WriterArtistTeacherScholarActivistPoet. Community Worker. Subversive Radical. Cynical Idealist. Polyrhythmic Lover. Cosmic Warrior. Afro-Caribbean. Black. Queer. Woman. Trouble Maker. Revolutionary Intellectual in Progress. Decolonial BlackQueerFeminist. Obeah Woman. Daughter of Oshun and Erzulie. Full of Ancestor Magic.
I have been womanish, long time, and so I dare to imagine a world where people of color can be human and free. I dream and breathe revolution and liberation on many fronts—sexually, spiritually, economically, socially, and radically. I see hetero-sexist patriarchy and white supremacy as preventing movement and advancement for humanity.
Creating space for resistance and desire is at the center of my writing and artwork, especially poetry. Homespace has always been the Caribbean for me even when I lived outside the region. Poetry and art are ways I share, reflect, and center homespace. I think being a Caribbean migrant in different spaces especially in the U.S. has affected my work. I identify very much as a Caribbean person – born and raised in The Bahamas and ancestors from Jamaica and Trinidad – and now living for several years in Trinidad and Tobago - where I now call home.
I've been active in Caribbean movements for social and environmental justice for many years. I am committed to intersectional queer feminist praxis, decolonial politics, and Black liberation.
Projects I've worked on include: the Caribbean IRN (digital network for those working on diverse genders & sexualities) and Ayiti Resurrect (a grassroots healing collective in Leogane, Haiti - focused on healing, sustainability and women's empowerment).
Currently, I am a working director of CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice - a feminist LGBTQI civil society organisation in Trinidad & Tobago.
My scholarly work and research is rooted in being an Afro-Caribbean scholar-activist and Decolonial Black Queer Feminist Praxis.
In my work on diverse genders and sexualities, I consider the complexity of Caribbean expressions of gender and sexuality beyond and outside the binary system of gender and heterosexual desire. My work centers sites of resistance, transgression, and defiance especially related to gender expression and sexual desire.
Through the Caribbean IRN, I've worked on digital archives and multi-media collections celebrating Caribbean LGBTI+ voices and identities to show that we have always been here and to preserve our stories.
My research and teaching areas include Caribbean and Postcolonial Studies, Black and Caribbean Feminisms, African Diaspora Literatures and Cultures, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Tourism and Diaspora Studies, Black Cultural Studies, and Transnational Migrations.
I am a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago.