Associate Fellows

Dr. Ramabai Espinet is an academic, a writer, and a critic. A graduate of York University, (B.A. Hons. English, M.A. English), she completed her PH.D (1993) at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. Her thesis examined the place of Euro-Creole women writers, with particular reference to the work of Jean Rhys and Phyllis Shand Allfrey. She teaches in the Caribbean Studies Program (Post-Colonial Literature and Women’s Studies) at New College, University of Toronto. Dr. Espinet retired recently from her post as Professor of English, Seneca College, Toronto.

Her published creative works include the novel, The Swinging Bridge (2003), a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2003, a text of the Robert Adams lecture series (Canada), long listed for the IMPAC literary prize in 2005 and published in Paris by Editions du Rocher (Le Pont Suspendu) in 2007. In 2008, Ramabai Espinet received the inaugural Nicolas Guillen Prize for Philosophical Literature from the Caribbean Philosophical Association. Her publications include the collection of poetry Nuclear Seasons (1991), the performance piece Indian Robber -Talk, and the children's books The Princess of Spadina (1992) and Ninja's Carnival (1993). Espinet’s short fiction and poetry are published in anthologies such as Trinidad Noir, Blue Latitudes, Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam, Beyond Sangre Grande, Another Way to Dance and Wheel and Come Again, and also in journals such as Small Axe and the Massachusetts Review. She edited Creation Fire (1990), an anthology of 121 Caribbean women poets in several languages. Her scholarly essays are published widely; she also writes in a popular medium on subjects of current interest. Her field of academic research and writing is Post-Colonial Literature. A documentary on Ramabai Espinet’s work, Coming Home (2005) has been made by Leda Serene Productions in Toronto.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: West Indies, Trinidad, Caribbean

Keywords: Euro-creole women writers

Recognized as one of the Global Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in politics and governance, Dr. Chevy Eugene is a cross-pointed Assistant Professor in the Black and African Diaspora Studies (BAFD) Program and the Department of Political Science. Dr. Eugene’s research takes up the historical struggles for reparations by conceptualizing it as a liberation praxis for conquest, enslavement, colonialism, and neocolonialism in new worldmaking in the Caribbean context. It proposes a decolonial reparations framework that seeks to delink demands for reparations from neoliberal epistemologies and mechanisms that perpetuate the continuation of neocolonial governmentalities in the Caribbean. Additionally, his research explores the role of the arts and social movements in the politicization and mobilization of young people in the Caribbean and its diasporas on the issue of reparatory justice. Dr. Eugene’s current project argues for a decolonial and holistic undertaking of reparations in Canada by connecting the contemporary manifestations of anti-Black systemic racism to transatlantic slavery. Furthermore, he has undertaken various consultancy projects, most notably with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to assist States and other key partners to deliver reparations for people of African descent through a human rights and intersectional approach.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: The Anglophone Caribbean, Haiti, & Colombia

Keywords: Reparatory Justice; Social Justice Movements; International Law; Human Rights; Caribbean Thought; Black Radical Thought; Decolonial Praxes; International Relations.

Publications:

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article(s)

2024    Eugene, C. R. J., jules, t., & Indrarajah, T. (2024). An African Union-Caribbean Community alliance in the global reparations movement: Promises, perils, and pitfalls. The Round Table, 103(1), 29–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2024.2307789

2022    Eugene, C. (2022). The Politics of Reparations in Rastafari Livity and Reggae. Iyaric, 1(1), 41–48.

2019    Eugene, C.R.J. (2019). Towards a Framework for Caribbean Reparations. Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, 44(3), 54-77.

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter

Eugene, C., Williams, Y., & Gray, A. (2022). Groundings and Rastafari: Re-territorializing Caribbean Indigenous knowledge. In Affirming Methodologies: Research and Education in the Caribbean (pp. 157–172). Routledge

Work in Progress                 

Books

Eugene, C., & jules, t. “The Politics of Reparations” Fernwood Publishing (2026)

Eugene, C. R., & Brissot, N. “Reparative Justice and Development in the Global South.” Fernwood Publishing (2027)

Generally speaking my academic interests are focused on the gender politics of indigenous movements, the political participation of indigenous women in the public realms and the subjective construction of indigenous leaders as mediators of their communities in different levels of governance.

My analytical work is located at the intersection of debates on indigenous women’s identity politics in Latin America, transnational feminism, and the politics of the adoption of human rights discourse at global and local levels. I have been interested during the last years on exploring the correlation of Indigenous women transnational activism and the proliferation of learning experiences for building leadership capacities. In particular I analyze the structure of opportunities that have forged the networking process of indigenous women at the continental level and how the political leverage of indigenous women leaders has been instrumental in its consolidation. In the context of Mexico I have been involved in process of strengthening capacities of local women leaders who want to participate in electoral and community politics alike.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Mexico, Nicaragua and transnational spaces created to consolidate Indigenous women´s regional organizations

Keywords: Gender, human rights, justice, indigenous identity politics, transnational activism and political participation

Gavin Fridell is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in International Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada. He is the author of Coffee (2014), Alternative Trade (2013), and Fair Trade Coffee (2007). He has written numerous articles on the political economy of trade, ethical trade, and global commodities.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Latin America and the Caribbean

Keywords: Coffee, fair trade, political economy, global commodities.

His research concentrates on Guatemala’s post-conflict transition, especially in relation to ongoing political violence and the efforts of social movements to transform the country. His work is based on more than ten years of collaboration with grassroots groups and human rights defenders in Guatemala.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Guatemala

Keywords: Critical development studies, Latin American politics, Guatemala, Central America, social movements, political violence, post-conflict transitions, extractive industries

My research, which is part and parcel of my applied development work, continues to be associated with Honduran farmer researchers and their supporting NGOs, in particular La Fundacion para la Investigacion Participativa con Agricultores de Honduras (FIPAH). Honduran farmer researchers have been engaged in generating new technologies, including new plant varieties produced through participatory plant breeding. By improving local landraces and better adapting them to the uncertainties of climate change, farmers have effectively increased local agro-biodiversity. At the same time, they have also acquired a strong sense of the value of biological conservation. Evaluations of the program, conducted by graduate students and myself, show that it has improved local livelihoods and wellbeing, most importantly through the provision of increased food security, as well as gender equality. My long term research interests are entirely participatory in nature, located within a theoretical framework of human and political ecology. In addition to long term research in Honduras, I have also worked with farmers in the highlands of Central Mexico and in the Yucatan peninsula, as well as supporting research, primarily through graduate students, in rural communities of southern India.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Honduras, Mexico, India

Keywords: Development, farming, climate change, agro-biodiversity

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization:

Keywords:

Broadly, my research analyzes the politics of industry-led environmental governance mechanisms in extractive resource sectors and traces the extent to which various local actors are (dis)enabled to participate in regulation activities associated with these mechanisms. My dissertation, Participatory Governance, Plant Disease, and Post-Neoliberalism, examined the uneven governing effects of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Ecuador and how palm oil production is structured by industry interests in addition to national politics, protest, and ecological realities. As a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) postdoc at York, I will continue my work in Ecuador while also initiating a new project that looks at the transforming regulatory landscape of mining in Northern Canada.

Country(ies) or Region(s) of Specialization: Ecuador, Canada

Keywords: environmental governance; political ecology; materiality; palm oil; post-neoliberalism