Discussion: Ryan Cecil Jobson and Sariyah Mohammed
On Wednesday, June 18 at 6:15, join us for a riveting discussion between the University of Chicago's Dr Ryan Cecil Jobson and the LBI's own Sariyah Mohammed. Together, they'll discuss Jobson's book The Petro-state Masquerade: Oil, Sovereignty, and Power in Trinidad and Tobago.
A historical anthropologist, Jobson demonstrates how fossil fuels and political power converged over more than a century of commercial oil and gas production in T&T. While the Trinbagonian petro-state rests on a “masquerade of permanence,” in which state actors represent the nation as an interminable reserve of hydrocarbons, Jobson alerts us to the concurrent masquerades of oilfield workers, activists, and Carnival revelers as the foundation of a new society.
Sariyah Mohammed is an archivist at the Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean. Her 2025 Pierrot Grenade mas, Parrot on Petrol — part of Berkeley Carnival Revolution’s 2025 presentation, "Swell-Headed Com-Unit-Tea" — explored the impacts of oil and gas on the national psyche, drawing inspiration from Jobson's work. Together, Mohammed and Jobson will engage in dialogue on the dynamic histories of oil and insurgency, power and mas in Trinidad and Tobago.
This event will take place at the Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean, 91C Tunapuna Road, Tunapuna, and is presented in collaboration with Bocas Lit Fest and Paper Based. See you there!
Keith Ward exhibition: Opening night
Because of extremely heavy rain and flooding around the country, this event has been rescheduled from Thursday June 12 to Saturday June 14.
The opening night of Keith Ward’s exhibition Tints, Tones & Textures, which continues every day through June 22 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Convois 2025: Education Revolution
Our annual Convois kicks off this Friday, March 21 at 7 p.m! This year, our theme is education. The Lloyd Best Institute intends to spend 2025 figuring out how to put Lloyd Best’s thrilling proposed solutions to our educational problems into practice. Best proposed these ideas in his 1995 speech “School in Pan”, delivered at Scherzando Panyard.
On Friday, opening night, we will hear from radical educator Dr Didacus Jules. There’ll be music, refreshments and a market put on by our sister organisation Caribbean Yard Campus.
On Saturday, we will visit four panyards from St Augustine to Siparia where innovative work in education is being done. To go on the tour with us, please register in advance.
Each day between Monday, March 24 and Friday, March 28, we will be hosting discussions on different themes related to education. We've invited people and organisations engaged in educational work to present on their activities and circumstances, and all are welcome to attend, observe, and discuss. If you’d like to join us, please register in advance.
Copies of Lloyd Best’s speech “School in Pan” will be on sale at all of our events, along with copies of his essay “Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom”. The booklets cost $60 individually and $100 as a set.
You can pay for events and books with cash, or by bank transfer in advance. For bank details, email us at thelloydbestinstitute@gmail.com.
CANCELLED: Lecture by The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley
The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, SC, MP, Prime Minister of Barbados, will deliver the inaugural Lloyd Best Lecture "Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom" on Thursday, March 20 at 6 p.m. This event, which takes place at Daaga Hall, UWI, is presented in collaboration with The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, and is also part of their Distinguished Open Lecture series.
"Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom" is the title of a 1967 essay by Lloyd Best. We at the Lloyd Best Institute are thrilled to hear The Honourable Mia Mottley's reflections on this theme and look forward to sharing this experience with you.
If you'd like to attend the lecture, be sure to register in advance at this link.
Mural painting with Makemba Kunle
Five years ago, a group of volunteer artists began painting a mural at the LBI under the direction of master artist Makemba Kunle. Now we are going to continue that work. All are welcome, and no experience is necessary. To attend, please email thelloydbestinstitute@gmail.com and let us know your name in advance.
Digital archive launch
A year ago, the LBI began working with archivists at Trinity College, CT to digitise its collection of newspapers, photos, pamphlets, letters, speeches and other historical documents related to Lloyd Best and his work. Now that the Trinidad and Tobago Review newspaper has been digitised up to the year 2000, the digital archive — though a work in progress — will be opened up to the public at its site at JSTOR.org.
LBI and Trinity archivists Christina Bleyer, Amanda Matava and Sariyah Mohammed will talk about the project, its execution, and the decolonial values underlying our approach. Then our featured speaker Avril Belfon, Government Archivist at the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago, will give a talk on the state of archives and archiving in T&T.
The event is free to attend and all are welcome!
Become A Volunteer
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud.