Caribbean Scholars Association celebrates revival with expo

The Caribbean Scholars Association (CSA) celebrated its revival on the Athens Campus by hosting an expo on Oct. 23 in Baker University Center Ballroom.

The student organization had been dormant for several years until re-emerging last spring at the International Street Fair.

The 2019 expo featured guest speakers and displayed many things from the Caribbean, including art, research, music, books, food and drinks, musical instruments and artifacts.

Guyana native Lloyda Garrett, vice president of CSA and lead coordinator for the expo, explained the decision to revive the CSA.

"We have been part of the fabric of the community here and we've been adding to the campus for many years,” Garrett said. "Now that we have a good amount of people, we decided this would be a good time to restart the organization because it allows us to celebrate what we bring to the community and engage all of the students."

A master's student studying Latin American Studies, Garrett said CSA hosted the expo because they had enough educational and cultural items to display at the event.

"This type of event allowed us to bring a little bit of the Caribbean to Athens," Garrett said. "We feel a sense of home here at OHIO where we have felt so welcome."

The keynote speaker was Guyana native Dr. Vibert Cambridge, professor emeritus, School of Media Arts and Studies. He shed some light on the long history of the Caribbean people in the world and in Athens.

"The Caribbean is an old and deep space," Dr. Cambridge said.

He said the Caribbean students’ relationship with Ohio University was established more than 50 years ago. Dr. Cambridge said when he moved to Athens in the 1970s with his family, they had to travel to Hocking College in nearby Nelsonville, Ohio, to get Caribbean jerk foods and seasonings.

“Hocking College would have hospitality students from Jamaica, and they were introducing jerk into Southeastern Ohio,” Dr. Cambridge said. “Today we go into Kroger and buy jerk seasoning by McCormick. We’ve seen this type of progression before.”

In closing, he told the Caribbean students, "You can help grow this University into places it has never grown before."

Popular Guyana sculptor Winslow Craig served as a guest speaker at the event. He also shared his knowledge about the rich history of the Caribbean region and its people and shared some slides of his many magnificent works of art.

Erika Hidalgo, a senior sociology and criminology major from New York City, said she enjoyed learning about other cultures and the expo gave her the feeling of a family environment.

"Being a student from the Dominican Republic, it's good to be here surrounded by other students from the area," she said. "It's nice to know that there are other people like me in Athens and I'm not alone as a Caribbean person. I really enjoyed being here today.”

Hidalgo said one of her favorite parts of the expo was finding out more about Winslow Craig's art.

"I loved hearing him talk about how he focuses his artwork on environmental issues and how he connects it to his native Guyana and the history of the Caribbean,” she said.

Jamaica native Anna-Kaye Rowe, president of CSA and second-year doctoral student in higher education and student affairs, said many people don't even know what the word Caribbean means or represents.

"They may know Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago, but we wanted to highlight that there is so much more to it," she said. "We're known for more than our culture, entertainment, Reggae music and fast athletes. We wanted to showcase the diversity and richness of the Caribbean region.”