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.
The Rastafarian exhibition in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History recounts the history and reveals nuance to a movement that celebrates African liberation, global peace and "one love." A glass case at the Smithsonian exhibit displays such manuscripts as the Holy Piby, a proto-Rastafarian text that was widely circulated across the African Diaspora before being banned in Jamaica during the 1920s.
"White Brazilians are not accustomed to seeing Blacks in positions of power and seeing Blacks with money in shops, night clubs and hotels. Having more Black American tourists will cause white Brazilians to treat Blacks differently and that will cause them to get a different image of all Blacks. And that can help change attitudes," Medeiros said during a recent interview in Rio.
