The congratulations and anecdotes from family and friends had brought a quiet smile to Marlene Penn Trotman at her 75th birthday dinner on April 12, and I was about to add my own appreciation of “Marlene’s Kitchen,” that radio programme with a simple title that regularly dispenses wisdom with great humour. It had been recently interrupted by anxious weeks of waiting for news of its presenter’s health, concluded by a casual announcement that “the next programme will be ‘Marlene’s Kitchen’” – business as usual. However, before I could say my piece at her dinner, I was transfixed by three words somebody else breezed in and out: “a cultural icon.”

 

My Oxford dictionary gives several meanings for “cultural,” including “the customs and civilisation of a particular people or group (e.g. West Indian culture);” and “the qualities and values that give stability to a society and keep its communities together” — but also “the appreciation of and understanding of literature, arts, music, etc.” To these definitions, we might add “enjoyment of the culinary arts and the knowledge of where to find or how to grow the most appropriate ingredients,” giving vibrance and life to what otherwise might seem to many people too solemn and weighty a subject.

Good teachers

The Virgin Islands has long been blessed with cultural icons like Ms. Penn Trotman, like leaven in the staff of life. These community members’ knowledge, pronouncements and example have earned our respect, but what do they have in common — musicians, writers, sportsmen, entrepreneurs, clergymen, historians and other community leaders? They are usually good teachers by example, although not necessarily members of our revered teaching profession. Their talents are obvious but often worn lightly on the sleeve, and all have a willingness to impart their wisdom, share their talents and prepare the next generation to take their places. However, they also recognise the need for intellectual integrity — guesstimates as to the ingredients of a recipe really will not do. What a powerhouse for good might be created by bringing together a group of them to consider the challenges and changes facing our cultural heritage.

Richard Branson based his concept of the “Global Elders,” whom he has hosted on Necker Island, on the elders in an African village to whom the rest of the villagers look up and respect. The first 12 elders were chosen by Nelson Mandela (its founding member) after he was no longer president of South Africa and his wife Graca Machel and included other such morally influential leaders as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Their mission has been to advise, not command.

Unasked question

“A cultural icon” sounded like the answer to an unasked question that evening. Since then, questions simmering in my subconscious have forced themselves to the surface like a volcanic explosion. As the molten lava has cooled I have experienced several disparate happenings coalescing around a big question that has thrown up related answers to other questions: What makes an authentic “cultural icon,” and what roles should they play in our society?

A few of the first questions arose in response to comments by a talk show host critical of holding the Virgin Gorda festival at Easter, who argued that the event is uncultural as we are a religious community. However, in pointing out that countries like Trinidad are careful to celebrate at dates that avoid impinging on Lent, critics overlook Carnival’s origin in Roman Catholic countries as a last fling before entering the solemn Lenten season.

So what is VI culture and from what is it derived? Above all, who are the final arbiters as to what is cultural or uncultural?

Those initial questions were followed by a host of others that bubbled to the surface when I noticed a few contradictory and dated facts in a recent edition of one of the territory’s most reputable and widely read tourist guides. Has Sage Mountain shrunk or become taller because it says so?

National archives

Other questions arose during the longest discussion I’ve had with an elderly cousin for 30 years. He was anxious to share and unburden himself of family and local memories while he was mentally and physically able to do so. I felt so enriched by his outpouring that I wished I had brought a tape recorder to church with me, but where was our equivalent of the rows of bound oral history interviews I had seen in the National Archives on Grand Cayman?

The Public Library launched an ambitious programme of digitisation of its local records, documents and publications during Library Week, but why the deafening silence during the preceding Archives Week?

Why isn’t the vacant post of government archivist filled in order to assist the hard-pressed acting chief records management officer? And why has the long-awaited Records Management and Archives Act 2010 not yet come into force? Is it safe to leave decisions on our cultural heritage entirely to politicians, or should there be a panel of cultural icons to advise them?

There are also many questions that need to be answered with intellectual honesty to be true to our visitors and ourselves, including the following:

Why is the turtle dove our national bird when it is the Zenaida dove that is common here?

Did Robert Louis Stevenson, who died on a Pacific island, really know the contours of our own Norman Island?

Regular meetings

A small secretariat could be created to support the icons’ (quarterly?) meetings — either within the Culture Department, with special links to the National Archives and Library Services Department; or perhaps as an non-profit organisation open to grants from the private sector and charity foundations, and initiating self-funded projects, like producing publications for sale. It could also administer the proposed “online community diary” I recommended in the Beacon last June, with a charge for inclusion in it of anything more than a simple announcement.

Another vital service that could be run at a profit would be to provide services to geneatourists who prefer to use them in the early stages of their research rather than incur considerable travel and accommodation costs finding information on their ancestors only available locally. This way, they could find the records they need on their first visit, making it a memorable, productive and enjoyable experience for them and adding to our own knowledge of our culture, diaspora and family history.

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