The hugely popular British-Guyanese writer John Agard once wrote a poem titled Listen Mr Oxford Don. The poem is written from the perspective of a West Indian immigrant living in Clapham, south London. He has had few formal educational opportunities, but is rich in linguistic skills and has a sharp-eyed view of life.
“I didn’t graduate. I immigrate,” says Agard’s speaker at one point, implying a degree of equivalence between these two life-shaping experiences. He is perhaps also suggesting that those who leave their homeland to settle in another country learn something different, but just as important, as they might from university degrees.
This week a group of Cambridge academics from the Faculty of Education is hosting a conference where ‘dons’, scholars and teachers from around the world will have an opportunity to listen to Agard and other Caribbean poets’ brilliant performances in real life.
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Image: Egret Wings of White
Credit: Nick Chill Photography, Flickr Creative Commons
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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