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Neurodiverse conditions, or developmental disorders, are neither well-known nor understood by the general population in Trinidad and Tobago. Awareness of, or sensitivity toward, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in particular, is lacking in Trinidad and Tobago. Generation A is those persons who will reach adulthood in the next decade or so and be seeking employment opportunities. Given the current challenges faced by persons with ASD in securing and maintaining employment and the fact that this is a generally underexplored area of research, focusing on Generation A provides an opportunity to explore what provisions are in place for individuals with ASD to assist with future transitions into the workplace in Trinidad and Tobago. This chapter focuses on the existing policy, legal, and institutional framework in Trinidad and Tobago for ASD in the workplace, with particular reference to Generation A, to determine how it is currently addressed and what accommodations are being made to facilitate this demographic. A review of ASD-related data and select, relevant policy, law and institutions in Trinidad and Tobago has revealed that very few preparations, if any, are being made to facilitate Generation A individuals' entry into the workplace. The most relevant sector for addressing ASD needs falls to the NGO movement, but these organizations do not focus on employment preparation. Several recommendations for the key stakeholders in this process have been made that can assist in this regard.

Located between 10 and 11 degrees north of the equator, and seven miles from the northeast corner of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago are a twin island republic and the southernmost islands in the Caribbean chain that begins off the coast of Florida. The islands have a tropical maritime climate with two seasons – a hot dry season from January to May and a hot rainy season from June to December. The daily temperature ranges from the low 70s to the high 80s year round, and for the 10-year period 1987–1996, Trinidad's mean low and high temperatures were 73 and 89 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. As the islands are located south of the hurricane belt, neither has been hit by a hurricane since Hurricane Flora hit Tobago in 1963.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to explore homicide trends in Trinidad and Tobago, to describe the factors that impact the risk for homicide perpetration and victimization, and to discuss the effectiveness of strategies implemented by law enforcement agencies to prosecute homicide cases.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter employs a detailed review of relevant literature to explore homicide trends and the strategies instituted to investigate and prosecute this criminal offense.

Findings – Our findings suggest that homicide victimization and perpetration is concentrated among young men of African descent, who reside in underprivileged communities with a high population density. Gang violence prompted by a narco-drug economy, coupled with gun violence, accentuates the risk of homicide perpetration and victimization. As homicide rates remained high, law enforcement officials in Trinidad and Tobago were ill equipped to investigate and make arrests in these offenses.

Originality/value – This chapter adds to the literature on homicide in Trinidad and Tobago by (1) showing that geographic and demographic factors structure homicide victimization and (2) exploring how the political economy of drugs in the Caribbean contributes to murder.

In the periods, following the First and Second World Wars, colonial states across the British empire underwent waves of reforms that were geared toward improving human well-being, from enhancing social conditions, such as health and education, to expanding opportunities for economic and political engagement. The literature on the colonial state typically traces these state-building efforts to the agency of European colonial officials. However, evidence from a historical analysis of Trinidad and Tobago reveals a different agent driving state reform: the colonized. A local labor movement during colonialism forced the colonial state to construct a number of state agencies to ameliorate the economic, political, and social conditions in the colony, thereby resulting in an increase in state capacity. This study, therefore, provides critical intervention into the colonial state literature by showing that the agency of the colonized, as opposed to just the colonizers, is key to state-building, and specifying the mechanisms by which the subaltern constrained colonial officials and forced them to enact policies that improved colonial state capacity.

In this comparative study, we explore the ways eight queer university students from Trinidad and Tobago and New Brunswick, Canada, use cellphilm production (cellphone + film production + intention) to share their experiences, make calls for change, and forge solidarities across racial, cultural, and national contexts. Engaging in cellphilm production as a research method for social change, we ask: What are queer, trans, and non-binary students’ experiences in campus spaces? What are the commonalities and tensions that exist between their experiences? How might cellphilm production work to disrupt unsafe campus spaces and create transnational queer solidarities? Through cellphilm production, participants crafted narratives highlighting significant systemic barriers, and speaking back to micro and macro aggressions. Both participating groups expressed feelings of exclusion and institutional neglect and highlighted their university’s disregard toward accommodating physical spaces, such as washrooms, downplaying of verbal hostilities, and other microaggressions. Participants also noted that students were at the forefront of creating purposefully queer spaces. Our comparative study disrupts the erasure of the experiences of queer, trans, and non-binary university students in Trinidad and Tobago and New Brunswick and speaks back to hegemonic whiteness in the context of queer campus spaces in New Brunswick, Canada.

In analyzing the state's political economic management of ethnic diversity in Trinidad, with specific reference to the case of the indigenous Santa Rosa Carib Community, the author sets forth an outline of the “political economy of tradition”: (1) the politics and economics of the state associating economic values with particular cultural representations and (2) legislated recognition and financial rewards for groups engaged in public cultural display. How the Caribs themselves manage this process, and the contradictions introduced by forms of state sponsorship that led the Caribs to become incorporated as a limited liability company, are also issues central to this study.

This chapter will discuss diversity and discrimination within Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) (in employment and wider society) and critically assess the findings of the extant literature as it relates to such small island developing states. The chapter will examine race, sex, disability, and sexual orientation, specifically exploring current accepted practice and the effect of the recently enacted anti-discrimination legislation. This discussion is important as there is limited available literature as it relates to discrimination, diversity, inclusion and equality in the Caribbean region.

This chapter will rely on secondary data, primarily studies which focus on T&T, in the fields of management, psychology and sociology; as well as country reports published by international agencies including the United Nations and the World Health Organization; and T&T Equality Commission Reports.

Diversity exists within T&T, as does discrimination, within employment and wider society. This reflects an acceptance of the status quo as part of the culture of the twin island state, rather than challenging why it is still regarded as acceptable to treat some minority groups less favorably than others as a result of their immutable characteristics.

The use of secondary data may have limited the scope of the findings.

The development of the Equal Opportunity Act (2000) is a pivotal event in the trajectory towards equality; however, further action will be needed to reduce discrimination within society. The exclusion of sexual orientation from the Act and the criminalization of private sexual behavior must be addressed in order for Trinidadian society to become truly inclusive and diverse.

This discussion is important as there is limited available literature as it relates to discrimination, diversity, inclusion and equality in the Caribbean region and much of what is accepted as representative of reality is based on anecdotal evidence.

Approximately 70 years ago, descendants of Trinidadian enslaved Africans created an instrument from steel drums discarded by the US Navy. Since then, the steelpan has attracted entrepreneurs from around the world because of its unique sound, and, as the quintessential instrument for the pre-Lenten Trinidad Carnival, it also entices tourists. Its production did not stay under the “breadfruit tree”; however, as they are now mass produced and even patented abroad. Some argue this amounts to cultural piracy, as the steelpan is more than an artifact but is the mentifactual property of a people. Thus, the question remains whether the authenticity of the steelpan is lost when not crafted within the landscape of Trinidad.

While access to devices and connectivity remain key issues in Latin America and the Caribbean, a growing body of literature also recognises the importance of media literacies and competencies necessary to navigate an information-rich society. This media literacy movement highlights skills that lead to critical analysis and the assembly and production of knowledge. In the Caribbean region, information literacies have been linked to competency in exploiting opportunities for informal and lifelong learning. This paper builds on the literature dealing with media literacies by drawing on ethnographic interviews with women in Trinidad and Tobago.

The methodology consists of an 18-month long ethnography including participant observation data as well as transcripts of 90 interviews.

The research shows how women in a lower middle class community dubbed ‘Belleton’ build and refine their digital media skills through lifelong adult learning. These informal learning processes that are facilitated by digital technologies that are spaces of learning where these women construct knowledge and build fluency and larger life skills.

This research makes a contribution to the literature on media literacy and digital skill-building. It ethnographically analyses the social practices of Trinidadian women who interact with digital media in a wide range of daily life activities including DIY consumption and small-business entrepreneurship.

Purpose – Although research has shown that people in developing countries perceive environmental problems and have high levels of concern for the environment, their actions might not always reflect that concern. This study examines how villagers in rural wetland communities in Trinidad and Tobago perceive environmental issues related to oil and gas development that might impact their communities.

Methodology – One hundred and thirty villagers in three communities in and around the Nariva Swamp were interviewed to find out about perceptions of, support for oil and gas drilling policies, or opposition to the development of this resource.

Findings – The study found that respondents living closest to the swamp and those whose livelihoods depended on the wetlands were more likely than other respondents to perceive oil and gas drilling as dangerous and expressed greater opposition to it. Given that direct actions such as protests were not seen among the villagers, an analysis revealed that there are a number of indirect environmental actions that contribute to the protection of the Nariva Swamp. Villagers were seen as having pro-environmental actions such as sustainable farming and fishing practices, carpooling and nongovernmental activity.

Originality/value of paper – This study adds to the body of environmental research in the Caribbean particularly providing an understanding about rural people's perceptions of environmental issues.