean region. Hence, the University of the West Indies Open Campus’ attempt at using the online mode to train reading specialists in the use of research-based practices represents a fairly bold innovation; research is needed to determine the efficacy of such a venture. The paper examines the implications of online training for the effectiveness of literacy coaches being trained to operate in the English-speaking Caribbean. It looks specifically at the professionals’ expressed willingness to implement practices learned in the online space into their own practice. Through an analysis of a series of asynchronous learning conversations involving four group facilitators and seventy-seven teacher trainees in an online best practice course in the programme, the reactions of coaches-in-training to exemplary practices to which they were being exposed is revealed. Using a socio-cognitive lens through which to examine such learning conversations, the researcher demonstrates the movement in the cognitive response of trainees from awe and admiration, from skepticism that practices can work in Caribbean settings and finally, on being presented with images of exemplary practices in Caribbean contexts, to an eagerness to emulate practices observed. The study reveals that, while Caribbean teachers tend to initially admire depictions of best practice in resources “borrowed from more privileged contexts” and readily available online, they ultimately respond with some level of cognitive distancing and skepticism that may prevent them from applying practices observed to their own instruction. Trainees’ suggestions regarding adjustments to be made to the virtual environment become the basis for recommendations for the mounting and maintenance of a teaching resource repository to be used for training and professional development purposes by Caribbean teachers and teacher trainers.

Harmonising Nursing Education: Theory and Practice – Marjorie E. Parks, Laura Tucker Longsworth, and Isidora Espadas

 The gap between theory and practice has been a prevailing problem in nursing and midwifery. In addition to having to be adequately prepared for their future professional role, nursing students have to seamlessly fit into the nursing workforce upon graduation. This requires a smooth transition between the academic and practice areas. However, despite much discussion and several efforts to implement various integration strategies, newly graduated nurses often confront an array of physical, technical, and mental challenges in bridging the academic and clinical divide. The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues and challenges related to student nurses’ professional development, focusing on mechanisms to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The authors use Benner’s (1984) model of skills acquisition and stages of clinical competence (novice to expert), and Watson’s (1985) caring nursing theory as framework for the discussion. Academic issues, including recruitment and selection of students, attrition and completion, and retention are discussed, as well as methods used to facilitate students acquisition of technical, clinical skills. Practice issues that are explored include quality of care issues, and bridging mechanisms including orientation, preceptoring, coaching, and mentoring. The roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders are highlighted and recommendations are made for the process to formalise the “school–service” relationship. Nursing practice is considered within the context of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Regional Nursing Body Standards, and other regional initiatives and commitments.

Integrating Education on Climate Change in the UWI Open Campus: Promoting Sustainable Development in CARICOM – Emily Dick-Forde

Education about the environment, including climate change, prompts participants to understand why there is a need for change to do things differently, and ultimately empowers people to promote and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. The seriousness of the climate challenge cannot be overstated. The Caribbean is overexposed as a tropical island region to the negative impacts of climate change. This essay argues for the UWI Open Campus to take up the challenge to provide education at varying levels in an eLearning mode for access by citizens across the region and its diaspora. It is observed that globally, many regions and institutions of higher learning have embraced the need for a definite and accessible response to the challenge of sustainable development of which climate change is a major player. The paper reviews online climate change educational resources, revealing a common thread of community networking across distances and capacity building in physical communities. It also suggests that the UWI Open Campus should embrace this focus on community learning and development to, inter alia, leverage the community-level legacy role of the Open Campus, forged by its precedents in Extra Mural Studies and its Schools of Continuing Studies over the decades.  The region needs to respond to climate change in a manner that reflects the widely held understanding of our vulnerability to its potential impacts.

Building an Effective Oil Spill Response Mechanism for Belize: Obligations, Threats and Challenges – Lloyd Jones

 Belize currently has no oil spill response mechanism in place. The National Emergency Preparedness Plan for Oil Spills (NEPPOS) was adopted circa 1995–1996 and the tangible assets necessary for the actual physical response at sea are inadequate to effectively address a marine spill event. The risks of an oil spill in Belize’s pristine marine environment is very real and Belize has an obligation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Cartagena Convention to protect and preserve its marine environment by putting in place a sound and effective oil spill response mechanism. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly associate the presence of booms, skimmers, boats and other such paraphernalia with the existence of an effective oil spill response mechanism. The constituents of a sound spill response mechanism comprise of more than just physical assets and must be predicated upon four main pillars: legal, scientific, financial, and diplomatic. These intangibles must be defined, harmonised, coordinated and exercised in order to build a credible oil spill response mechanism. Whereas the issue of offshore drilling is topical in Belize today, there are existing threats to the marine environment from international shipping to which little attention has been given. This paper therefore examines the process of building an effective oil spill response mechanism to address the current threats from shipping bearing in mind Belize’s international obligations and her domestic limitations.

Why Are Garifuna Students Underachieving in Our Primary and Secondary Schools? –  Joseph O. Palacio

 There is great need to spotlight the overlap between education and ethnic identity as two primary variables within the analysis of who Belizeans are, and how we are transforming ourselves on approaching the fourth decade of post-independence. Using qualitative and quantitative data, this study shows that Garifuna students are performing at lower levels compared to their peers; it also shows that they are performing within a cloud of ambiguity on their ethnic identity. The analysis uncovers several social, economic, and cultural factors that impact their educational performance and cultural identity.