Caribbean Feminisms: A Reading List

Images in collage (top, from left to right): Dr. Gloria I. Joseph; Edwidge Danticat; Sara Gómez; Audre Lorde; Una Marson; Andaiye; Jamaica Kincaid; Maryse Condé; June Jordan: Nancy Morejón; and Claudia Jones.

Images in collage (top, from left to right): Dr. Gloria I. Joseph; Edwidge Danticat; Sara Gómez; Audre Lorde; Una Marson; Andaiye; Jamaica Kincaid; Maryse Condé; June Jordan: Nancy Morejón; and Claudia Jones.

By Nana Afua Y. Brantuo and Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin

Check out our reading list from our Caribbean Feminisms Series.


Black Women Radicals’ “Caribbean Feminisms Series” is a four-part online event series paying homage to historical and contemporary Caribbean feminisms and feminists. The series is curated and hosted by educators, organizers, and scholars, Nana Brantuo and Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin.

Caribbean feminists and feminisms are central and essential to national, regional, and global movements - actively “deconstructing the categories of ‘race’, ‘ethnicity’ and ‘nation’ and exposing their gendered character” (Reddock, 2007) and mobilizing for societal transformation. This series is a homage to the pioneering work of feminists such as Guyanese grassroots activist Andaiye; Grendian feminist scholar Eudine Barriteau; Jamaican diplomat Lucille M. Mair; Curaçaoan cultural anthropologist Rose Mary Allen; and Tobagonian Calypsonian Calypso Rose as well as space for engaging with contemporary Caribbean feminist scholars, activists, and artists across generations, borders, and languages.

 

Past Online Webinars in the Caribbean Feminisms Series

Digital Caribbean Feminisms

The first installment of our “Caribbean Feminisms Series” was on “Digital Caribbean Feminisms.” Panelists for this event included: Kenita Placide, Zainab Floyd, Dr. Angelique V. Nixon, and Dr. Tonya Haynes. For Caribbean feminists, the incorporation and usage of the internet for space and placemaking has been “multigenerational, multiethnic, transnational, and Pan-Caribbean” (Haynes, 2016). For Caribbean feminst activists, archivists, artists, and scholars, digital space has played a key role in archiving & curation, knowledge production and sharing, and organizing and mobilizing and has facilitated increased amplification of the voices, experiences, and perspectives of Caribbean women, girls, femmes, gender non-conforming and non-binary folx within and across the region. Joined by feminists across the region and Diaspora, this event will deepen and expand our understanding of digital Caribbean feminisms and will touch on its evolution and impact, the critical role of digitally in grassroots Caribbean feminist activism and knowledge production, the digital divide in the Caribbean, and the future of Caribbean feminisms in digital spaces particularly in the time of COVID 19.

 

Caribbean Women & Knowledge Production

Our second installment of our “Caribbean Feminisms Series” was on “Caribbean Women & Knowledge Production”, which was held on Thursday, December 3rd at 4:30 PM EST on Zoom. Panelists for this included: Dr. Fatimah Jackson-Best, Lysanne Charles, and Kesewa John. Our Caribbean Feminism Series is curated by Nana Brantuo and Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin. About this event: For centuries, Caribbean women have been creators, retainers, and guardians of knowledge across modes, mediums, borders, and terrains. Women such as Queen Nanny of the Maroons, Mariana Grajales Cuello, Mary Prince, Sarah "Sally" Bassett, Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau, Louise Bennett, Andaiye, Jeanne Henriquez, Paulette Nardal, Jeanne Nardal, and Suzanne Césaire exist within a rich genealogy and history of knowledge production and cultural transformation within the region and throughout the world. Join us in conversation with women from across the region and throughout the Caribbean Diaspora on the necessity of historicizing and amplifying Caribbean women’s knowledge production and intellectualism, past and present.

 

In Honor of Andaiye: Caribbean Feminist Organizing and Advocacy

“While we need organizing that is anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, our organizing must also be anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic and against all forms of exploitation, subordination and discrimination...Similarly, while we need organizing against the forms of exploitation, subordination and discrimination that the left has traditionally ignored or downplayed, our organizing must also be anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist.” –– Andaiye, 2009, Gender, Race, and Class: A Perspective on the Contemporary Caribbean Struggle, 2009 Patrick Emmanuel Memorial Lecture (UWI Cave Hill). In honor of Guyanese feminist organizer, educator, and activist Andaiye, Black Women Radicals hosted "In Honor of Andaiye: Caribbean Feminist Advocacy and Organizing" on Thursday, February 25, 2021. The third installment of our Caribbean Feminisms Series, we brought together Caribbean feminist organizers, researchers, and advocates to discuss the current state and future of regional and Diasporic gender-based organizing and advocacy against intersecting and overlapping oppressions. Our panelists for this event included Renae Green, Dr. Amarilys Estrella, and Dr. Mamyrah Dougé-Prosper.

 

Caribbean Feminisms Reading List

Videos  

Reports 

Curated Blogs/Websites/Exhibits/Repositories/Archives 

Academic Journals (Special Volumes) 

Academic Articles/Essays/Book Chapters/Encyclopedic Entries 

Novels/Biographies/Autobiographies/Poetry Collections 

Scholarly/Academic Books