Seminar: The Most Homophobic Place on Earth? Caribbean Myths and Realities

Rosamond S. King (CUNY) - In 2006, Time magazine infamously declared that the Caribbean is ‘the most homophobic place on earth,’ one of many similar statements. In this talk, Rosamond S. King questions the truth of this statement and analyzes its problematic origins. She will examine some of the different facets of homophobia in the Caribbean - specifically, violence, discrimination, and hatred - drawing on the research in her recent book Island Bodies: Transgressive Sexualities in the Caribbean Imagination and the work of other Caribbeanist scholars. This talk aims to depart from myth and instead discuss the realities of sexual minorities in the Caribbean region.

Rosamond S. King, Ph.D. is a critical and creative writer and artist whose scholarly work focuses on Caribbean and African literature, sexuality and performance. King’s recent book Island Bodies: Transgressive Sexualities in the Caribbean Imagination is a comparative, pan-Caribbean study that examines how those in the Caribbean and its diaspora work within and resist the region’s binary gender systems and hetero-patriarchy. Her work has been widely published in journals and anthologies, including Callaloo, Women and Performance, The Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, and The Journal of African-American Studies. In addition, King has received numerous honors, such as a Fulbright Award and fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson, Mellon and Ford Foundations, Poets House and the Franklin Furnace Fund. She is Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York, where she teaches Caribbean and African literature, creative writing, and performance.