Mabuiga!
Welcome to the Website of the International Garifuna Research Center!
On May 18th, 2001 the Garifuna Language, Music and Dance was Proclaimed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. This Proclamation was made possible through the unstinting work of the National Garifuna Council of Belize.
www.ngcbelize.org
The Garifuna culture, having made a tremendous contribution to the economic, social and political landscape of Central America and the Caribbean, has attracted researchers at Universities and other Institutions worldwide in the fields of anthropology, history , archaeology and music among others. However, this research is not easily accessible to
the Garifuna people themselves, nor is much of it physically available to the general public for the purposes of informing Education Policymakers, cultural practitioners, social activists, students and other researchers.
The Garifuna Heritage Foundation Inc., an organization based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is contributing to this process through the work of the-International Garifuna Research Center (IGRC) . The need for such a Center has long been recognized here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. One of the recommendations made by the participants at
the UNESCO sponsored Regional Consultation on Indigenous Craft and Culture held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2002 called for its establishment. A further recommendation was made in 2009 by the participants at the Regional Symposium on the Garifuna Heritage organized by TGHF and attended by Delegates from Canada, Trinidad and Tobago,
Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The impetus for the final establishment of this Center is that it coincides with the Foundation’s continuing thrust for deepening our international work and developing a research culture focusing on the Garifuna Heritage.
IGRC will collect and maintain physical and virtual copies of all existing Garifuna arts, craft & technology, source documentation – in all formats – of existing published and unpublished research on the Garifuna Heritage and Culture, promote and conduct further research into the Garifuna Heritage and Culture and related aspects; design and implement projects and programmes to ensure that the information gathered is disseminated through various media
locally, regionally and internationally in particular to Garifuna people and communities.
We hope that you will partner with us in the development of our programmes and that you will visit our Website often for updates and information!
Seremein
Thank You!
The IGRC Team
