Rex Nettleford

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Ralston "Rex" Milton Nettleford OM , OCC (born February 3, 1933 in Falmouth ; † February 2, 2010 in Washington, DC , USA ) was a Jamaican cultural scientist , university teacher and choreographer . He co-founded the National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica (NDTC) in 1962 and was Vice- Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) from 1998 to 2004 .

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Nettleford was born on February 3, 1933 to an unmarried mother in the coastal town of Falmouth. He grew up with his grandmother, who lived in rural Cockpit Country, inland on the island. It was there in his youth that he came into contact with the culture and traditions of the Maroons , descendants of runaway slaves who had retreated to the mountains. Despite his humble background, he attended the renowned Cornwall College in Montego Bay through a scholarship made possible . His talent for dance and choreography was already evident there at school dance events . He then studied at the University College of the West Indies, Kingston , where he received his bachelor's degree in history in 1953 . He received a Rhodes Scholarship and studied political science at Oriel College of the University of Oxford , which he with the Master of Philosophy graduated.

After studying in England, he returned to Jamaica in 1959, got a job at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Kingston and, in 1961, as co-author of The Rastafarian Movement in Kingston, Jamaica , a study on the Rastafarian movement, aware of oneself. In contrast to most of his contemporaries, who viewed this movement as dangerous and extremist, Nettleford primarily recognized the resistance to social conditions, the belief in self-determination and the will to escape one's own dark past, in which he made the decisive psychological step , which enables Jamaican society to free itself from the baggage of the past. His work Mirror, Mirror: Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica (1970), in which he describes the ambivalent relationship of black Jamaicans to their African roots, the longing to deny them and to identify with the cultural symbols of the white upper class, was about this. analyzed. In numerous other writings, he established himself as a historian and social critic.

In 1962 Nettleford was one of the founders of the National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica (NDTC). Until his death in 2010 he worked as its artistic director and chief choreographer, as well as a leading dancer for many years. In the repertoire of the NDTC he combined African traditions and European influences, traditional Jamaican music and European ballet, which made him play a key role in the creation of a new national identity for Jamaica, which became independent in 1962. The first successes included choreographing the music and the messages of Bob Marley , Jimmy Cliff and Toots Hibbert , which were still part of the NDTC repertoire decades later. Although the dance theater ensemble was made up of part-time, voluntary dancers, it celebrated great success on tours in Europe and North America and was soon considered one of the outstanding cultural institutions in the Caribbean.

Nettleford worked for the UWI all his life, first from 1959 as director of the Extra-Mural Department (department for part-time study) and the School of Continuing Studies (school for continuing studies). In 1964 he founded the Trade Union Education Institute at University College, and became its director. The professor of cultural studies Nettleford became Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 1986 until he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the UWI in 1998. He held this position until his retirement in 2004. He also served as the editor of the Jamaica Journal and the Caribbean Quarterly , magazines that hosted the most talented academics in the region.

He was also a cultural advisor to Prime Minister Michael Manley in the 1970s , and most recently to Prime Minister Bruce Golding . In addition to consulting activities for various governments in the Caribbean region, Nettleford has also worked for international organizations such as CARICOM , the Organization of American States , the Executive Board of UNESCO and the World Bank .

On January 27, 2010, while in Washington, DC, where he was doing a fundraiser for the UWI, he suffered a heart attack and was admitted to George Washington University Hospital. After a few days in the hospital's intensive care unit, Rex Nettleford died on February 2, 2010, a few hours before his 77th birthday.

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personal data
SURNAME Nettleford, Rex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nettleford, Ralston Milton (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jamaican cultural scientist, university professor and choreographer
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Falmouth , Jamaica
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 2010
Place of death Washington, DC , USA