About
Amina Blackwood Meeks
Likkle bit bout Amina
Amina holds a PhD in Cultural Studies. Her thesis The Oral Tradition: Displacement, Adjustment, Replacement – Storytelling as a Tool for Wholistic Development is available on the website of the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Amina is an award-winning Writer, Actress, Storyteller, Founder/Artistic Director, Ntukuma, The Storytelling Foundation of Jamaica. She weaves tales from the loom of her practical knowledge of the Caribbean, her life-skills as mother, grandmother, educator, communication specialist, political scientist, social and cultural policy researcher/analyst and farmer. Her stories cover a range of issues affecting gender, the environment, children and the direction of human development. Ken Corsbie, Elder Statesman of Caribbean Culture describes her stories as parables for the theatre which are “An outrageous combination of education and entertainment, of glitz and thoughtfulness”.
100% Jamaican/Caribbean
From the traditional to the contemporary, from workshops to performances, Amina delivers confidently bilingual in English and Jamaican. She has traveled with her special friends Ananse, Miss Lady and Likkle Miss Jing Bang to storytelling festivals and a host of speaking engagements across the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and North America.
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Awards
What People Sey Bout Amina
Tings Whey She Do
Founder, Zebra Theatre Group, Antigua, 1987
Founding Member, Theatre Group for National Liberation, Jamaica,1976
Founder/Artistic Director of the internationally-acclaimed Ananse SoundSplash, the annual storytelling festival and conference inJamaica
Founder/Artistic Director, Child’s Play, Antigua, 1992
Founder of Ntukuma, The Storytelling Foundation of Jamaica, 2002
Caribbean Week
“One of the most dynamic and charismatic proponents of storytelling…”
Kevin Baldeosingh
“Her performances are outstanding for her smooth delivery, excellent timing
and understated use of body language.”
WISPA/WILDE
“Her telling brings the meaning of the stories from the heads of the
ancestors to the mouths and pages of contemporary writers, showing how
stories were used to pass on traditions, teach morals and preserve culture”.
Henry Muttoo, Cayman National Cultural Development
Foundation.
“A Storyteller’s storyteller”.
Cayman National Cultural Foundation
“The complete Caribbean Teller …”
Ermina Osoba, Resident Tutor, UWI School of Continuing Studies,
Antigua
“A special and rare talent…”