10. Conclusions: Looking Ahead to the After Acts

This final chapter reflects upon how the development of this volume ran alongside events that were unimaginable when the project was first envisaged. First, hurricane Maria brought severe devastation to the north-eastern Caribbean, in particular to the island of the Commonwealth of Dominica, a major partner and the contextual setting of the 2018–2021 Arts and Humanities Research Council funded grant that supported our project to explore the concept of safeguarding Intangible Creole Cultural Heritage. Then the global pandemic inevitably added complexities to the lives of all those contributing to the project. In these circumstances, how to safeguard intangible cultural heritage has become an increasingly urgent question. On a more optimistic note, we consider how Creole cultures, being born out of change, may perhaps be able to respond organically to shifts in the world in which they are situated.