Lloyd Best Digital Archive launched
The archives of the Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean featuing the work of Lloyd Best, economist and quintessential Caribbean man, of Trinidad and Tobago, is now accessible online. The digital archival collection was launched in March 2024 through the collaborative efforts of the Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean and the US-based Trinity College. Avril Belfon, Government Archivist, National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago delivered the feature address.
The archives highlight Lloyd Best’s rich contributions to Caribbean history, thought and culture. He stands with the likes of C.L.R. James, Rex Nettleford, Franz Fanon, and others who were dedicated to shaping the foundation for a Caribbean civilisation. He coined phrases such as ‘Plantation Economy’, and ‘Industrialization by Invitation’, which have entered the language of intellectual discourse.
In the 1960s, Best co-founded the New World Group which became an influential group of independent thinkers who theorised and philosophised about the economic, social and political systems of their time. Norman Girvan, C.Y. Thomas, George Beckford and several others were part of this group. Its New World journal was published from 1963-1972.
Best later founded the Tapia House Group in Trinidad, out of which came a political party, the Tapia House Movement, and the weekly Tapia newspaper. He was a senior lecturer in economics at the UWI St Augustine campus but resigned in 1976 to start the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of the West Indies (now known as the Lloyd Best Institute of the W.I.) in Tunapuna. In 1977, he launched the Trinidad and Tobago Review newspaper as a monthly review of national life.
In 2002, Best was awarded the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) at the 14th Inter-Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Trinidad and Tobago. His citation included the following description: “Best is without doubt one of the most fertile minds in the Caribbean and has bestrode the regional intellectual world like a colossus.”
Access to the Lloyd Best Digital Archives is available at https://www.jstor.org/site/trinity/lloydbest/