Selwyn Ryan

Selwyn Ryan (1936 – 12 March 2022) was a Trinidad and Tobago political scientist and pollster. Ryan has been described as "the author of record for the nation's modern political history"

Early life and education Ryan was born in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago, to a lower-middle-class Afro-Trinidadian family. He received his primary schooling at Ste Madeleine Government School and his secondary education at Naparima College in San Fernando. He graduated from Naparima College in 1954, after completing his Ordinary-Level examinations.

Ryan was motivated by Eric Williams to further his education. After hearing Williams deliver "My Relations with the Caribbean Commission" in 1955, Ryan attended all the addresses Williams delivered in San Fernando in the run-up to the 1956 general elections. His "Constitutional Reform in Trinidad and Tobago" inspired Ryan to study history and constitutional law. Ryan enrolled in the University of Toronto in 1956 His dissertation, entitled The Transition to Nationhood in Trinidad and Tobago, focused primarily on Eric Williams and the rise of the People's National Movement. In 1973, he took a position at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, where he remained until his retirement in 2003. He was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold) in 2012.

Newspaper columnist Ryan was a regular newspaper columnist, and many of his scholarly publications began as columns in the Trinidad Express.

Legacy Historian Bridget Brereton described Ryan as "the author of record for the nation's modern political history" and the person who had done the most to "help the nation to learn about its modern history". Sociologist Anthony Maingot described Ryan as "the most prolific and influential intellectual in post-colonial Trinidad".