He was a Jamaican scholar, social critic, choreographer and vice-chancellor emeritus of The University of the West Indies (UWI), the leading research university in the commonwealth of the Caribbean. His contributions to education and the arts are enormous. Jamaica Information Services describes him as a "quintessential Caribbean patriot, whose contributions will forever be etched into the annals of the region's history." According to Jamaica Information Service, [Rex Nettleford] was committed to the exploration of Caribbean cultural identity. One person commented on a blog that "Jamaicans will remember him for his articulation of their craving to be 'smady,' or 'smaddification,' a Jamaican dialect that means to be accepted as somebody with worth and character and not mere hewers of wood and carriers of water in the grand scheme of things." Nettleford co-authored a study of the Rastafarian movement, titled "The Rastafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica," with M.G. Smith and Roy Augie, two noted Caribbean authors. In addition, his compilation of Norman Manley's speeches and writings gave credibility to his ability as a public historian and social critic.
