Carolyn Cooper
"An innovative theorist whose highly original work on Jamaican popular culture has stimulated lively debates in the fields of cultural studies, gender studies, Caribbean studies, languages and literature" is how her peers describe her.
Professor Carolyn Cooper, literary scholar, author, senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona is a fervent defender of the Jamaican dancehall.She conceptualised and now heads the University's Reggae Studies Unit. The unit is dedicated to demystifying Jamaican musical culture and unravelling the misunderstandings that surround the genre and its followers.
She is a celebrated author having had published, Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the 'Vulgar' Body of Jamaican Popular Culture (1993), and Border Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large (2004), a provocative study of dancehall culture. These works have established Carolyn Cooper as one of the foremost and influential voices writing on Jamaican contemporary culture today.
Sara Lawrence
Sara Lawrence last year proved that women entering beauty pageants can be brilliant too.
The 21-year-old did Jamaica proud when she made it to the top 16 of the Miss World Competition in Poland last year, a feat which has not been achieved by the country in years. The achievement speaks volumes about her personality as the pageant allowed viewers to vote their favourite contestant in the top 16.
Ms. Lawrence eventually placed among the top six in the competition, walking away as one of the six Continental Queens of Beauty.
"These women will act as ambassadors for Miss World in the continent and will join forces to continue good work across the globe," the official website of the competition stated.
Lawrence has completed a Bachelor of science degree in biology with an emphasis on pre-medicine. She aims to become a medical doctor, specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Claudine Housen/Staff Reporter
Joan Andrea Hutchinson
This phenomenal writer, storyteller, actress, motivational speaker, lecturer, notorious defender of Jamaican patois, and 'bumpy head gyal' will make you "kin teet and ban yuh belly" when she takes to the stage to deliver one of her poems or works of prose.
She first rose tonotoriety in 1996 with the release of her hit debut album Dat Bumpy Head Gal, which she wrote in parody of her getting a lot of flak for wearing the 'chiney-bump' hairstyle on television. She solidified her success with a second album Jamaica Kin Teet including a Reggae Boyz tribute song. She followed up that album with the release of Everyting Jamaican, continuing her activities in writing poems and stories in the Jamaican language.
It comes as no surprise that she is an avid fan and scholar of the late Dr. Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley. She has even authored a poem, Tenky Miss Lou, Tenky, in her honour. In 2004 Hutchinson published a book of poems and prose called Meck Mi Tell Yuh.
One of the few living souls dedicated to preserving Jamaican culture, Joan Andrea Hutchinson is respected by her fellow defenders of the local dialect.
It is a delight to note that her writing skills were partially honed through her being a columnist for The Sunday Gleaner.
Paula Gunter
She knew how to count to 100 before she set foot in a classroom. She was the designated coin counter in her mother's store. It therefore surprised nobody when she announced she was ready for school at age two.
Founder of the two-year-old organisation, The Math Clinic, which specialises in teaching tertiary-level students advanced mathematics and physics, Dr. Paula Gunter credits her zeal for school to her older sister.
When her sister, five years her senior, lined out her stuffed toys to play school, young Paula was among those 'pupils'. But unlike the other 'students', when the teacher asked if they understood, she actually did.
This marked the start of her positive relationship with education.
Next step
She invested an extra year at Howard University doing her Bachelor of Science degree, in order to do what would translate today into a double major in mathematics and physics. With two masters, one from Cornell University in experimental physics and another from Howard University in mathematics, her next step was a Ph.D. in mathematics.
Dr. Gunter, 41, has worked as a Pew fellow at Howard University, where she helped prepare others with Ph.D.s for the classroom. Being a part of the High Energy Physics group allowed her to do some consultancy work for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Washington. She also worked with a group of plastic surgeons to develop a computer programme which allowed them to refine their work and help determine how well a scar would heal.
Now her aim is to take a comprehensive approach to teaching mathematics and physics so students and teachers can learn to love both subjects.
