TEDxPortofSpain Announces our Fourth Batch of Speakers
As anticipation builds for this year’s conference centred around the theme of Connecting, we are thrilled to announce our fourth batch of speakers for TEDxPortofSpain 30.11.13 at the Central Bank Auditorium!
Our tickets are now available for reservation through our website too. Get yours early as we’re doing them on a first come, first served basis and we expect them to go fairly quickly!
We have an incredible list of speakers this year, starting with:
- Wayne Kublalsingh
- Stacy-Marie Ishmael
- Attillah Springer
- Etienne Charles
- Dominique Le Gendre
- Gabrielle Hosein
- Keegan Taylor and Rondel Benjamin
- Erle Rahaman-Noronha
Erle Rahaman-Noronha
Erle Rahaman-Noronha is the Kenyan-born owner of Wa Samaki Ecosystems and a Carnival lover. He lived in Canada and now resides in Trinidad where he is remodeling a former citrus estate through permaculture restoration. He teaches and practices Permaculture, producing indigenous food crops, tropical fish and cut flowers on his farm which has won Agricultural Entrepreneur awards for forestry, aquaculture and horticulture. In 2011, Rahaman-Noronha was the winner of the National Agricultural Entrepreneur award for Agroforestry.
Rahaman-Noronha holds a BSc in Applied Biochemistry and a MSc in Zoology from the University of Guelph. He was trained in Permaculture Design, Intensive Aquaculture, Dendrology and Tropical Landscaping. As co-director of Caribbean Permaculture Consultants Ltd., he spearheaded initiatives using permaculture to rehabilitate degraded lands; to create forest buffer zones around industrial estates and to educate students and teachers in 40 schools throughout southwest Trinidad.
He has been involved with Knowing and Growing Workshops in Jamaica, consulted as a permaculture expert in Suriname and Grenada, and has taught Permaculture Design courses in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, St Lucia and Trinidad.
As a photographer, Rahaman-Noronha captures and shares the natural beauty that he helps to protect. On Jouvert morning, however, he is usually on the other side of the camera, as a subject covered in paint. He is also an accomplished adventure racer and ultra-marathoner.From Nairobi to Caroni, he is a trail-blazer in the field of Permaculture which he refers to as “the quiet revolution that is happening”.
Keegan Taylor and Rondel Benjamin
Throw together the words “bois” and “stick fighting” in a Trinidadian context and one would assume a history lesson is being discussed or something related to our folklore, but in this 21st century, Keegan Taylor and Rondel Benjamin have made these words a part of our modern discussion. These young men have made a piece of our cultural roots relevant again by founding Bois Academy of Trinidad and Tobago (B.A.T.T.).
Both internationally certified multidisciplinary martial artists, Keegan and Rondel re-discovered their African roots in the unique Trinidadian martial art of Kalinda or stick fighting. Since its inception in 2010, B.A.T.T. has expanded its reach and also offers training in Gatka, pulling from our East Indian roots as well as Jab, the art of the flexible weapon used by Carnival’s Jab Jab figure. Additionally, there are interactive workshops and presentations encouraging people to be a part of the traditional practice.
Keegan and Rondell are celebrating the success of a recently premiered feature documentary film by Christopher Laird “No Bois Man No Fraid” featuring the two young athletes and their art of stick fighting. A film that evokes interesting questions about the relevance of stick fighting in a modern day postcolonial society.
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