HIGHER EDUCATION AND

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN

Jocelyne Trouillot

The socio-economic environmental situation of the Caribbean

NATURAL DISASTERS

• Latin American and the Caribbean face potentially crippling economic and social costs from natural disasters ( Inter-American Development Bank , 2012)

• Hurricanes• Hurricanes in the islands resulted in the deaths of 28000 people , disrupted the lives

of 6 million and would have cost 60 billion in damaged property in just a few years • Floodings• Droughts• landslides• Earthquakes• Antigua 1974• Trinidad 1977• Jamaica 1993• Haiti January 2010• In those last 60 years, Haiti has been hit by 30 important natural disasters , from

major floods and earthquakes and hurricanes.

Human made disasters

• Transport disasters• Civil disorders (riots and civil turbulence)• Waste disposal hazards

DEFORESTATION

• - It is hard to believe that from 1500 to 1900,

the islands which were 90% forest covered have become in some cases less than 10% forest covered.

• - In Haiti, where forests once covered the entire island , today only 3.8 % can be classified as forest. The causes are multiple: Colonial and modern exploitation, Lumber, Fuelwood

ECONOMIC AND HUMAN CONSEQUENCES

• Hunger • Number of undernourished people : 963

million in 2008 (world wide). Many of them are in the Caribbean region

• 52 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean suffered from malnutrition

• 10% of tne Caribbean and people from Latin America go hungry

• BUT The region is the biggest exporter of food in the

world

This illustrates that the main cause of malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean is not a lack of food production capacity , but poor distribution of and access to food.

FAO

Impoverishment

• In the index of human development by country, there

are only a few Caribbean and Latin American countries in the higher list

• A few made it to the high human development list, 9 in the medium human development category and Haiti in the last category

• High inequality and income differences • Migration ( illegal work conditions, brain drain)• Death ( boat people from the islands)

DEGRADATION OF CULTURAL CAPITAL

• -The impact of those disasters although usually measured by objective factors such as number of deaths, monetary cost, damage and loss property is not only quantitative but is also social, historical and cultural.

• • -The claim to a national culture in the past does not only rehabilitate that

nation and serve as a justification for the hope of a future national culture. In the sphere of psycho-affective equilibrium, it is responsible for an important change in the native. Perhaps we haven’t sufficiently demonstrated that colonialism is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and emptying the native’s brain of all form and content. By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of the oppressed people , and distorts, disfigures and destroys it. This work of devaluing pre-colonial history takes on a dialectal significance today.

• Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION

• Artistic heritage• Spiritual heritage• Tradition and values• In Africa, when an older person dies, it is a

library that we loose.• Language barriers and extinction

KNOWLEDGE

History The settler makes history and is conscious of making it. And because he constantly

refers to the history of his mother country, he clearly indicates that he himself is the extension of that mother-country. Thus the history which he writes is not the history of the country which he plunders but the history of his own nation in regard to all that she skims off, all that she violates and starves.

Fanon • Medical practices• Massage, herbal medicine• Food preparation were substantial for the people Economy: neighboring and community consumers farmers markets,

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

New developments in:• Energy / solar development: clean, cheap energy Sunshine …is owned by the whole of humankind, to be used

in the interests of every single citizen on earth. Which makes solar the greatest ever technological leveler in the history of humankind, bearing down on those divides between the have and have-nots. In The world we made

• . If well developed, computer advances through internet and the like will improve education and health care systems, eliminating barriers between countries and people.

Modern technology and conservation

• Water• Irrigation, purification, domestic use, desalination can

make the difference in the lives of families who still cannot have clean water.

• Medical science• regenerative medicine • Waste• Handling and recycling• Where are our baskets? • Manufacturing

The more unequal a country is, the less content, settled and sharing its people are. Injustice corrodes the human spirit; it always has done and it always will.

Jonathan Porritt

CONSEQUENCES FOR THE REGION

• Increase of the gap between nations and inside countries• Rich and richer world• Poor and poorer worldORThe Reverse is possible• Higher education graduates can work towards quality of life

for all• Good things for all of us• Sanitation, clean water, medical facilities, employment,

education, housing and better environment, sport and physical activity, enjoyable and enriching entertainment

WHAT WE NEED TO UNLEARN

• The lies my teacher told me• Traditional farming ,eating, cure, teaching, was not all bad• Silencing the past• The production of historical narratives involves the uneven

contribution of competing groups and individuals who have unequal access to the means of such production

• Michel Rolph Trouillot • Ivan Illich and the “ academic myth”• Some deschooling will be necessary

WHAT WE NEED TO RE- LEARN

• The power of nature• The power of people• The human wisdom

CHALLENGES FOR A NEW HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM

• History• Retelling history ( manuals or tablets with more objective

data and within a Caribbean perspective)• Why don’t we have almost no trace of Indian population in

Haiti?• Gender and history• Where were and where are the women in our history books?• Language Preservation• Linguistic instruction• Translation and interpretation

New agricultural programs

• In their proposals for a sustainable agriculture, the study published in Food, Inc recommends building on the traditional knowledge on farming communities, with improved access to land, water and sufficient seeds for marginalized small scale farmers.

• Aquaculture and its limits• Reforestation• Vertical farming• Preserving our ocean

Economy

• Modern food production• Industrial food production and role of poor

countries• New types of consumers: You are what you

eat• New transport systems (bycycling, renewable

battery cars)• Banking system: electronic currencies

Health Education

• Alternative and integrated medicine ( massage, herbal medicine….)

• Personalized health care • Students awareness of their health (self management)• Specific areas of studies: cure and disease prevention in the

islands: malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/aids, maternal and children mortality

• Studies of advances in the field ( bionic medicine, stem cell therapies, transplants) and their ethical implications for poor countries

Engineering

• Focus on alternative energy:• Solar and wind power• Solar thermal tanks• New transportation system. Natural ventilation. Green roofs

Education

• Innovative teaching and methodology• Creative thinking• Redesign textbooks and other learning

supports in regard of regional values • Breaking from rote and passive learning• Performance and competence for a more

functional university

TECHNOLOGY

• A CHANCE TO GRAB Have it, change it, adapt it Cage it or fall in the dark age• Use and adaptation of modern technology for

the well being of all people in areas of engineering, medicine, nutrition, economy, agriculture ,and all

CULTURAL AWARENESS

• The West had his geniuses. We have ours, the artefacts, the paintings, the music and all forms of artistic development, past and present, that should be in our curriculum

Tradition , science and technologyfor the well being of the Caribbean

• In conclusion, our higher education system should constitute a platform to debate and contribute to solve all issues affecting the region, be it:

• Sustainable agriculture• Organic eating versus food poisoning• Industrial food production • Significance of climate change in the region• Responsible healthcare• Genetic inheritance• Cultural diversity and authors rights

The last word

HIGHER EDUCATION WILL MOVE TOWARD

ITS SUMMUM IF WE TEACH OUR STUDENTS TO HAVE EMPATHY FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE REGION AND THAT PLACE WHERE WE LIVE.

Thank you