Group Reflection #1

Project Kick Off

Group 6 consist of nine (9) members in total, however we are suspecting that one of the members is no longer a part of the class. At present the membership consist of the following persons:

1. Adrian Best - 816040766, 
2. Debra Paponette-Rochford- 808010984,
3. Jevon Francois - 813004473
4. Chriselle Benjamin, 
5. Jared Blackmann, 
6. Lytrell Pujadas - 816016031
7. Aaqil Felix - 816041791 
8. Anastazia Andrews-816042719.
9. Mishak Peters - 816023343

By method of voting the group has chosen to research the topic: The First People. We chose First People’s because it is both a location, festival, and technically people, so there is a lot that can be gained from researching about it, and it would without a doubt have a lot of intriguing material. We agreed to divide the reseach into focus areas for each person to pursue.

• Mishak will research their food,
• Anastazia will research the religious practices
• Debra will look at the cultural influences in our music and dance
• Chriselle will explore their leadership structure
• Aaqil will be researching their geographical locations
• Lytrell will be looking into their influences into art
• Adrian will be looking into their history as well as sharing on the official First Peoples Day.
• Jevon will be covering the First People's Day

Mode of communication: WhatsApp, In person meeting, group call (google meet/whatsApp)

Research methods: For gathering credible information on the groups’ history we would be engaging the use of the National reference library, citing scholarly works and maybe, if things go well we are aiming to a conversation with a descendant. This will give us access to the heart and mind which on most occasions cannot always be captured or appreciated through pen and paper.

Findings

Luckily, this month is Santa Rosa's First Peoples Hertiage Week in Arima. Miskhak was in the area in Saturday 14th October, 2023 to capture some images and ground research. One interesting thing about our research is exploring the history of the First Peoples; a conversation most of us would have ended in secondary school. Adrian shared that the very first "Trinidadians" included Amerindians of the Kalina, Warao, Kalipuna, Nepuyo, Taino, Aruaca and Carib peoples. They in fact shaped who we are and influenced many everyday activities we take for granted, from foods that are seasonal favorites to music and even the names of the towns and villages we reside in. Jevon was able to make some headway into his research area. He confessed that  this is the first time he heard about the first people, and while he doesn’t  like doing research this topic was interesting to  venture into, its funny how there are some much cultural history right here in Trinidad and Tobago and yet still some of us know nothing about it’s existence, his  research is still on going and we hope that this experience encourages him to do some more research on our rich cultural history. On another note Mishak investigated the food of our First people. The food of our ancestors of Trinidad and Tobago are no secret, they are still very common to this day and show no signs of going anywhere. We hope to uncover not only where the food came from, but how it was prepared since back then there were no fancy modern kitchen tools and utensils to prepare dishes. Research so far is going great, there are lots of articles online and elders that Mishak will be speaking with to help with extrapolating the information. There is so much richness in the information we have gathered to date. It truly gives us a different view on our current lives; the way we speak, what we eat, where we live...all inspired by our forefathers and in some ways our First People. Aaqil is venturing into the vast geographical location of the First People within our cultural pride of Trinidad and Tobago. This has been a journey thus far and it continues to be very interesting to uncover how much of our land in the early history of Trinidad and Tobago was inhabited by the First People’s. Lastly we have seen some similarity in the MayPole dance and our first people dance. One can ague that there is quite a resemblance in the MayPole dance and one of the amerindian dance. Did the colonisers take this dance and made it their own?

Relevance to the Arts

We have begun to appreciate this assignment as it has exposed how much of our arts embody elements handed down to us. It is in the fabric of our cloth the steps in our dance the music that we listen to. While it can be agued that the authenticity of the heritage is lost we do see this group fighting to keep it alive and as future artist it should be our desire to keep it alive as best we can by paying homage to the first people in painting, drawing, melody, song or dance

Challenges

Some areas of research are proving difficult to acquire information. Anastazia is challenged in finding information on the religious practices. However she will visit the libraries in the coming weeks to investigate further. Aaqil also shared the same concern where there is a challenge to gathering sufficient information on the First People. There isn’t much written records on them but he’s committed to discovering as much info as he can and learn all that he can about our foundation heritage in Trinidad and Tobago. As a group we face the obvious challenge of planning and coordinating our efforts as we work together.  The fact is that we have Caribbean Lab once a week thus as a group we may only engage with each other during that class as we come from different disciplines. We do have a group chat but we would have to decide on additional meeting times so that we can ensure we keep track of out project timelines and its deliverables. 

Next Steps

• Set a weekly touchpoint to gauge where we are and what we have to complete
• Continue researching our relevant focus areas for the topic chosen
• Plan trip to capture images for research
• Discuss what our final presentation will comprise off

Overall, we are on the road to success, and look forward to see what we can produce together!!