Meagan Sylvester is a published author which is inclusive of several book chapters and journal articles respectively and is a well known public academic in her native Trinidad and Tobago where she uses both traditional (television, print and radio) and social media platforms to engage discussions on the Calypso and Soca musical artforms.
Her doctoral research focused on Narratives of Resistance in Calypso and Ragga Soca music. Her continuing interrogation within the academie centers on Music, Gender, and National Identity in Calypso and Soca, Music of Diasporic Carnivals, Narratives of Resistance in Calypso and Ragga Soca music, Steelpan and kaisoJazz musical identities.
In pursuit of fulfilling her academic goals, she has presented academic papers and hosted scholarly workshops in several spaces across the globe including Europe, Latin America, South America, the United States and numerous islands in the Caribbean.
Locally, she is a board member of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation – TUCO and is the Chair of the Education and Research Committee. As part of her professional development portfolio, she is a Music Sociologist with a consultancy practice in which she provides her clients with insight into the sociological framing of Trinbagonian society using the lens of Calypso and Soca as the main units of analysis.
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In response to the COVID 19 pandemic, this year Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago was cancelled. The Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) hosted secondary school lectures across the nation in Tobago and Trinidad. The theme was Calypso and Crises and focused on the response of the Calypso Lyric to the crises of 1. Domestic Violence/Kidnapping 2. Pyramid/Ponzi Schemes 3. CoronaVirus and other Pandemics and Epidemics which would have caused a cessation of the Carnival in the twin island’s history of the Carnival festival.
The series runs from February 8th – March 8th and provides a platform for youth engagement and the exposure of the Calypso artform to the nation’s budding creatives.