Trinidad and Tobago: Gender, Sexuality and Globalization

Program dates in 2010: January 9-23, 2010

WMST 498S (3 Credits)

This intensive two-week course introduces students to the cultural and political landscapes of the Anglophone Caribbean. We will address questions of transnational feminist advocacy, Caribbean feminisms, domestic violence, and reproductive rights in the Anglophone Caribbean.

Through the lens of gender, sexuality, and transnational feminist advocacy, students will learn about the complex cultural and political institutions that are the foundation of these ethnically diverse nation states. 

The program will:

• Introduce students to a transnational feminist theoretical framework.

• Explore the terrain of Caribbean activism and feminisms.

• Explore the regional legislative terrain on areas such as domestic violence, and reproductive rights in the Anglophone Caribbean.

• Exploration of how gender is reflected and created through material culture.

• Analyze the personal implications of crossing borders and developing cultural literacy.

This course includes a service learning component whose structure will provide students with hands-on experience integrating the material covered in class.  Students will be placed with an approved NGO for the duration of the program which will cover one or more of the following themes:

• Caribbean feminists oral history

• Reproductive rights

• Labor organizing among domestic workers

• Urban violence

This service learning component will open up students to the complex aspects of feminist advocacy.  It will also provide undergraduates with the opportunity to develop practices of global citizenship by contributing to the programmatic agenda of a typically understaffed feminist NGO. 

Engagement in the program will also expose students to an array of music and food, and a wide range of preparatory activities for the upcoming Carnival, an important, culturally significant event. We will participate in many of these activities as part of our gender analysis of culture and space.

Faculty & Staff

Michelle V. Rowley, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Women’s Studies Department (UMD) and has been part of the Caribbean  activist community through work with Coalition Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) and Advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE).   Her research looks at the work of feminist NGO movements within the Anglophone Caribbean and examines feminist strategies of state engagement on issues such as abortion, sexual harassment and the rights of sexual minorities.

For questions about the application, registration and pre-departure logistics, you may also contact the Study Abroad Office.