Rex N

Social and cultural historian, political analyst, trade union educator, artist, expert on development and cultural dynamics, man of letters - these represent only a few of the areas of expertise of Rex Nettleford, one of the Caribbean's finest scholars. This carefully selected collection of 42 of Nettleford's speeches can only provide a mere glimpse of his formidable intellect and his contribution to the search for and validation of a Caribbean cultural identity. Known affectionately in academic, cultural, literary and artistic circles the world over, simply as Rex, this informal and unpretentious designation is used to capture the essence of the man whose ideas and speeches can be said to collectively represent the 'Triumph of the Caribbean Spirit and Imagination'. Readers who have had the privilege of hearing one or more of Rex Nettleford's speeches will agree with Barry Chevannes that 'Reading Rex Nettleford is not quite the same as hearing him...even when the ideas are the same...to hear Rex Nettleford address an audience is to be treated to a performance.' Of Nettleford, Chevannes writes: 'As a Caribbean man, Nettleford himself embodies the multilayered complexity which he insists is characteristic of the region, a five-foot eleven black man with rhythm in his steps and intertexuality in his living, who exercises the powers of his creative imagination to help his fellow tenants hold on to their legacy of a sense of self, for which monumental work he is a much revered, much appreciated voice teaching lessons for life on all the continents tenanted by homo sapiens.