Ep. 3: The Geography of the Caribbean
Caribbean geography is often defined by the Caribbean Sea, but our historical and cultural borders go well beyond these physical boundaries. In this episode, we talk about how to define the boundaries, inter-regional travel, and migration around the Caribbean with our very first guest, scholar Melanie White.
Melanie White is an interdisciplinary scholar, writer, and researcher from Miami, Florida. She is currently a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and PhD candidate in Africana Studies at Brown University. In 2015, she earned her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Africana Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Posse Scholar and Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. In 2017, she received her M.A. in African and African Diaspora Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Melanie's dissertation research dwells at the intersection of Black visual culture studies, Afro-Latin American studies, Caribbean studies, and Black feminist thought. More broadly, her research interests include Black diasporic art, Black feminisms, Black cultural politics, and Black critical thought.
Below is the syllabus for this episode. Divided into two sections, “Strictly Facts Reads” and “Strictly Facts Sounds,” it contains all the resources mentioned in episode three and additional content for you to dive deeper into the subject!
Love anything from this episode? Send us an email or a voice memo to be featured! As always, remember to subscribe and follow us on your favorite platforms. Bless up!
Strictly Facts Reads!
"Caribbean Migration" by Elizabeth M. Thomas-Hope
"Corn Island Historical Timeline" via Discover Corn Island
"Dying to Better Themselves: West Indians and the Building of the Panama Canal" by Olive Senior
"Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom" by Lloyd Best
"Livestock, Sugar and Slavery: Contested Terrain in Colonial Jamaica" by Verene Shepherd
"Sugar And Slavery: An Economic History Of The British West Indies" by Richard Sheridan
"Zami: A New Spelling of My Name" by Audre Lorde
Strictly Facts Sounds!
Arlene Hodgson - "Corn Island Song"
Soul Vibrations - "I'm Black History, I'm Black Culture"
Soul Vibrations - "Rock Down Central America"