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Documentary Film: Vanishing Sail-The Story of a Caribbean Tradition

When
Where

AC-3B04, (AARC)

Contact Name

Jim Papa Dept. of English

The African American Resource Center presents Vanishing Sail-The Story of a Caribbean Tradition

Vanishing Sail: The Story of a Caribbean Tradition

is a recent documentary film by Alexis Andrews about traditional boat building on the small island of Carriacou in the West Indies, and the way in which the art has been passed down and sustained over centuries and generations. It is also the story of a Carriacou man, Alwyn Enoe, determined to continue this tradition, not only for the economic survival of himself, his family, and his community, but in order to express himself as an artist: a master builder and designer of traditional sailing vessels, using traditional methods and materials. Vanishing Sail is a celebratory portrait of a man, an artist really; a family; a community; a region; and a history. Students interested in the culture of the Caribbean maritime, in the economic forces shaping local economies and communities associated with the Caribbean maritime, and in the ways in which work and art find rare communion in the kind of deeply fulfilling labor that is fast vanishing in this world will find many opportunities in this film to consider the ways that the disciplines they study—such as anthropology, economics, psychology, art, journalism, and history--might be applied to the study and/or chronicling of other rich traditional trades of the Caribbean that are in danger of being lost.

 

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