Making a Living in Trinidad: An Ethnographic Exploration of Entrepreneurial Learning among Youth

Abstract

This thesis explores how certain entrepreneurial skills and knowledge are transmitted to Trinidadian youth through family and educational programs. On one hand, government initiatives direct unemployed youth back into the labour market through entrepreneurship education. On the other hand, many youth attending these institutions are already employed, and have pre-existing businesses. This invites reflection on how youth are learning about entrepreneurship outside of formal training, and why they are choosing to pursue formal training anyway. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Trinidad, this thesis demonstrates that young entrepreneurs engage in both the measured pursuit of profit and the fulfillment of other culturally meaningful desires, and that these internal motivations are influenced by external sources of knowledge and social interactions. Drawing on the literature on economic anthropology, I agree that youth are learning about entrepreneurship from families, and argue that such learning can be effectively supported via public policy and educational institutions.