Dear Editor,
As Guyana approaches its 60th year of Independence, I find myself reflecting less on celebration and more on identity.
Lately, one of the most common conversations among young people is not excitement about the Diamond Jubilee, but uncertainty about what it truly means to be Guyanese. Some are openly questioning whether we even have a strong national identity or culture anymore. While many may take offense to that statement, I believe it points to a deeper issue we have avoided confronting for years.
Culture does not disappear overnight. It fades gradually when it is not intentionally preserved, taught, celebrated, and passed on.
We cannot blame younger generations for not knowing what they were never properly exposed to. We cannot criticize children for not understanding national games, folklore, patriotic music, oral traditions, or cultural customs if those things were never meaningfully integrated into their lives beyond ceremonial moments.
That responsibility belonged to us as a society.
Somewhere along the way, culture became seasonal. Something displayed around Mashramani or Independence, then quietly packed away again. Preservation took a back seat to presentation.
And now we are seeing the consequences.
Guyana is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the region. We are built from African, Indian, Indigenous, Chinese, Portuguese, and European histories. Our country carries traditions such as masquerade, Shanto, tassa drumming, calypso, chutney, steelpan, folk storytelling, string band music, ring games, proverbs, and a dialect uniquely our own.
Yet despite all of this, many young people feel disconnected from their own cultural inheritance.
That should concern all of us.
As we celebrate sixty years of nationhood, I cannot help but ask whether our celebrations truly reflect the depth of who we are as a people, or whether they have become more focused on optics and entertainment than cultural reflection and preservation.
How many young people today know the contributions of Eddy Grant, D’Ivan Henry, Dave Martins, Courtney Noel, Habeeb Khan, Francis Quamina Farrier, Moses Josiah, or countless other creatives, storytellers, actors, broadcasters, and cultural workers who helped shape the identity of this nation?
How many know the stories behind the songs we suddenly play during moments of patriotism?
If our legends are not documented, honored, taught, and discussed, then eventually we risk becoming a people disconnected from our own memory.
And a country without cultural memory becomes vulnerable to cultural erasure.
Patriotism cannot only appear when territorial issues arise or when flags are waving during national events. Patriotism must also be reflected in how we value our artists, preserve our history, support our culture, and teach future generations who they are.
Because a nation is not only land.
It is memory.
It is story.
It is culture.
It is people.
And perhaps the real question we should ask ourselves during this Diamond Jubilee is not simply how we celebrate sixty years of Independence, but whether we have done enough to preserve the identity we became independent for in the first place.