Abstract

This review of the career of Dr. J. D. Elder traces the development of his interest in folk traditions both of Trinidad and Tobago and of Africa as well as in African continuities in the region. It documents the growth of Dr. Elder’s research and writing from an earlier, colonial period in the country’s history when folk culture was valued more as a matter of performance for public display than as a subject of serious scholarly study. It credits the change of official attitude both to Dr. Elder’s perseverance in his work and to the civil rights revolution in the 1960s, which encouraged nationalist interest in African origins and ultimately Dr. Elder’s sojourn in Nigeria for a few years. The paper finally assesses Dr. Elder’s role in educational developments in Trinidad and Tobago, and commends his dogged belief in fieldwork from which has emerged a body of publications and other materials that are of immense archival value for future researchers.

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