Roi Kwabena - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Dr. Roi Ankhkara Kwabena (July 23, 1956, Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

— January 9, 2008, England) was a cultural anthropologist, who worked with all age ranges in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Latin-America and the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

for over 30 years.

At the age of 14, he published his first poem, Why Black Power, which he also performed at a Black Power rally. His first collection, Lament of the Soul, appeared three years later, and marked the beginning of a prolific body of work over the following three decades, including other poetry collections, journals, essays, children’s stories and the thesis Marijuana (1981). At the same time, Roi founded the publishing co-operative, AFROETS PRESS, and Bembe Productions, a cultural collective whose objective was the propagation of creative expression from the Caribbean and its diaspora.

In commemoration of UN’s

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

International Literacy Year 1990 he was "Writer In Residence" at Trinidad

Trinidad

's Public Library. In the mid-1990s he served as a Senator in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

. He then made Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England, his permanent base and was appointed its sixth Poet Laureate

Poet Laureate

A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

for 2001-2002. As a cultural ambassador he hosted numerous readings by writers and actively promoted literature development internationally as well as himself lecturing and performing at many schools, universities, cultural and social venues.

Dr Kwabena was renowned for using critical analysis to examine the historical roots of racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

and to assess the direct relevance this has on present society. He also championed wide ranging issues such as functional and cultural literacy, therapeutic harvesting of memories by elders and young people (including cross generational dialogue), Community Cohesion, Social Inclusion, Cultural Diversity, redefining the heritages of indigenous peoples, plus confidence building for convicted prisoners, excluded and traumatized students, refugees, etc.

In 2007, Roi Kwabena was included among activists, artists, campaigners, sport and media personalities on a wall celebrating efforts of The World's Black Achievers: Past and Present at the Liverpool-based International Slavery Museum

International Slavery Museum

The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. It is concerned specifically with the Atlantic Slave Trade, rather than the history of slavery in other regions and eras....

.

Kwabena died on January 9, 2008, one day after being diagnosed with lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

at a hospital in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

- prior to this, doctors had been treating him for pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

. His funeral took place in London on January 26, 2008 and he was cremated two days later. His ashes were flown to Trinidad.

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