The Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) as just sent out its call for submissions for the 2023 Barbara T. Christian Literary Award. The deadline for submissions of books is Friday, April 21, 2023.

Born and raised in the Virgin Islands of the United States (VI-US), Dr. Barbara Christian dedicated her life to challenging ideas about race, gender, class, and epistemology – rejecting the belief that critical theory emanated solely from the West and that African diaspora and Caribbean ways of theorizing were somehow inferior to Eurocentric philosophical concepts. A committed feminist, educator and published author, Dr. Barbara T. Christian pioneered the birth of black women’s literary criticism and theory.

This CSA literary award established in 2001 to honor the memory of distinguished Caribbean-American black feminist and womanist theorist Dr. Barbara T. Christian, celebrates her intellectual legacy and is given to the best book published within the most recent three-year period which explicitly and innovatively examines topics of race, gender, sexuality, class, and intersectionality. [. . .]

In paying homage to Dr. Christian’s intellectual legacy and continuing relevance to the work of the CSA, we are confident that we will get many wonderful and competitive submissions this year as CSA celebrates its’ 49th Anniversary and 47th CSA Conference with exceptional multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural scholarship, research, education and more. Monographs from all disciplines and fields of scholarship in the Humanities and Caribbean Studies will be granted serious consideration. Preference will be given to books written by one or more authors as opposed to edited volumes or anthologies.

“For one must distinguish the desire for power from the need to become empowered-that is, seeing oneself as capable of and having the right to determine one’s life. Such empowerment is partially derived from a knowledge of history. The black arts movement did result in the creation of Afro-American studies as a concept, thus giving it a place in the university where one might engage in the reclamation of Afro-American history and culture and pass it on to others. I am particularly concerned that institutions such as black studies and women’s studies, fought for with such vigor and at some sacrifice, are not often seen as important by many of our black or women scholars precisely because the old hierarchy of traditional departments is seen as superior to these “marginal” groups. Yet, it is in this context that many others of us are discovering the extent of our complexity, the interrelationships of different areas of knowledge in relation to a distinctly Afro-American or female experience. Rather than having to view our world as subordinate to others, or rather than having to work as if we were hybrids, we can pursue ourselves as subjects.” (Christian: 1988)

The winner will be announced at the CSA2023 Conference Gala in June 2023. The prizes will include a certificate, plaque, cash award, and special Caribbean cultural gift. Authors are encouraged to submit for this Call for Books and prepare to join the Barbara T. Christian Literary Award legacy alongside past winners for CSA2016-2022 that include:

• Angelique V. Nixon for Resisting Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture (University Press of Mississippi © 2015) – CSA2016 in Haiti
• Marisa J. Fuentes for Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence and the Archive (University of Pennsylvania Press © 2016) AND Brendan Jamal Thornton for Negotiating Respect: Pentecostalism, Masculinity and the Politics of Spiritual Authority in the Dominican Republic (University Press of Florida © 2016) – CSA2017 in the Bahamas
• Dixa Ramirez for Colonial Phantoms: Belonging and Refusal in the Dominican Americas, from the 19th Century to Present (New York University Press © 2018) – CSA2019 in Santa Marta, Columbia
• Patricia Mohammed for Writing Gender into the Caribbean (Hansib Publications © 2021- CSA2021 in Guyana.
• Daive A. Dunkley for Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement (Louisiana State University Press © 2021) – CSA2022 in Jamaica

Authors, your name and publication could be next for CSA2023 in St. Croix Virgin Islands.

​PLEASE SUBMIT TWO (2) BOOKS TO*:

Chenzira Davis Kahina, Administrator
Per Ankh Institute
PO Box 607
Kingshill, St. Croix Virgin Islands (US) 00850-0607

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION IS: FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023

For more information and to submit digital version of publications, send email to president@caribbeanstudiesassociation.org and copy to perankh@me.com