This is the Full Lecture of Caribbean Thought week 5, a course at the Jamaica Theological Seminary Lectured by Rev. Renaldo C. McKenzie, Dated February 11, 2023. This is a continuation of week 4 and the Lecture series towards developing a Caribbean Thought Journal. The Lecture was quite powerful as usual. We continued from week 4, conceptualizing the course Caribbean Thought when we had asked, “what is Caribbean Thought, and who determines this?” This week we ask, why who determines this and why is it important for us to revisit the past? The lecture delved into this question by lifting up a current situation in the Caribbean – The Haitian Crisis – where The US and Canada is pressuring the Caribbean to intervene in Haiti on their behalf (See the Podcast/Youtube video with Brian Concannon).

The Neoliberal Round by Renaldo McKenzie Breaking Interview on Haiti with Brian Concannon, Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d8f3cbff-da04-4956-8169-6fc1108545c6/episodes/cd4a46f2-ae99-414b-b3a0-e0a55a4ac76c/the-neoliberal-round-the-neoliberal-round-breaking-interview-with-brian-concannon-on-haitian-justice

We examine this issue in relation to the Caribbean socio-economic challenges which has defined present realities which imposes on cultural identity. We explored this within the context of our understanding of the Caribbean being part of the pan-African struggle for not just independence but economic prosperity that allows them to compete. When we go back in history, we explore situations where the Caribbean’s inability to truly realize pan-African goals in light of strategy that continue to keep these peoples and countries down – Debt. We begin the class by revisiting the conclusion of the class: “…the Caribbean represents a people who have been disrupted, detached, displaced, hybridized and made into dependent capitalist states with some level of modernity to promote consumption within the neoliberal globalized world which is largely a consumer society.” We then moved into Lecture 5 by exploring the course outline: Course Description: This course focuses on and explores the diverse currents of Caribbean Thought, which have influenced the development of Caribbean societies from colonialism to independence and beyond. It traces the history of resistance and examines the quest for equality and the challenge of defining Caribbean identity within this post-colonial and neoliberal Globalized world not just within the geographic sense but also in terms of a diasporic sense…. The course surveys the history and philosophy of the Caribbean and the ways in which the Caribbean has emerged as a society in the shadow of colonialism and emergence of neoliberal Globalization. It examines the central ideological currents of twentieth century political thought in the region and covers broad topics such as Colonialism, Nationalism, Pan-Africanism (See Groups’2 Paper on Pan-Africanism – we defined Pan-Africanism reading from their exceptional essay which delved into Pan Africanism), Socialism, Marxism, Feminism, Democratic Socialism and Neo-Conservatism, Neoliberalism, Globalization and Deconstructivism, Critical Race Theory, Strategy and the Foundations of Knowledge and the Hegemony of Faith, Economic Inequality and Poverty….Among the thinkers/works that will be considered throughout the course are Marcus Garvey, George Padmore, C.L.R. James, V.S. Naipaul, W. Benjamin, M. Foucault, Franz Fanon, Walter Rodney, Fidel Castro, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga, Bob Marley Kamau Brathwaite, Edouard Glissant and the Negritude movement generally, Homi Bhabha, Mike Davis, Nelson/Novella Keith, Stephanie Black and Jamaica KinCaid, Garnett Roper, Rex Nettleford and the Professor’s Works We then begin to explore Caribbean thinkers: Ramesh F. Ramsaran who wrote in the Preface of his book, “The Challenge of Structural Adjustment in the Commonwealth Caribbean,” “The structural adjustment issue is, not surprisingly, one surrounded by intense controversy and emotion. This is because it does not concern simply with economic policies or improving government performance but brings into question basic economic philosophy and ideology and may also involve the effective transfer of decision-making from local hands,” (Ramsaran, 1992, p. xix.) We then explore George Padmore, C.L.R James, Bob Marley, Edward Seago, Bob Marley as being influenced by Pan-Africanism and socialist drive for freedom. Yet Bob Marley said “we not Marxists or Capitalists” in a Who Shot the Sheriff seen in a Netflix documentary film. Edward Seaga himself was seen as the father of Reagonomics in Jamaica yet he was not a big fan of “trickle-down” economics. We played a film looking at C.L.R James life and his book “The Jacobins” which is a book from a “sub-altern” perspective, history from below. A history told by the formerly oppressed or the oppressed. He was from Trinidad was interested in the Haitian Revolution and wrote about how Haiti was able to beat Napoleon/Europeans. Yet we say: We celebrate #Haiti as the 1st former colonized black country to successfully lead a revolution beating Napoleon. But France turned around & charged them 24 billion to recognize their freedom which Haiti gullibly paid—that has held them down. We concluded with Edward Seaga PM of Jamaica in a 1983 Lecture: “I wish to talk to you about the strategy which I believe can best attain a quality of life for the peoples of Middle Level countries of the developing world,” (Seaga, 1983, p. 23, in New Directions.)

See the full Lecture below.

Caribbean Thought Lecture 5 – Full Lecture via YouTube

Lecture 5:

…. Needless to say, the Caribbean remains vulnerable and open to penetration from without and exogenous shocks from within and is recreated within the mole and frame of its former masters, since decolonization and independence. These former masters are now landlords within the newly created globalized world where freed men now pay rent. This is the new condition of the Caribbean and the world since decolonization and the drive for a post-colonial world where the Caribbean had a dream of nations of freed men who were sovereign of their own lives met a neoliberal globalized world in the 1970s and beyond, where nationalists succumbed to denationalization of the nation so as to free up globalization. This was a type of globalization (Neoliberal Globalization) that ultimately continued a strategy of pharasaicalism now defined in the 20^th century as the Bureacratic Phenomenon – where established rules made through arrangements only governed the new nations and freed peoples, but the old masters and their new elitist friends of the Washington consensus were largely above those rules, as for them, the law is not a shackle, only those who are within a particular dynamic of life and society.).

The question of what is anything is a question about life requiring an investigation about what is true about reality. Life is what people make it and make of it. When we speak of life, we are talking about the experience of what is or the reality of the experience of those who give meaning to the existence of life through the lived experiences of peoples in spaces and places. The essence of life comes from the relationships between and among people so that we have determined that life is not just what people make it but that life is about people and how they relate within that man-made space. However, Fanon, the Marxist-Psychiatrist anarchist from the colony of Algeria (Now Independent of France) argued in Wretched of the Earth in his psychoanalysis of the black and brown colonized man that their depersonalization was done in order that they could be subdued within the dynamic of life. What is life then, in reality of truth if man comes into the world with a thinking and identity for him or her as if the world was created from without for them to occupy their stations without objection. But the world is created to serve interests. Whose interests? Man or God? But God may be the invocation man has used to justify a space in the dynamic of life, which had given rise to and maintained monarchies, nobilities, popes, wealthy rulers posing as capitalists and Marxists, institutions, empires and peoples privileges and positions in life.

Therefore, the question of what is the Caribbean must also follow who is asking and or who determines this, the subject or the object? This is because the truth of anything is objectified within the subjective usually the dominant view that defines purpose and reality of the thing being objectified. If the Colonized is depersonalized, then he is always in the objective. What is the Caribbean, is a question from thinking about one’s identity[1] concerning a truth about some reality? However, can we know anything given the problem of arriving at truth[2] and knowledge? In fact, Descartes, the father of Phenomenology asserts that we cannot truly know anything outside of our own minds for sure, when he arrived at cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am. Because when one denies his own reality in order that one may begin to come to the truth of reality, he or she can’t help but acknowledge the presence of one’s mind that is thinking. This argument, though limited as it does not provide any deeper understanding of the total reality of life, is important to postcolonial studies and the question of what is. It speaks to the realization of the person in coming to his own reality and understanding of self – the power of the individual’s mind and thinking to shape and realize his own reality and truth. Yet, Fanon writes that the colonized man is depersonalized and a political creature whose idea of the self is estranged from him or her.

But the question of what is the Caribbean also connects to a past, present and a future and must consider where and when does the Caribbean history of the Caribbean and its peoples begin? The Tainoe peoples? Europeans? Africans? The dynamic we currently occupy comes from a history of struggle that has left the Caribbean with a new identity that is in tension.

See the full Lecture of Week 5 in Caribbean Thought in Audio or Video on Spotify

How far must we go in order to study the Caribbean and why? [i]

When you study Caribbean, we say we are studying diverse currents in the Caribbean. So, where do we start, with whom? Michael Manley? Manley himself was influenced by the currents of the polars between the dominant or the west and east from a colonized world. He was accused of being a socialists influenced by the thoughts of people like Fanon, critical thinkers of the postcolonial type. Do we begin with Edward Seaga, himself considered a foreigner by his own countrymen who either led the biggest garrison who was the father of Reagonomics and Thatcherism in Jamaica? But he was of the Adam Smith school, trained at an ivy league school. But these dynamic political figures were cogs within a wider dynamic in society. If you were to look at some Caribbean states today, it represents this tension, violence and theft. Where are the Tainoe people who once lived, toiled and controlled regions of the Caribbean? In Jamaica, the natives were wiped out by Christopher Columbus and the Europeans, which we celebrate as discoverers and innovators but if we are to be accurate, they must only be hailed as thieves, murderers who stole land and then enshrined laws that protect their ill-gotten wealth. Today, indigenous peoples like those American Indians and the natives of Brazil lack much agency from Robbers who possess their lands who are creeping more and more into their protected and agreed upon spaces. The world today provides a picture of violence including theft and murder. Slaves in Africa were not immune from this either, the Europeans after they extracted peoples from Africa through an elaborate strategy of trickery, they went back and dominated Africa, plundering peoples and cities, stealing resources and culture as their own and even set up nations within the foreign land as their own.

The damaged done to the colonized man and its effects on him and his continued subjugation leaves a legacy of dismemberment, an ambivalence in his human being which estranged him from his individuality. But those who had given meaning to what we have as society today or what we imagine it to be, thought it a beautiful and the most appropriate thing to order society within such an inhumane and Manichean way viewing men as machines. Plato in his Republic had envisioned a life ordered as a hierarchy, everything in their proper place. While functionalist sociologist had extended that to theorize a perfect society based on value judgments that prioritize systems over disorder which is the drive of those who act outside of society’s rules and confinements that restrict personhood and individuality.

So the Caribbean as part of the totality of life must critically reflect on its position in relation to life and society, because life is about people and how people relate within that dynamic, and it is people that make life what it is. The relationships within life is facilitated by communication the progression of life which is dynamic and seem to always be in tension between groups pf peoples created by the idea of race and class to sustain this violent dynamic.

Is there anything such as “Caribbean Thought?[ii] Thought is not a dinosaur or static, as it is dynamic and critical.[3] Hence what of Caribbean thinking and minds. What have Caribbean thinkers contributed to this world order and what are they saying now especially in this #neoliberal world that has been penetrated by Trumpism, populism and this renewed sense of indifference and revival of #fascism. I taught the course Caribbean thought at the #Jamaica theological seminary. The course was originally developed by Rev. Dr. Garnett Roper, former President of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. I first taught the class Spring Semester January 2021. This course will benefit from my work in #neoliberalism and #globalization in the Caribbean or the global north south and past and post-colonial history and philosophy. What are your thoughts on the idea of “Caribbean thinking” and how effective and influential is this thinking in shaping not just Caribbean life but life in the diaspora? What #contributions or impact have thinkers of Caribbean thought impressed on past and current affairs on the global stage and will it bear any relevance for tomorrow given this regions level of economic independence. Nevertheless, religion is an important feature in the Caribbean, is it to its detriment and what of the individual and its economic competitiveness within Neoliberal Globalization, given its monolithic and Judeo-Christian influence and masculine posture? But this episode is brief and is reflective as it considers, “Is the Bible a record of man’s personal encounter with God?” [4]

Caribbean thought contends with and ask the question: is the Caribbean (and its Diaspora) an invention of the 21st century, and if it is, must it now be reinterpreted and transcended? And how can we do that? By recapturing our own and capitalizing on opportunities that is revolutionary and make for competition. We further make the point that the Caribbean must be seen as a collective. Yet, the Caribbean’s unity is haphazard, not strategically targeting and effective. The Caribbean is an interdependent set of people who need to now recapture and reinterpret themselves by revisiting their history and being objective about it so as to then produce that which us unique to them. What is quite true is that the Caribbean’s inability to chart their own course since decolonization and realize real political independence and economic prosperity. What voice do you have as a Caribbean thinker and what are the threats to that voice? Are Caribbean countries truly free of the external and this illusion of freedom comes within competing worldviews. What of the issue of bias? We utilize Kenneth Clark’s “Dark Ghetto, Dilemmas of social power” to help us distill some of the concepts and explore the questions and our thoughts. We reference these concepts and discussions in the book “Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty And Resistance” to discuss these ideas. We delved into the issue of how identity presents an issue, by looking at how things are viewed, because of determinations based in analysis influenced by a brand that then lead to a branded perspective. We explored the problem of study and the issue of position and hierarchy within studies especially between the subject and the observer.

The Postcolonial thinker must be a skeptic

Franz Fanon ….Fanon wrote Black Skins, White Masks and wrote in his psychoanalysis of the black man that “The Negro is Not. Anymore than the white man.” A powerful new way of redefining and reinventing the black self from the usual comparative of less than but now empowering his image using revolutionary language. It’s a top-down or not a bottom up view of the self-putting him at the center of his analysis, as not less than but not more than either. None is more than the other instead of none is less than. Fanon deposes that usual binaries within which we compare ourselves with the other stemming from colonialism. He eschews the ways we compare ourselves within the dominant view, but now he removes the dominant view within which we compare ourselves. This makes Fanon exceptional as a critical and postmodern thinker beyond his years. “The negro is not. Any more than the White man,” Frantz Fanon, in “Black Skin White Masks,” psychoanalysis of the “colonized” (systematically-controlled) man/woman, he removes the dominant view within comparisons; striving for the empowered self. According to Homi Bhabha, here the familiar alignment of colonial (controlled) subjects is disturbed by a break, a pause from the usual to reveal a truly authentic self. He notes that “the colonized man is today a political creature in the global sense,” is quite ingenuous meaning that when the colonized had a dream of the nation of free independent men, is met with pity and an identity from without wherever he may go as the world speeds towards globalization the puts the nation in the backwater of a dream yet to be realized… To be continued….

Here’s the Audio summary of Week 5 in Podcast via Spotify (available in Audible, Amamzon Music, Google Podcast, iHeart Radio, Apple Podcast etc.):

Food and End Notes

[1] Socio-economics, Politics, Geography, History, culture (Philosophy and ideology and ways of life – tabbos etc.), religion, dynamics – class and the realization of “English” or Britishness as the ideal ethic with hidden affection for the queen or king, Art and Music, Sexuality, Laws, Challenges and Opportunities, American, West Indies, English Speaking, Spanish…

[2] Types if Truth: Pragmatic Truth, Coherence Theory of truth; Methods of Truth: Deductive and Inductive Methods:

[3] Critical Thinking – Michel Foucault, Info – Michel Foucault, Info. (Critical History of Thought influence of Kant: History is determined by human nature and circumstance) and What is Critical Thinking? – The NeoLiberal Corporation

[4] See Lecture here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/XksyilrBKwb

[i] How far must we go in order to study the Caribbean and why?

The Caribbean is part of the Americas, a New World crated by and within a Western Civilization. It is a creation of history, a violent past which bears vestiges on the present reality of Caribbean today. Indeed, the past informs the future so as to avert mistakes but are we truly learning anything? The colonial past and conversations that reimagines the violence of history maybe to some a “Dead Horse Theory.”^[i] For the postcolonial skeptic to study the Caribbean is look at it as part of a western civilization, a newly created world within. Therefore, for us to study the Caribbean and the black position we must start where privilege begins; where men began to impose a tradition full of themselves. The Caribbean as part of a newly created world within the struggle and tension of western civilization beginning from the oral tradition of Homer. He represents the end of an oral tradition and the beginning of writing. He is the earliest record of a tradition that was lost in the vagaries and casualties of men who were not concerned with tradition and history as history is said to be for the future. Before Homer, and Hesiod’s Theogany, we only have what we know of Mesopotamia and Samyria and what was believed to be the revelation by the Muses to Homer and Hesiod. The Caribbean Thought Reader and Keith and Keith began their critical disposition on the Caribbean by revisiting the socio-political history of the region. They like most Caribbean writers begin in the 1950’s up to the 1980’s, between the twilight of the new nations and the tensions of neoliberal globalization. But I will go further, starting at the point where the competition between European elites for dominance and monopoly led them to the Caribbean. They assumed that they were in East India looking for gold to satisfy their greed for supernormal profits over the rest. The competition was fierce between European monarchies and dynasties. In fact, Christopher Columbus, under the investment of the Spanish Crown, claimed to have discovered many islands of the Caribbean and the Americas. Today, Columbus day is celebrated in many countries of the Caribbean and the Americas commemorating Europe’s claims of discovery, in spite of the well-known fact that these places were already inhabited by peoples with language, culture, economics, social organization, system of government and who were living and toiling on the land for centuries. The “Tainoes” as they were called were one time considered Arawakans or part of the American Indian tradition, peoples who were portrayed as nomads and primitive in European books that dumbed down the value of these people’s histories. It was a perspective that was from without, external to the people and was ethnocentric at best. It was without the benefit of anthropology and deconstructivist history. Vestiges of the Tainoe peoples still exists today in some parts of the Caribbean example, in Hellshire Hills, Jamaica, there are Arawak caves that have been preserved by the United Development Commission (UDC) bearing early drawings, writings and evidence of the first natives’ presence on the island. Despite of this knowledge, Columbus, Europe and the world has disregarded the natives’ claims and formalized their theft making it a special day in the minds of men, never to be forgiven. It was a discovery, because Europe found it. Therein lied the nature of man that Kant speaks of (History is a result of human nature and circumstances). No value or respect was given to any life that pervades. For if it were not discovered before by Europe and their noblemen, it never existed. That was the privilege of position that was and has been wedged in the minds of men. This thus defined the white supremacist culture that defined reality. Nothing worthwhile comes from the black man or those subjugated unless it comes from the white man. This is similar to what Ian Buruma calls Orientalism and Occidentalism couched in an ethnocentrism. Where the West provides a concept of the east that they are unintelligent and nothing good can come from them. If anything comes from the east, it is because of the west. This is explored in crowmer’s address in parliament in 1617 when England had dominated Egypt. In his address to parliament he defended England’s invasion and colonization of Egypt stating that England knows Egypt better than the Egyptian and that their progress is what England gave it. Progress for England was making Egypt English. Yet they could not become English enough. Much like the English speaking Caribbean today, whose idea of upper-class and culture is tied up with the post colonized man becoming fully English, speaking like English and acting English. This is “proper”, which many, Like Louise Bennett-Coverley, the great Jamaican Poet and literary genius, rejected in her poems utilizing the Jamaican vernacular in her styles. Like Frantz Fanon, with violence she interrupted the standards with her electrifying stories in Jamaican creole on stages that defied the standards of English.

It was a discovery that was fueled by the race to find gold. But, to their dismay, there was no gold. As a result, the Europeans

[ii] The Course Outline:

JAMAICA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

“That I may know God……that I might make God known”

Course Outline

COURSE TITLE: Caribbean Thought

LECTURER: Rev. Renaldo McKenzie

COURSE CODE: GND2200

CREDIT: 3 hours

CONTACT HOURS: 42

YEAR/SEMESTER: 2023/2

PREREQUISITE : None

MODALITY : Online: Fridays, 6pm – 9pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course focuses on and explores the diverse currents of Caribbean Thought, which have influenced the development of Caribbean societies from colonialism to independence and beyond. It traces the history of resistance and examines the quest for equality and the challenge of defining Caribbean identity within this post-colonial and neoliberal Globalized world not just within the geographic sense but also in terms of a diasporic sense. It challenges the students to develop and express their own critical thinking as a Caribbean people within a unique way that helps to realize further the hope of a free independent Caribbean that is bursting with hope and opportunity. But the course understands that it requires that students begin to critique and explore their own thinking in deeply esoteric and critical way that deconstructs history and philosophy. At the end they will create their own Caribbean thought leading to a Caribbean Academic Journal of Young academics and future scholars. The Course will make you estranged from self, but it is geared towards getting you out of your bubble and to consider issues that will make you uncomfortable. The WES explored ways that we can prepare students for the global world. That means moving from the local and turning to the global as we are global citizens.

The course surveys the history and philosophy of the Caribbean and the ways in which the Caribbean has emerged as a society in the shadow of colonialism and emergence of neoliberal Globalization. It examines the central ideological currents of twentieth century political thought in the region and covers broad topics such as Colonialism, Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Socialism, Marxism, Feminism, Democratic Socialism and Neo-Conservatism, Neoliberalism, Globalization and Deconstructivism, Critical Race Theory, Strategy and the Foundations of Knowledge and the Hegemony of Faith, Economic Inequality and Poverty.

Among the thinkers and works that will be considered throughout the course are Marcus Garvey, George Padmore, C.L.R. James, V.S. Naipaul, W. Benjamin, M. Foucault, Franz Fanon, Walter Rodney, Fidel Castro, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga and Bob Marley Kamau Brathwaite, Edouard Glissant and the Negritude movement generally, Homi Bhaba, Mike Davis, Nelson and Novella Keith, Stephanie Black and Jamaica KinCaid, Garnett Roper, Rex Nettleford and the Professor’s Works. Themes will be drawn from a selection of contemporary newspaper columnists, talk‐show hosts and the ideas behind the major international agencies and institutions, which have shaped post-independence policies. The selection of thinkers and social movements to be examined will vary with each semester.

The course also looks at the role of music, the arts and sports in carrying the spirit of resistance and in shaping and defining Caribbean identity. It examines the role of the Collective Christian presence and suggests a public theology priority for the church in the region. But also considers opportunities to that takes advantage of Science and Technology and leveraging social media and digital technology as a way to express these critical thinking and ideas.

GOALS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will:

Have an understanding of the outline of Caribbean history from slavery to the colonial period
Understand the impact of that history on current reality: Post-colonialism
Understand and appreciate the influence of key historical and current figures
Understand and appreciate how the history of the Caribbean shaped their own personal history
Understand specific ideologies that arose from the social and political realities of the Caribbean
Understand the personal background of influencers of thought and its impact on their thinking
Analyse and evaluate the actions and ideologies of select thinkers
Appreciate their personal responsibility to advocate for the vulnerable in Caribbean societies
Appreciate the role of public theology in shaping thought and addressing issues of oppression and exploitation in the Caribbean
Be able to connect their personal story to the story of the region.
Will be able to Utilize film to dissect and unveil the Caribbean story in relation to the global dynamics of the world
Will submit a final essay paper that is well-researched and part of current thinking among young academics towards developing a Caribbean Thought Journal.
Will be able to use digital technology to transmit their critical thinking

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

The student on completion of the course will be able to:

Develop their critical thinking and Tell their own story of the Caribbean people.
Examine the issues of identity and colour in relation to Caribbean history and
- colonization
Explore Poverty and Inequality in the Caribbean as a direct result of neoliberal
- Globalization
Develop their thinking and writing towards developing a Caribbean perspective
Trace the story of their own families as far back as possible
Relate their personal history with that of Caribbean history, critically examining
- its impact on their family background
Critically analyse rethink the perspectives of key Caribbean and diaspora thinkers
- and analyse their credibility for today and the future.
Examine the role of religion in the defence and repudiation of slavery.
Discuss ways in which society and you the student can advocate and act on behalf
- of the vulnerable and oppressed
Discuss the church and your role in challenging structural injustice.
Articulate their perspective on the Bible’s relevance to the Caribbean context.
Explores US-Caribbean Relations in shaping Caribbean and its diaspora.
Consider the question “is there any hope for the Caribbean and Jamaica in light of
- Western Capitalist penetration in the global south.
Will begin to explore mediums to express their thoughts – Social media
- platforms, podcasting, YouTube and writing letters to publishers and blogging

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES AND STRATEGIES

Lectures
Digital and Multi-media presentations
Guided group work
Weekly Journals and Interaction Papers
Essays and quizzes
Cinematic Film presentations

ASSIGNMENTS and GRADED WORK

Attendance – 15 %

There are 13 classes that will cover the course material. Students participation and attendance will attract a grade that counts towards their overall grade and will get the maximum grade if they fully participate in the course by being on time, attending all classes, and meeting all deadlines and timelines. Students should communicate with their Lecturer ahead of time if they are having any difficulties meeting deadlines, attending classes or being on-time for classes.

Weekly Interaction Paper – 5 %

There will be six film presentations during this course. Each presentation is to be followed by a two-page critique of the film to be submitted the day before your next class, after the film is being viewed.

Life & Debt
12 years of Slavery
Corruption
Dirty pretty Things
The History of Reggae
Story of the Maroons
Born fi dead
Who Shot the Sheriff (Netflix 2018)

Group Work: 10% of the grade will be determined by students group work participation and presentations. Students will work on their research papers in groups and will present on their identified essay topic.

Mid-term Short Papers – 10% of the grade will be determined by an eight to ten (8 – 10) page essay paper in which the student interacts with/submit an aspect of his/her group’s final essay paper. Each Student will submit an individual paper that deals with an aspect of the final essay paper. Hence the group will have to decide which aspect each student will need to work on and then each individual in the group will then submit that aspect which forms part of the wider and final paper that the group will submit at the end of the course. This is due mid-term and will be accepted as a detailed rough draft and working document with references, and following Turabian or the Seminary’s writing policy and documenting. The mid-term paper draft should still be presented as if a final paper – typed, double-spaced with references, a cover page, title and an introduction leading into the aspect of the study with which the student is undertaking.

Final Research Paper – 40 % of the grade will be determined by a 20 – 25-page essay paper in which the students will be required to complete and submit by the final day of the term. Students must choose their own research on a relevant topic on Caribbean Matters or issues that affect its peoples and those in the diaspora. There are research topics at the end of the outline that students may also consider doing.

Extra Credit: Write a 500-word summary on any of the following texts: Franz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, C.L.R. James, Black Jacobins, and Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Students may also obtain the extra credit for having a published letter or blog in the newspaper or via a blog site. Extra credit will gain you 5%

Final Exam – 20 % of the grade will be determined by the score on the final examination.

The final Exam will take the form of a debate.

DISCUSSION AND LECTURE TOPICS

Caribbean thought, Ideology and Philosophy
The Challenge of Identity and the issue of Sexuality (Guest: Rev. Hewitt Holmes,
- Senior Pastor of the Church of Toronto, UCC church of Christ Canada
Poverty and Inequality and opportunity
Resistance and Dilemmas of Social power
The Social origins of Democratic Socialism in Jamaica and the Caribbean
Neoliberal Globalization and the Black Positon, The Global South and Global
- North Dynamic
American penetration, Haiti and Justice (Guest: Brian Concannon, IJDH Director)
Science and Technology
Slavery, Maronage, Emancipation and Humanization
Nationalism (including the Haitian War of Independence, Cuban War of
Independence)
Pan-Africanism
Religion, Social Consciousness and Empowerment
Colonialism, Decolonization, Post Colonialism and the Bureaucratic Phenomenon
Strategy and Systems: Slavery, Feudalism, Neoliberalism, Marxism and
- Capitalism:
Capitalism versus dependent capitalism
Socialism versus democratic socialism
Immigration and Brain Drain and American Politics (Guest: Mr. John A. Castro,
- US 2024 Presidential Candidate and President of Castro and Co.)
Deconstructivism and Critical History and Philosophy (Critical Race Theory)
Introduction to Podcasting, Blogging and Digital Technology
Social Organization, Period Poverty, Parenting and Family Life, Sexuality
Regenerative Agriculture, Science, Innovation, Social Media and Digital Technology – What are the opportunities and threats? Moving towards competitiveness

Week At-A-Glance

Week	Topics
Week 1	1. Introductions 2. (32) Privilege, Power, Position and the Need for Critical Thinking \| LinkedIn 3. Caribbean thought, Ideology and Philosophy (Foundations of Knowledge) The Phaedo, Plato & Socrates 4. Orientalism and Occidentalism 5. Film – Life and Debt
Week 2	1. The Challenge of Identity and the issue of Sexuality (Guest: Rev. Hewitt Holmes, Senior Pastor of the Church of Toronto, UCC church of Christ Canada 2. Period Poverty https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/1qe6uXfLKwb (HerFlow and Shelly-Ann Weeks 3. Frantz Fanon “Wrethched of the Earth” Homi Bhabha – The Location of CUlture 4. Film: 12 years of Slavery 5. Film: (21) Tell the Children the Truth Documentary Full Length (subtitled) – YouTube 6. Social Organization: Amazon.com: My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Families in Three Selected Communities of Jamaica: 9789766400408: Clarke, E., Clarke, Edith: Books
Week 3	1. Poverty and Inequality and opportunity 2. Resistance and Dilemmas of Social power 3. The Social origins of Democratic Socialism in Jamaica and the Caribbean
Week 4	Neoliberal Globalization and the Black Positon, The Global South and Global North Dynamic
Week 5	American penetration, Haiti and Justice (Guest: Brian Concannon, IJDH Director) Film – Corruption
Week 6	1. Science and Technology Guest: Prof. C. Ragin and Dr. A. Isaacs Temple Univ and College of the Holy Cross 2. Slavery, Maronage, Emancipation and Humanization 3. Nationalism (including the Haitian War of Independence, Cuban War of 4. Independence) 5. Pan-Africanism Film – Dirty Pretty Things
Week 7	1. Religion, Social Consciousness and Empowerment (Film – Who Shot the Sheriff)
Week 8	1. Colonialism, Decolonization, Post Colonialism and the Bureaucratic Phenomenon 2. Strategy and Systems: Slavery, Feudalism, Neoliberalism, Marxism and Capitalism: 3. Capitalism versus dependent capitalism 4. Socialism versus democratic socialism Guest: Prof. Emeritus Dr. Martin Oppenheimer
Week 9	Immigration and Brain Drain and American Politics (Guest: Mr. John A. Castro, US 2024 Presidential Candidate and President of Castro and Co.) Film – Children of Men
Week 10	Deconstructivism and Critical History and Philosophy (Critical Race Theory)
Week 11	Introduction to Podcasting, Blogging and Digital Technology
Week 12	Group Presentations
Week 13	Course Summary, Discuss papers and Exams and Final Comments

GRADING SCALE

GRADE	%	GPA
A	88-100	4.0
A-	84-87	3.7
B+	80-83	3.3
B	75-79	3.0
B-	70-74	2.7
C+	64-69	2.3
C	57-63	2.0
C-	50-56	1.7
F	0-49	0.0

STUDENT REQUIREMENTS & EXPECTATIONS:

Attendance:

Regular attendance and punctuality are expected. Students should miss no more than 3 hours of class for the entire course. Anymore time requires submitted proof of evidence 24 hours ahead of the class and will be granted for only urgent situations as deemed by the professor. Students will be required to do a makeup interaction paper for any missed class. Lateness will count towards the total amount of allowable missed time.

Late Work Policy

All students are expected to submit their coursework within the stipulated timeframe and in the manner agreed upon between students and Lecturer. In general, coursework that is submitted late may not be accepted and or may result in grade point deductions equalling the total number of days the paper is delayed. However, under special circumstances and only after discussions with the lecturer, a student may be allowed to submit an assignment up to but no later than seven days after the stated deadline.

Policy on Academic Integrity

JTS expects all students to display integrity in all areas of their lives, including their academics. As such students must avoid academic fraud.

Students must not cheat on quizzes or examinations.

Students suspected of cheating on tests will be brought before the Disciplinary Committee.

Possible sanctions include:

Failure of the course
Suspension
Expulsion

Students must avoid plagiarism. According to dictionary.com, Plagiarism is “an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, as by not crediting the original author…” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism)

Students must have in-text citations for all sources used and a list of references in all papers which require the use of sources.

Plagiarism is considered to be intellectual dishonesty and is subject to penalty.

Plagiarism is tantamount to stealing someone else’s idea. The institution upholds zero tolerance for the infraction. Therefore, if a student is suspected of plagiarism or admits to such, the following steps will be taken:

The instructor will meet with the student to discuss the situation. If plagiarism is determined, the instructor will inform the Dean of Academic Affairs by completing the “plagiarism discovery form” which will be placed on the student’s record if the infraction is confirmed.
Once plagiarism has been confirmed and the incident recorded, the following penalties will be observed:

For a first offence, the student will be asked by the instructor to redo the assignment and correct the infraction. The assignment will then be scored with no more than the minimum passing grade.
A second offence will result in a zero for the assignment.
A third infraction will result in a total failure of the course.
Any subsequent infractions will result in suspension and possible expulsion.

The Dean of Academic Affairs or the Vice President of Academic Affairs will inform the student of the finding and the applicable sanction.
The student may exercise her/his right to appeal the sanction to the Academic Affairs Committee, no later than fourteen (14) days after being informed of the sanction. Failure to meet this timeline will terminate the appeal process. The decision of the Academic Affairs Committee is final.

As a student of this institution, all research papers that you submit should be your work with appropriate referencing using the American Psychological Association (APA) or Turabian format as required by your instructor.

READING LIST (Reading Materials – Audio, Electronic, Hand-Outs, Audio/Podcasts, Academic Journals, Academic texts)

Note: The Recommended and Required Reading Materials are listed below as Recommended. Main Texts that are not yet available will be provided by the Lecturer.

Main Text: Mckenzie, Renaldo. Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality Poverty, and Resistance. Charleston, S.C, Palmetto Books, 2021 (Available online -via Barnesandnoble, APPLEBOOKS, Amazon, Target, Sangsters Book Store, The NeoLiberal Corporation etc.)

Main Reading Material: Martin Oppenheimer and Renaldo McKenzie. Neoliberal Globalization Reconsidered. February 2023. (Available to students only via PDF sharing).

(Some of the following books are available online for free. They may be purchased or read online with limited access – https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=caribbean+thought+reader

Some discussions on topics to be discussed may be explored from The Neoliberal Round Podcast

Bolland, Nigel (ed.). The Birth of Caribbean Civilisation: A Century of Ideas about

Culture and Identity, Nation and Society. Miami: Ian Randle Publishers, 2004.

Brathwaite, Edward. The development of Creole society in Jamaica 1770- 1820. Jamaica:

Oxford Press, 1971.

Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. New York, USA: Routledge, 2004 (Recommended)

Clark, Kenneth B. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. New York: Harper

Torchbooks, 1967 (Recommended Reading)

Conkcroft James, D. Andre Gunder Frank and Dale L. Johnson. Dependence and Underdevelopment, Latin America’s Political Economy. New York: Anchor Books. 1972 (Recommended)

Davis, Mike. Planet of the Slums. London: Verso. 2001.

Dick, Devon. The Cross and the Machete: Native Baptists: Identity, Ministry and Legacy.

Kingston, JA: Ian Randel Publishers, 2010

Gordon, Jane Anna et al (ed.). Journeys Into Caribbean Thought. Maryland, USA:

Rawman and Littlefield, 2016 (Available online – https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journeys_in_Caribbean_Thought/I-PaDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=caribbean+thought+reader&printsec=frontcover)

Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. London, England: Pluto Press, 1967.

Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Translated from the French by Richard

Philcox ; introductions by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha. New York: Grove Press, 2004 (Available online) (Recommended Reading)

Kedourie, Elie. Nationalism (fourth expanded edition). Oxford: UK, 2000

Hall, Kenneth (ed.). The Caribbean Community: Beyond Survival. Kingston, JA: Ian

Randel Publishers, 2001. (Recommended Reading)

Hall, Kenneth and Denis Benn. Contending with Destiny: the Caribbean in the 21^st

century. Kingston, JA: Ian Randle Publishers, 2001.

James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), The Black Jacobins :Toussaint L’Ouverture and

the San Domingo Revolution. London : Allison & Busby, 1980.

Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. (Recommended Reading)

(https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Small_Place/jGyCX-40ysYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=life+and+debt+jamaica&printsec=frontcover)

Knight, Franklin and Colin Palmer (eds.), The Modern Caribbean. London:

University of North Carolina Press, 1989. (Recommended)

Lawson, W.A. Religion and Race: African and European Roots in Conflict: a

Jamaican Testament. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishers, 1996. (Recommended)

Lent, John A. (ed.) Caribbean Popular Culture. Ohio, IL: Bowling Green State

University Popular Press, 1990. (Recommended)

Lewis, Gordon K. Main currents in Caribbean Thought: the Historical Evolution of

Caribbean Society in its Ideological Aspects, 1492-1900. Lincoln: University of

Nebraska Press, 2004. (Available online) (Recommended Reading)

Meeks, Brian and Lindahl Folke. (ed.) New Caribbean Thought A Reader. University

of the West Indies Press, 2001 (Available online) (Recommended)

Keith, Nelson W. and Novella Z. Keith. The Social Origins of Democratic Socialism

in Jamaica. Philadelphia: Temple University. 1992. (Recommended)

Patterson, Orlando and Max B. Ifill. Slavery, Social Death or Communal Victory : a

Critical Appraisal of Slavery and Social Death. Port of Spain, Trinidad: Economics and Business Research, 1996.

Rodney, Walter. How Europe underdeveloped Africa. London : Bogle L’Ouverture, 1988.

Roper, Garnett. Caribbean Theology and Public Theology. Kingston, Jamaica 2012. (Recommended)

Spencer, William. Dread Jesus. London: S.P.C.K. Publishers, 1999.

Van Hook, L. Greek Life and Thought. New York: Columbia University Press, 1937

Hesiod’s Theogony,” 8^th or 7^th C. BC, composed in Greek. Accessed online via

Georgetown University Canvass Files, September 2021.

Wickham, E. Critical Issues in Caribbean Development: Elements of Regional

ntegration. Kingston, JA: Ian Randle Publishers, 1998.

Buruma, Ian and Avishai Margalit. Occidentalism: The west In The Eyes Of Its Enemies. London: Penguin Books, 2004

Said, Edward, W. Orientalism. Accessed via Georgetown University Canvass October

2021.

Thompson, Ian. The Dead Yard: A Story of Modern Jamaica. New York, USA,

Nations Book, 2011

(https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Dead_Yard/hJliXDXchE8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=life+and+debt+jamaica&printsec=frontcover)

Thompson, Alvin O. The Haunting Past : politics, economics and race in Caribbean life.

Kingston, JA: Ian Randle Publishers, 1997.

Other Resources to Consider:

Louise Bennet: Caribbean Comedian Ep. #4 https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=louise+bennet&view=detail&mid=7D3D4B8C16AE17153EAF7D3D4B8C16AE17153EAF&FORM=VIRE

The Haitian Revolution: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+haitian+revolution+movie&view=detail&mid=93BED25C7BA9CF4D252F93BED25C7BA9CF4D252F&FORM=VIRE

The Cost of Corruption… Jamaica’s Barrier to Prosperity:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=life+%26+debt+movie&&view=detail&mid=8EF3ADEAA570AB19CF148EF3ADEAA570AB19CF14&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dlife%2520%2526%2520debt%2520movie%26qs%3Dn%26form%3DQBVDMH%26sp%3D-1%26pq%3Dlife%2520%2526%2520debt%2520movie%26sc%3D2-17%26sk%3D%26cvid%3DC0BA3A0B1FD1428FAD971CF282B9E399

Caribbean Thought Essay Paper Topics and Questions to Consider (Students May choose from these):

According to the film, Life and Debt, “Jamaicans have had to creatively respond to the negative effects of globalization that have weakened its ability to remain economically viable and independent. Illustrate some ways Jamaicans have been creative and discuss whether these are effective to realize the dream of the decolonized man?
According to a respondent in the film, the Caribbean leaders were weak-kneed and lack vision placing blame squarely on the Politicians of the 1960s to 1990s for allowing Structural adjustment and neoliberal Globalization that destroyed their milk industry. This is juxtaposed with Michael Manley who justified his decision to borrow monies form the IMF saying his hands were tied. Who is responsible for the economic failures of the Caribbean? Use the film to provide a response to these reflection in your groups.
Globalization is not the “sine qua non” of economic development and prosperity because it has dehumanized small postcolonial economies which have largely struggled to maintain socio-economic independence and wealth, realization of the nation and carve out its own path towards economic prosperity.
Fanon writes, “The colonized, underdeveloped man is today a political creature in the most global sense of the term.
1. What does Fanon mean by this and what implications follow from this determination.
Explain the difference between the two predominant ideological positions and power blocs that affected the Caribbean nationalist thinking and state how these positions affected Caribbean struggles and Caribbean thought for self-determination and sovereignty.
Violence is more effective than non-violence in resisting neoliberal globalization and or creating real social change.
To what extent has the Caribbean as region achieved actual power
Is there a Caribbean identity? If so what does that look like given the discussion about individual and group rights. If not, why not and what does that mean for the fight for self-determination and self-governance.
Identify several thinkers from the Caribbean or its diaspora that have contributed to Caribbean thought. Complete a biography of one of the thinkers tracing their history and struggle and projects and explain how their ideology was developed and what contributions they have left on the Caribbean or on you. Discuss how their influence has shaped Caribbean thought and highlight whether this had any positive or negative impact on you or the Caribbean at large.
Is it true that the efficacy of the Resistance movement against neoliberal globalization can only be determined by the extent to which it has realized actual power? What is meant by actual power and discuss whether or not this is true and if so to what extent. If it is not true, why not and what does that mean for the resistance movements and what other efforts or agency can be applied with better outcomes.
Neo-liberal globalization is said to have propped up the wealth of the few over the many and turned former colonies into indebted dependent states. How has neoliberal globalization done this and what does that mean for their own futures
Identify current or emerging trends in the 21st century and discuss whether and how the Caribbean is affected by or affect these trends. You may want to consider the statement by Lewis Gordon that the “Caribbean region given its smallness and vulnerability has been on the receiving end of the momentous events that characterize this age”. If the Caribbean is at the receiving end of events, how can Caribbean people have any thought or become meaningful actors and creators in their own history and the history of the world?
How does the church and faith or religious consciousness within the Caribbean affect the work of activists to end “Period Poverty”? Shelly-Ann Weeks suggested in her interview that the church and ideas about sexual identity and masculinity affected her work to end period poverty, due to cultural views surrounding what girls and boys can talk about and how they can relate.
The Caribbean is said to be made up of largely “dependent capitalists states” but since the explosion of information and globalization, more countries are becoming more modern and has transplanted their dependency. Is this an accurate socio-economic analysis of the Caribbean and what are the factors and forces responsible for this transformation?
The Negro is Not. Any more than the white man. What is your reading of this by Fanon and how has the black and brown people’s realization of the nation expressed by this?
If the world is in a constant state of tension between peoples and places, then what value can we give to any equitable balance, since society is ordered within class and racial struggle that is always at odds with the other?
“The Law is not a shackle.” How would you approach what Former Prime Minister of Jamaica P.J. Patterson is asserting here in his statement to parliament in 1998?
We are not Capitalists or Communists; Rasta is our religion. Bob Marley in “Who Shot the sheriff” reimagines and reinvent the black man as the consummate antagonist opposing the polarities of Capitalism and Communism, concluding that they subscribe to a consciousness within themselves that envisions Rasta as the Ultimate, Rasta Tafari, the embodiment of the Black Jesus, a Hero like that of the Archaens Achilles or the Muslims Immanuel. What is Bob Marley getting at here when he says Rasta is our religion, moving from economics to a personal or people’s religion?
Complete a SWOT of the Caribbean or Jamaica. What Vision or goals can you create from your analysis?
How far must we go when studying the Caribbean?
What resemblance does family bears with its British antecedents and did the African ancestors have any form of family that included any structure that influenced Europeans? Based on Edith Clarke’s My Mother Who Fathered Me and Rex Nettleford, in his Foreword, is it an accurate assessment to say that Caribbean communities practised a particular kind of family described as steeped in concubinage and illegitimate that was inherited from African? Did Edith Clarke do a study of Africans before slavery that provided any lenses on their family which resembled Caribbean peoples? Was there any structure in African life that was disrupted by European influence? What basis do we define African family life in some communities an African experience to say Africans practise a form of illegitimacy when that was not the experience. For, Africans had religion, culture and family life that acknowledged the man and woman as integral to raising the children. Some Africans practised a form of Christianity that valued monogamy. Africans cannot be understood as one peoples but were in of themselves tribal with separate beliefs and identities that cannot be compared as a whole with its African diaspora. What credence can we give to family or sociological studies that explain Caribbean behaviours from an African history taken within the whole?
It is said that to study Caribbean thought is to explore Caribbean within a civilization that has come to be known as the western civilization. The Caribbean as part of a new world within that civilization therefore has connections that has influenced its ideology, practices, present realities and possibly future. Therefore, to study the Caribbean must begin with a study of the foundations of knowledge and hegemony of faith. How accurate is this assessment about the Caribbean’s place in the world and fate in the future?

Note: This course requires that the student understands that his or her thinking will be challenged as a way to begin critically thinking about and building on academic concepts that is geared towards serving the world today to solve tomorrow’s challenges. The students will utilize twenty-first century trends and thinking to update his learning and how it is formulated and presented. The students may use social media platforms and other digital and social technology with verifiable credibility to provide support to their arguments and presentations since we now live in the information and tectonic age that transcends the way we interpret, receive and send information. Caribbean must also get with the times and learning is devoid of this experience in current reality.

Addendum to the Course “Caribbean Thought – Additional Notes and Concepts

The Course may be renamed, “Critical Thinking and Expressions in the Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora,” as we are not just looking at the Caribbean but Caribbean and Caribbean Thinking within and beyond the diaspora. Caribbean thought is thinking that extends from a particular bent that speaks to the challenges and opportunities, the history and culture of all that is Caribbean. So that those who identify with Caribbean are not only living in Jamaica, Barbados or within the Caribbean Geographic basin, but those outside of it, who carry with them the language, the challenges, history and legacy of Caribbean, a hybridized group reimagined and mixed with an identity now described as within The New World. But understanding could be understood within the perspective that is separate and apart from what another deems as Caribbean which then leads to a discovery of the individual within the national or the international. This is the challenge of this course, to properly understand that which is truly Caribbean and charting a course that results in the prosperity that has been out of view.

Therefore, the course will provide an opportunity for:

Students to trace their thought and provide an expression of that thought or thinking and justify that thinking through reason

Work on and develop a definition for Caribbean Thought, Caribbean and expressions, which includes understanding how this working frame requires a grasp of neoliberalism, cultural anthropology, Logic, Reason, Critical thinking, political decolonization, Diaspora, Dark Ghetto, Nationalism, Dialectic, Phenomenology and Descartesian Philosophy, strategy and power etc.

Identity and respond to personal local and global issues and how discuss personal and Caribbean response

Consider the question/statement: “Is there a Caribbean identity —- many languages one voice is this true activity?”

Do the Poems of Homer and Hesiod’s Theogony and the Biblical Stories provide a Basis to Begin to Understand the Problem and Consequences of Human Dynamics in the Development of Human Society?

Additional Objectives: Further, at the end of the course the students should be able to start developing or considering their own theories, philosophy, perspective and or theology of life.

They will be exposed to and develop the skill to practice Critical thinking about issues

Challenge personal beliefs and systems and will learn to utilize common sense science and reason and logic,

Explaining Main Course Requirements: The students are expected to submit a well-written, argued and researched paper with references and supporting evidence (25 references) at the end of the course. The students are to work in groups and will be expected to turn in chapters as mid-term papers throughout the duration of the course. The students will also present their paper to the class which will be graded. The final papers may be included in an academic journal if the papers are written well and does not violate any documenting rules. Students are expected to attend all classes and any absence must be submitted prior with supporting evidence. Students may not miss a total of 3 hours of class for the entire semester.

Note: Because the course looks not just at thought but the expression of that thought we will also delve into looking at Art forms music dance food religion and teachings and ways that we have historically presented defended and share that thought and whether these were credible and effective by critiquing these forms. We will look at cinema and music and literature and how they have been utilized to present a thought that challenge the status quo and will consider the film “life and debt” and Syrianna and delve into the book “Planet of the Slums” (an anthropological ethnography on Brazil)

We will zero in on this point in the class that: Thought without expression is empty and null. Having ideas doesn’t stop there, how do we use it to challenge past present and future thought. What we have lost is the ability to think widely about things not held or hijacked by one’s opinion over another but we must have that willingness to expand thought and challenge previous and personal thought

In essence the course will develop and sharpen the participants’ critical thinking by looking at thought and thinking about them in objective ways driven by context and to formulate their own thought that they will defend and broadcast in various media. The course begin to enable the students with the tools and resources to do so.

Books are available at the JTS library, local bookstores, online stores etc. Neoliberalism may be accessed online or by contacting the Lecturer. Neoliberalism is available in audio and e-book but hard copies are available at Sangsters. Excerpts from Book 2 and Books 1 will be available for free to students only, but can purchase at their own leisure. However other recommended readings are easily accessed online or are available at local bookstores and the Seminary’s library or through the inter-loan library network. Students may also source academic journals and verifiable digital material as sources for their papers and research for the course.

The Lecturer is available at: [email protected], and will reply within 24 hours unless extraneous circumstances delay access and reply. But all emails will be responded to within an acceptable time (Within 24 – 72 hours).

Office Hours: The Professor is available Thursday 6pm – 9pm for Office Hours or via appointments by sending an email with the subject line “STUDENTS NAME: REQUEST MEETING: EXTENSION: CARIBBEAN THOUGHT

About the Lecturer: Rev. Renaldo C. McKenzie, was born in Jamaica and graduated from Jamaica Theological Seminary. He is currently residing in the US and is Author of Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance an academic text which was number one on Amazon in Deconstructivist History and Critical Philosophy. The book was reviewed as an erudite analysis of Jamaica’s economic history by Kirkus Reviews. Renaldo’s second academic book, Neoliberal Globalization will be released February 2023 which features contributions from Professor Emeritus, Martin Oppenheimer, Ph.D. of University of Penn and Rutgers University and author of several ground-breaking books. Renaldo is a Doctoral Candidate at Georgetown University and graduate of The University of Pennsylvania (one of the 6 Ivy League Universities in the US) and Creator and Host of The Neoliberal Round Podcast, a global podcast in News Commentary that is top five worldwide in News Commentary. Renaldo is also President of The Neoliberal Corporation, a think tank and Digital Media company that is aimed at serving the world today to solve tomorrow’s challenges through communication which is to make popular what was the monopoly, www.theneoliberal.com. You may follow Renaldo McKenzie on Twitter @RenaldoMcKenzie or on Facebook @Renaldo.McKenzie, LinkedIn @Rev.Renaldo.C.McKenzie and Instagram @RenaldoMckenzie.

What do we learn about Plato’s epistemology from Socrates’ argument that philosophy is a preparation for death? Is true knowledge ever possible according to Socrates?

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