Culture encompasses various aspects of society, such as morals, beliefs, attitudes, habits, norms, art, and traditions, which shape our way of life. Over time, acculturation occurs, which is a subtle, multidimensional cultural transformation that society undergoes across generations.

In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the domination by diverse European conquerors and colonisers, the importation of African slaves, indentureship, and the disappearance of the native population have significantly altered people's thinking, values, language, dance, cuisine, religion, and social behaviours. These changes, combined with the influence of immigrant Chinese, Venezuelan, and Middle Eastern lifestyles and cultures, have led to the emergence of a rich blend of Indo-Trinidadian, Creole, Afro-Trinidadian, and other cultural varieties.

This study aims to explore how cultural transformation impacts the qualitative performance of the public service and whether neo-acculturation serves as both a cause and a barrier to superior social capital and organisational effectiveness. Four theories, namely postcolonial theory, cultural imperialism theory, social conflict theory, and neo-tribalism, along with qualitative design and exploratory research methods will be employed to investigate, evaluate, understand, and explain these phenomena. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews with citizens and public servants will be the primary data source and content analysis and MAXQDA coding software will guide the data analysis and interpretation.

Wednesday 18th October 2023 at 2:15 p.m.

Mr Luke Pantin is a bilingual (English/Spanish) native of Trinidad and Tobago with strong ancestral ties to Venezuela, and the British and Francophone Caribbean. He emigrated to Venezuela in 1972 after successfully completing his A Level education, and later to Canada in 1992. His professional experience spans forty-five years as a practitioner of public/private administration, strategic planning, organisational change management and innovation, sustainable community economic development, tourism and culture community leadership, and organisational management.

He is known as an efficient, effective practitioner in public service, NGO, and private sector engagement, delivery, and reform. His specialisations include capacity building, public engagement, risk, brand equity, process and total quality management, communications, marketing, policy systems, community planning, workforce development, international commerce, and trade.

He has worked extensively across Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, providing leadership acuity to a broad nexus of federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, Aboriginal, public, and private institutions. He is the former Managing Director of Data-Craft Latin America and Caribbean, and the Senior Director/Acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Economic Development for the Governments of Alberta, and Yukon. He has also held directorships on various boards and public policy teams including the:

• AT&T Latin America & Caribbean Distribution Council
• Economic Developers Association of Alberta
• Economic Developers Association of British Colombia
• Canadian Manufacturing & Exporting Association
• Economic Developers Association of Canada
• International Economic Development Council
• Circumpolar Council

Motivated by long-held interests and curiosity in the idiosyncrasies of his own complex Spanish, Portuguese, French Caribbean, Carib First Peoples, African and Indian ancestry, he pursued tireless private research of a broad bibliography of Spanish, Caribbean and Latin American history and literature.

Luke holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and a Master of Business Administration degrees, along with Graduate Diplomas in Economic Development, Public Service Management, Semiotics, and Public Engagement.