Caribbean Studies at TMU

For the last 20+ years, I, Dr. Camille Hernández-Ramdwar, taught Caribbean Studies at TMU, and from 2009 I was the sole full-time tenured faculty representing the discipline. I want to emphasize “discipline” because during my entire time at TMU, and since the appearance of Caribbean Studies at Ryerson in 1995, it has remained a discipline only – not a program, nor a department, nor a unit, nor a school. For 27 years TMU has been content to keep Caribbean Studies in the armpit of Sociology, while other “disciplines” (such as Criminology, Child and Youth Care, Disability Studies, etc.) have all eventually graduated to the status of program or school. Why is that? The only reason I can see for this continual disrespect and denial of the viability and importance of Caribbean Studies is racism. From 2014 when I became the Academic Coordinator of Caribbean Studies, until 2022 and my retirement, I fought repeatedly to ensure Caribbean Studies would become structurally independent and viable. In 2014 a Certificate was established in the Chang School and in 2017 a Minor in the Faculty of Arts. I did not do this alone and there were important allies who ensured that these things came to pass. These achievements did not come easily and were the results of many years and long struggles. With the sudden attention towards anti-Black racism (spurred by the murder of George Floyd in 2020), the impetus at TMU turned to the creation of Black Studies. Unlike the struggle to establish Caribbean Studies many years previous, the administration was generous in support, research, funding, structural integrity, and so on for Black Studies. While I have always emphasized that Black Studies and Caribbean Studies are not synonymous, if it is that both must co-exist in a university then there should be mutual respect for each, and support by the administration and faculty involved for synergy and collaboration. Undoubtedly, the people in positions of decision-making power (neither Caribbean nor Black) did not do that. Caribbean Studies was not included in the planning and ex*****on of Black Studies at TMU – in fact, Caribbean Studies was not even informed of any such plans. Strange, given that in lieu of anything else, Caribbean Studies has been the only discipline at TMU, for 27 years, teaching, discussing, holding events, and drawing attention to anti-Black racism, Black identities, Black cultures, and so on. A final analysis of this is simple: it is a replication of divide-and-rule colonialism in the academy that ensures any overture by marginalized disciplines and faculty is designed to be a zero-sum game and to create dissension. Colonizers knew which members of under-represented communities to hand-pick and use as their tools in this strategy. As Caribbean people say “Monkey know which tree to climb.”
The utter dismissal and disrespect for a “discipline” that I passionately gave my best to for 20+ years was a major reason I decided to retire from TMU effective Dec. 31, 2022. I want to take this opportunity to thank the many, many students who passed through my classrooms over the years and for whom Caribbean Studies was a revelation, a lifesaver, and an inspiration. I also want to thank the many colleagues who were true allies during my time at TMU and who always supported Caribbean Studies, including those who taught CRB courses (always as part-time, precarious faculty) and who were as passionate about Caribbean Studies as I was. You know who you are. For those of you who still see the Caribbean as a frivolous place full of piña coladas and cruise ships, of bikini-clad women wining to the ground and spliff-smoking rent-a-dreads, and who refuse to see it as a place worthy of serious scholarly inquiry and real structural support and institutional respect– you know who you are. And finally, for those of you who feel no compunction in selling out your own to gain massa’s favour - you know who you are too.

*If you are looking for me in 2023, you can find me here: [email protected]. For those of you who enjoy Caribbean literature, my collection of short stories Suite as Sugar releases April 2023https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459750715-suite-as-sugar. You can also find me at camillehr.com

Toronto's own Sugacayne Designs discuss mas Dec. 1!

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https://www.ebony.com/how-two-sisters-launched-the-first-woman-black-owned-american-cigar-brand/

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T-JTfJToTU
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https://scoop.upworthy.com/the-dutch-government-plans-to-officially-apologize-for-its-role-in-slavery-by-setting-up-a-fund?fbclid=IwAR1Lhdp1ONdRg5i9n5BuVhiw1e7COeq9eIbydgrotz2ciT_vgz__eHXzrIQ
Is this the start of a trend?

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https://www.google.com/doodles/louise-miss-lou-bennett-coverleys-103rd-birthday?fbclid=IwAR1TexiO2L4n8SHRV9OLMLVHU-aNIG5BSbT8bc5hw8VAOfmsnEwaz6xE4Gg

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https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-steelpan

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There is a big big debt that needs repaying....

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/french-banks-haiti-cic.html

Another hurricane on course for the Caribbean - BBC Weather

"After the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma, islands in the Caribbean are braced for yet another major hurricane.

Maria is expected to become a dangerous major hurricane as it nears the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.

Hurricane warnings have been issued for Guadeloupe, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat and Martinique."

🙏🙏🙏

http://www.bbc.com/weather/features/41309206

bbc.com After the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma, islands in the Caribbean are braced for yet another major hurricane.