Leading academics and writers from across the Caribbean, the USA and Canada attended the 17th conference of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars at UCCI last week, the first time the event has been held in the Cayman Islands.
Speakers and delegates from more than 20 universities took part in the three-day event which had the theme ‘Global Feminist Leadership in a Time of Crisis: Scholarship, Advocacy, Activism, Creativity, and Pedagogy’.
The biennial conference, which was last held in Costa Rica in 2023, focuses on issues of gender, leadership, culture and social justice through scholarship and creative expression and provides a platform for Caribbean women writers and experiences in global academic and cultural conversations.
The keynote speaker was Merle Collins, professor emerita at the University of Maryland, who spoke about ‘Unknown Bards: Community Philosophers, Political Thinkers, and the Shaping of Scholarship’, while Cayman author Roy Bodden gave the lunchtime address on the opening day titled: ‘Her Story, Our Nation: Reframing Women’s Roles in the Making of the Cayman Islands’.
Event organiser Stephanie-Fullerton-Cooper, associate professor at UCCI, told the Compass that the conference was “an amazing experience”, saying that “the women who attended the conference are some of the leaders in their particular areas of expertise, that being Caribbean and African diaspora literature, Africana studies or Caribbean feminist theories”.
Breakout sessions
As well as the speaker events, there was a packed schedule of breakout sessions held across campus which covered a range of topics, such as Caribbean women’s activism over the years, female leadership, gender power and feminist literature with lively discussions after each presentation.
Judy DeRosier, research fellow from Columbia University, spoke about her Jamaican grandmother’s love of writing and reciting poetry while she was living and working in the Cayman Islands to provide for her family back home, while UCCI’s assistant professor Kadeshah Swearing gave an impassioned talk on the contribution of women, as well as men, to gender politics in the workplace, called ‘Heels on the Glass’.
Attendees also had the chance to experience Cayman Islands life beyond UCCI’s campus with an island tour on the afternoon of the final day of conference, said Fullerton-Cooper.
“We visited the National Gallery, the National Museum and Mind’s Eye, as well as Pedro St. James, and ended the day with delicious local fare at Vivine’s Kitchen in East End and a visit to the public beach at Seven Mile Beach,” she said. “The women were overwhelmed by the Cayman Kind experience that they received at UCCI and throughout the Cayman Islands, and we were truly uplifted by the many academic discussions that inspired attendees and UCCI students to continue scholastic pursuits.”
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