Culture Matters
Dara E Healy
SIXTH FORM is a scary but exciting time. The young people are not simply entering higher education but are on the cusp of adulthood. Universities and employers typically express a desire for students or employees to be able to critically assess and solve problems.
How can our cultural forms help prepare our youth for a world beyond sixth form?
Critical thinking and imagination are intertwined. Critical thought involves analysing various aspects of a problem to arrive at a solution. Imagination is grounded in curiosity and the ability to come up with new ideas. So, instead of saying, 'The event co-ordinator you suggested didn't respond,' someone who thinks critically would say, 'The event co-ordinator didn't answer, but I got in touch with someone who comes highly recommended.'
To achieve this, they may have contacted a colleague for a recommendation or searched popular business-oriented social media.
But this is not as simple as it sounds. Our work environment is depressingly lacking in people who are able or willing to approach their jobs in this way.
Students at all levels will benefit from the techniques used by cultural practitioners in their creative process. Many of our cultural forms contain ways to boost imagination and foster the critical thinking our society needs. From Ananse (Akan spelling) stories to poetry, dance, calypso, masquerade, Ramleela re-enactments or great Caribbean novels, our creative forms offer opportunities to address specific issues and provide solutions that are relevant to society.
A story could present characters and the world in which the characters operate. Through the characters, a series of events or interactions and particular settings, the storyteller would demonstrate how the issue should be resolved. It is common for stories to have elements of music, movement and costuming.
The storyteller must be aware of the end goal and as the story builds, the steps toward the resolution are slowly revealed to the audience. This methodology may be used to offer answers to social challenges from depression to reclaiming family values or child abuse.
Critical thought is present in other creative forms. Astor Johnson created Sorrows, an emotional dance performed by women dressed in white to Bob Marley's Johnny Was. Astor dramatised Marley's lament about crime and the loss of life in communities, 'Some men travel down twisted roads/And innocent lives get lost…' Astor would have had to work out how the movement should complement the song, costuming, set, lighting and many other considerations.
Experts say the ability to fantasise or visualise scenarios different from our reality is another essential aspect of critical thinking. Increasingly, Caribbean authors are experimenting with other worlds inspired by Carnival, African spirituality or other indigenous traditions.
Nalo Hopkinson is a pioneer of this genre, writing futuristic and fantasy novels inspired by Carnival and folk traditions since the 1990s. Keon Francis recen
