IN a thoughtful fusion of academia and cultural preservation, Edwin Mansook, a Ph.D. candidate at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, on Monday hosted a dynamic educational research workshop at Queen’s College, focusing on the revitalisation of the masquerade tradition in Guyana.

Organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the workshop brought together a unique blend of cultural stakeholders, including University of Guyana students specialising in Early Childhood Education, dance instructors, and a practicing masquerade traditionist, to explore how this vibrant art form can be sustained and promoted through education.

Mansook, a Guyanese-born researcher with a deep passion for traditional performing arts, emphasised the need to recognize teachers and cultural facilitators as “traditional knowledge holders” who are constantly shaping and reshaping the curriculum. His goal: to move the masquerade tradition beyond mere performance and into the realm of lived, reciprocal, cultural education.
“As you think of embracing this art form,” Mansook urged the attendees, “always think of it in the perspective of not just lecturing, but in the way in which it is reciprocal. Because, as you will see, culture is not static.”

He stressed that culture is alive, it moves, breathes, produces, and reproduces itself. According to him, much of the knowledge discussed during the workshop would not have been captured in the same way just two decades ago, illustrating how traditions evolve with time.

Delving deeper into the philosophical underpinnings of cultural identity, Mansook’s presentation examined Caribbean dance, music, and poetry as “performative manifestations of historical resistance and conflict,” especially in the context of the region’s ongoing struggles for racial justice and equality.
He highlighted that these art forms also serve as powerful expressions of spiritual awakening and cultural identity, particularly for communities historically marginalized by both colonial and post-colonial systems.

Referencing the work of renowned cultural theorist Stuart Hall, Mansook explained that identity is never singular or fixed. Rather, it is constantly being formed through a process of transformation, diversity, and cultural blending, or syncretism.

“In the following presentation,” Mansook said, “I will discuss how Stuart Hall’s analysis of diaspora presents a nuanced understanding of the process of identity formation, constantly being produced through transformation, diversity, and syncretism.”

Although there are currently no plans to hold a follow-up workshop, Mansook intends to share his research findings with the wider academic and cultural community. He announced plans to archive his documented work on the Caribbean Research Library’s platform, a move aimed at inspiring further exploration, scholarship, and education around Guyana’s rich masquerade heritage.

This workshop served not just as a moment of reflection, but as a call to action — urging educators, cultural practitioners, and policymakers to engage in the active preservation of a tradition that continues to dance at the heart of Guyana’s identity.