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The Honourable Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley.Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
The significance and depth of Louise Bennett-Coverley's contribution to Jamaican culture is underscored by the number of areas the conference surrounding her at the University of the West Indies (UWI) this week will encompass.
Starting on Wednesday, January 9, and going through to Saturday, January 12, 'No Lickle Twang: Louise Bennett-Coverley, the Legend and the Legacy' will examine her work in and effect on theatre, language, cultural studies and literature.
As such, a number of departments at the UWI have combined their efforts to stage the conference, among them the Department of Literatures in English. Its head, Anthea Morrison, describes the four-day event as part celebration, part remembrance and an examination of how the legacy continues.
Valorise language
Morrison also points out that it comes at the beginning of the UWI's 60th anniversary celebrations.
"There is a wide range of issues, but at the centre is how Miss Lou taught us to valorise our own language," she says.
As such, it is significant that when the invitation for papers to be submitted for 'No Lickle Twang' was issued in English and Jamaican. And, considering Miss Lou's tremendous impact on the performing arts, it is appropriate that "we have a combination of panels and performance".
"We do not want it to be a strictly academic presentation," Morrison said. "We hope that there will be a wide cross section of Jamaicans there."
Carolyn Allen of the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, which is also heavily involved in staging 'No Lickle Twang', says, "Whereas we have had celebrations and honourings of various kinds (of Miss Lou), we have not had serious academic work yet and sat down and done some reasoning about the work and impact on society."
When all the presentations are over, Allen says, "It is an academic conference, so there is an intention to publish the papers."
Morrison also spoke to the papers at the conference being published, but also says, "It is important for the university to say how much we appreciate her. We want to make it clear that Miss Lou is someone we value.
"It is a conference on how she started something and how other persons have carried it forward," Morrison says.
And Allen expressed the hope that 'No Lickle Twang' will "generate some self-confidence and self-evaluation".
Papers, performance, memories for 'Miss Lou'
When 'No Lickle Twang: Louise Bennett-Coverley, The Legend and the Legacy' begins officially on Wednesday, it will not be the typical academic conference.
Hosted at the Social Sciences Lecture Theatre of the University of the West Indies (UWI), each day will feature a blend of presentation of academic papers and remembrances of Miss Lou, as Bennett-Coverley was popularly called, by some of those who knew and worked with her.
The opening ceremony takes place at the Undercroft of the Senate Building on Wednesday, January 9, at 6:00 p.m., with Professor Emeritus Mervyn Morris giving the keynote address. Poet, Joan Andrea Hutchinson and the UWI's Panoriddim Orchestra will perform.
Academic panels
The academic panels begin on Thursday at 11:00 a.m., with Jean Small, Michael Bucknor, Susan Gingell, Maureen Webster Prince and Frances Salmon discussing 'Poetry, Orality and Performance: Currents in Caribbean Criticism'. The following day, also at 11:00 a.m., Opal Adissa Palmer, Aisha Spencer and Janet Neigh will examine 'Louise Bennett and the Politics of Gender'.
There is a double on the closing day of 'No Lickle Twang', Saturday, January 12. At 9:00 a.m. Cecele Matthis, Barbara Gloudon, Ros Ann Walker and Donna Hope will discuss 'Miss Lou: Values and Ethics', with Amina Blackwood-Meeks, Honor Ford Smith, Carol Pinnock and Agostinho Pinnock presenting in 'Talking Nation: Miss Lou and the Politics of Language' at 10:40 a.m.
After the papers in the morning, the 'Remembering Miss Lou' sessions take place at 3:00 p.m. On Thursday, Tony and Linda Gambrill, Peter Asbourne, Lois Kelly-Miller and Easton Lee will speak of their experiences with her, with Lloyd Reckord, Alma Mock-Yen, Louis Marriott and Fae Ellington doing the same on Friday afternoon.
Performances
The performances take place in the evenings at 6:30 p.m., beginning with poets Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mutabaruka and Jean Breeze on Thursday. On Friday, Native American Gene Tageban, Ad-Ziko Simba, Jean Small and a pair of Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) medallists will delve into storytelling, with Marjorie Whylie providing music.
Book launches will also be a part of 'No Lickle Twang', including a reissuing of Laughing With Louise. And, to close off the celebration, a heritage tour on Saturday afternoon, leaving from the Undercroft at 1:00 p.m. will go to focal points in Miss Lou's life, including Gordon Town, Hope Gardens and the Little and Ward theatres.
The tour attracts a fee and those wishing the conference package are also required to pay, but all events are free and the public is invited.
- M.C.
