Newsletter Editorial Team

Editor: Meagan Sylvester – Senior Lecturer, Music Sociologist, Author, Researcher

Meagan Sylvester is a Senior Lecturer with responsibility for the Research Methods and Sociology academic programmes at the Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies in Trinidad and Tobago. Specialising in Labour Market Research, she has held positions on cabinet-appointed government sub-committees with responsibility for providing baseline survey data and monitoring and evaluation for national labour market sectors at The Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development in Trinidad and Tobago.

From a sectoral standpoint, her focus is on the creative industries sector with music as the focal point of her research and publications. To date, she has published over fifteen book chapters and journal articles on Trinidad’s music culture and she uses both traditional (television, print and radio) and social media platforms to engage discussions on the Calypso and Soca musical artforms.  Her research topics of interest are Music and National Identity in Calypso and Soca, Music of Diasporic Carnivals, Narratives of Resistance in Calypso and Ragga Soca music, Steelpan and kaisoJazz musical identities, Gender and Identity in Calypso and Soca music and Music and Human Rights in the Americas. As a Music Sociologist she has a consultancy practice in which she provides her clients with insight into the sociological framing of society using the lens of lyrics as the main unit of analysis. In addition to this, she has hosted scholarly workshops on music and culture in Europe, Latin America, South America, the United States and the Caribbean.

Academically, she is in the penultimate stages of completing a Ph.D. in Sociology of Music at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. She has professional memberships in international organizations which include the Society for Ethnomusicology, the International Association of the Study for Popular Music, Caribbean Studies Association and the Association of Black Sociologists.

Her public engagement portfolio is as follows: (i) Education and Research – She is a board member of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation – TUCO and holds the position as Director, Education and Research. (ii) Culture and Archiving – She holds a board position at the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Museum (iii) Communications and Information Technology – she is an Executive Board member of the Caribbean Studies Association – CSA. She holds two positions on the CSA Council, namely Chair, Newsletter Committee and Co-Chair of the Digital Media Network Committee.

Demonstrating her passion for volunteerism, she is a committee member for three organisations which focus on women a) the Powerful Ladies of Trinidad and Tobago (PLOTT), b) The Association of   Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago (AFETT) and c) Caribbean Women Honours and Empowerment.

Email: newseditor@caribbeanstudiesassociation.org

Julien Merion – French Sub-editor

Université des Antilles (Guadeloupe Campus)
Dr in political science
Attached to the CAGI Laboratory (Center for Geopolitical and International Analysis)
Studied Law and Political Science in Guadeloupe and Paris (La Sorbonne)

Specialties:

• Local power and civil society
• Caribbean regional cooperation and integration
• Political ideas
• Political behaviors

Written works:

• « La question statutaire en Guadeloupe, Guyane et Martinique » avec Claude Emery, Fred Reno et Jean-Pierre Sainton en 2000
• « Petit dictionnaire du débat politique en Guadeloupe, Guyane et Martinique » avec Fred Deshayes et Jean-Pierre Sainton en 2004
• L’émigration haïtienne dans la Caraïbe avec Auguste Joint en 2010
• Autopsie politique du massacre de Mai 1967 en 2017

Numerous articles in specialized journals and collective works

Président of cooperation association in Guadeloupe CO.RE.CA (Contacts et Recherche Caraïbe)

Vanesa Contreras Capó – Spanish Sub-editor

Vanesa Contreras Capó es activista, feminista, sindicalista y profesora. Trabaja como catedrática auxiliar en el Departamento de Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico donde también es integrante del Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación y Estudio del Género (CIIEG) y del Centro de Educación, Conservación e Interpretación Ambiental (CECIA). Su área de interés es la intersección de opresiones de raza, clase, género, lugar de origen y especie.

Vanesa Contreras Capó is an activist, feminist, trade unionist and teacher. She works as an assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, where she is also a member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Research and Study of Gender (CIIEG) and the Center for Environmental Education, Conservation and Interpretation (CECIA). His area of interest is the intersection of oppressions of race, class, gender, place of origin and species.

Mandy Laclé – Papiamento/u Sub-editor

Mandy J.J. Laclé is an Aruban woman, and an alumnus of the University of Aruba’s Organization, Governance and Management program. Mandy is currently working towards receiving her master’s degree in Sociology specializing in social inequalities at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. As a first-generation member of her family to pursue higher education, Mandy’s research interests mainly focus on issues of social justice. Some of her writing features topics such as generational poverty, the legacy left behind of Dutch colonialism, and machismo. Mandy has also participated in several panel discussions alongside Dutch scholars bringing her own raw insight into issues of oppression. As a relatively young academic, Mandy hopes to use her work as a means to continue shining a light on the way oppression and inequality, especially on Aruba, may go unnoticed.

Chenzira Davis Kahina – Virgin Islander Sub-editor

Chenzira Davis Kahina is a cultural ethnographer, educator, artist, naturopathic therapist, and ordained priestess. She completed studies in English, Education, Communications, Educational Technology, and Natural Health Counseling at Rutgers University (B.A.), Pepperdine University (M.S.), University of California San Diego (PhD Fellow), and the Natural Health Institute (Ph.D.) respectively. Davis Kahina is an author of multiple essays, commentaries, and comprehensive multicultural projects inclusive of a poetry collection Listening to Ancestral Wisdom: Sacred Conch Shell Inspirations (2004). She’s the co-founder of Per Ankh (House of Life)—an NGO with UN ECOSOC Special Consultative Status supporting Culture, Health, Arts, Technology and Education for Life, Inspiration, Freedom and Education (CHATS4LIFE©). In addition to her Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) membership, Davis Kahina serves several international organizations as interim executive council representative of the Caribbean Pan African Network (CPAN); artistic director of Per Ankh Bamboula Drummers and Dancers; board representative of God’s House International (GHI); executive council member of the Global Breadfruit Heritage Council (GBHC); and others. Chenzira Davis Kahina is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Communications and the director of the Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center (VICCC) within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI).

Regan Reid – Graduate Student Representative

Regan Reid is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Juvenile Justice program at the Prairie View A&M University in Texas, United States. She is also a graduate assistant working under the supervision of Camille Gibson (PhD) and is involved in collaborative projects with the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Centre and the Campbell Collaboration. Her current research interests include child-rearing and family processes in Jamaica, youth behavioural health, mental health, bullying behavior, juvenile justice policy analysis and management, economic development, sustainability risks, and opportunities.

Regan earned her B.Sc. in Political Science (major) and Criminology (minor) and an M.Sc. in International Public and Development Management from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica. For her M.Sc. research, Regan wanted to better understand the (consumer) debt culture among emerging adults and its implications for sustainability, specifically in a developing country context. She received an outstanding final research paper (2018-2019) award from the University of the West Indies, Mona, for that research.

In the past three years, Regan has worked as a teaching and graduate research assistant for the Public and Policy Management Unit in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies. She taught Criminology, International Relations, Public Policy and Management, and Political Science at the undergraduate levels. She also worked as an assistant lecturer in International Perspectives on Regulations and Regulatory Reform at the graduate level before being contracted by the Ministry of Health and Wellness (Jamaica) as an administrative research specialist to produce a draft white paper around the national health infrastructure.

Regan is a former postgraduate representative and faculty representative of the Society of Future Policy Leaders, UWI Mona. She also volunteered with and was appointed as the chair of the policy and advocacy unit, Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (CYPAN). Today she serves as a global peace ambassador with the Global Peace Chain (Non-profit Organization).

Regan is very committed to establishing culturally sensitive and practical guidance for the advancement of the whole Caribbean. In her service to the CSA as the Graduate Student Representative, she endeavours to empower her fellow graduate students to engage in collaborative efforts and futuristic thinking.

Kiah Akosua Asabea, Newsletter Design, Layout & Distribution