Hollis Liverpool is currently Associate Professor of History at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. He served as Associate Professor of Social Science at the University of the Virgin Islands from 2000 to 2007 and was named a Distinguished Fellow of the University of Trinidad and Tobago in 2006. He holds a B.A. in History and Sociology, an M.A. in History, an M.A. in African History, a Post-Grad Certificate in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in History and Ethnomusicology. He has written, over the years, a multiplicity of papers and several books, including his masterpiece: Rituals of Power and Rebellion: The Carnival Tradition in Trinidad and Tobago, 1763-1962 (Chicago: Frontline, 2001), and has addressed several world-wide conferences on Carnival and Culture generally. As calypsonian Chalkdust, he has recorded over 300 calypsoes (academic papers he call them). In terms of calypso performance, he has won the Buy Local Competition in Trinidad five times, the King of the World Calypso Contest in St. Thomas, USVI, on eight occasions, the World Calypso Monarch held in New York twice, and the Calypso Monarch of Trinidad and Tobago seven times. He is at present working on five more books namely: Calypso Backstage; The Colonial Media and Tubal Uriah Butler; Tears in the Classroom; A Biography of Lord Kitchener and The Age of Badjohnism. At the University of Trinidad and Tobago, he is at the central hub of a project entitled: Saving the Calypso. Last year the first production of the project took place at the Central Bank Auditorium, when a tribute to the Mighty Duke was presented. This year 2008, more shows paying tribute to calypsonians Striker and Bomber, musicians Ed Watson and Cito Fermin and chutney artist Sundar Popo, will take place. |
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