Born in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago Prof. Maureen Warner-Lewis has been hailed as an educator extraordinaire. She taught at both the secondary and tertiary educational level in Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria and at the University of the West Indies.
Prof. Lewis spent most of her professional life at the UWI, progressing from tutor in English to Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and ultimately Professor of African Caribbean Language and Orature in the Department of Literatures in English at Mona. As Senior Lecturer at UWI, true to her commitment to broadening our knowledge and acknowledgement of our unique cultural traditions and the strength of our African roots, she was responsible for introducing a course on oral tradition and literature, in 1985.
Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis has received several international, regional and national book awards and is known worldwide for her comprehensive and authoritative research. She is the winner of the internationally acclaimed Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis 2008 award for her book, Archibald Monteath: Igbo, Jamaican, Moravian published by the University of the West Indies Press, which is in part the inspiration behind this lecture today.
Her impressive list of publications has made a substantial contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the literary traditions of the region and has also demonstrated the depth and breadth of her scholarship beyond the sphere of literature and linguistics. This is evident in her work on Afro Caribbean cultural forms and religion, appearing in such works as: Guinea’s other suns: the African dynamic in Trinidad culture; Ethnic and religious plurality among Yoruba immigrants in Trinidad in the nineteenth century; African continuities in the Rastafari belief system; Forms of African spirituality in Trinidad and Tobago”, co-authored with Rudolph Eastman; Characteristics of Maroon music of Jamaica and Suriname”, co-authored with Marjorie Whylie. This list names but a few of her works.
Professor Warner-Lewis served on the Board of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank, for many years and chaired the publications sub-committee of that Board. She retired as Deputy Board Chairman in 2008.