In the Diaspora

Alissa Trotz is Director of Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto and editor of the weekly In the Diaspora Column.

On a grey and drizzling Saturday morning two days ago, an event was held at New College, the University of Toronto, to celebrate the life of Professor Frederick Ivor (Fred) Case, who died in Toronto in May while visiting from Guyana. Fred, who was born in Guyana and partly raised in England, had made Canada his home since 1968 when he joined the French Department at the University of Toronto, becoming its chair in 1985.

Fred’s scholarly interests included the literature of the French Caribbean and Africa, Caribbean religions, and racism and national consciousness. This was matched by his lifelong commitment to anti-racism, equity and social justice. He was instrumental in the creation of the African and Caribbean Studies Programs at New College, where he served as Principal from 1991-1996. He helped establish the Transitional Year Program, whose mandate is to increase access to the University of Toronto for students from marginalized communities, and he acted as mentor for students who would not otherwise have seen higher education as an avenue open to them.

Frederick Ivor Case
Frederick Ivor Case

Fred had also worked and lectured at the Universities of the West Indies and Senegal, and had helped develop university programs in Madagascar, Tajikistan and Guyana. Nor were his contributions confined to what is all too often the self-referential world of academia; as much as he was committed to democratizing the space of the university, he understood clearer than most that there was a life beyond it. He was extensively involved in human rights issues, ranging from advocating on behalf of the education of Black and Native students in Toronto and Ontario to serving as a Director of the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture.

In May, Gabrielle Hezekiah, a member of Fred’s extended family, wrote that his insatiable intellectual curiosity and interest in linkages across cultures was “grounded in a concern for the human condition, for human possibility and for the structures which facilitated the fulfillment of that possibility. It all seemed connected by notions of dialogue, interaction and the transformation and remaking of human lives – across disciplines, communities and areas of interest.” So it was no accident that the turnout to bid him farewell on Saturday last was so large and so remarkably diverse. People came from all walks of Fred’s life. Toronto’s premier steelpan group Pan Fantasy turned out in full complement to offer a musical tribute. As the morning unfolded, I realized that the last thing Fred would have wanted us to think was that his life was remarkable in the sense of seeing it as an individual accomplishment, because that might give the rest of us an excuse not to search for opportunities to make a meaningful difference. He was always part of a larger community – beginning with his family – that drew inspiration from him while offering him sustenance, and that is why he was in our midst in Toronto this past weekend.

 Fred retired as a university professor in 2006 but even that is a technicality, for he returned to Guyana later that year, where he began working with faculty and students at the University of Guyana. In a context where Guyana exports more skilled workers to North America and Europe than any other country in the world (over 85 percent), with devastating consequences for our educational system, Fred’s decision to come back and make a meaningful contribution to the lives of students assumes special significance. The letters that appeared in the Stabroek News upon the news of his passing demonstrate how profoundly he had touched people’s lives in his short sojourn in his native land. Colleagues Adeola James and Joyce Jonas wrote movingly of the immense vacuum that he has left, of his humility, irrepressible humour and intellectual energy. As Dr. Jonas noted, “his love of life and of people seemed to leave no place for negative, destructive thinking. If the yogic concept of a highly developed soul has any merit, then Prof was a highly developed soul.” One of his students, Amar Panday, expressed the overwhelming sadness and loss that his West Indian Literature class felt. Fred’s commitment to human rights also expressed itself in his efforts to tackle homophobia at the University of Guyana.

Fred’s return did not mean he had moved on, or left behind his past life and experiences. Guyana was a homecoming of sorts, but it was also a new node in the web of human connections that Fred was so skilful at stitching together. He collected books from colleagues in Canada to share with his students, and was eager to find ways to connect them with Caribbean Studies and other students at the University of Toronto, something we have not been successful in doing so far and that we should take up as part of the work that is now left for us to do.  Fred also continued his work here in Canada; in fact in May he had returned to see some of his graduate students in Toronto, and shortly before being tragically taken from us he had participated in a community radio tribute to the late Martinican poet Aimé Césaire.

At the Toronto celebration of Fred’s life, one of his students, Dr. Muriel Walker, now a French professor at McMaster University, recounted a gypsy saying that she grew up with in her family: If you’re lucky enough to be born into this world, then you have to live, and that means always striving to touch the beating heart of the world. In Guyana, our own poet Martin Carter puts it this way:
 
If you see me
looking at your hands
listening when you speak
marching in your ranks
you must know
I do not sleep to dream, but dream to change the world.
 
Members of Fred’s family in the diaspora return to Guyana this week to join those at home to mourn his untimely loss and celebrate his life’s work. We thank them all for sharing him with us. On Friday October 3rd there will be a service at St. James-the-Less Anglican Church on David Street at 2 p.m., after which Fred’s remains will be interred in Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara. Fred demonstrated what it might mean to touch the beating heart of the world before his own stopped on May 10, 2008. It is now time for this son’s final homecoming. 

 (This is one of a series of fortnightly columns from Guyanese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related to Guyana and the Caribbean)