Schuyler Esprit’s Profile

Create Caribbean interns enrolled in HIS115 for the academic year 2021-22 will contribute to this project by working to develop a multimedia resource documenting Caribbean literary history, particularly with a searchable, annotated, and mapped timeline of Caribbean literature from 1800 – the present.

Create Caribbean interns enrolled in HIS115 for the academic year 2021-22 will contribute to this project by working to develop a multimedia resource documenting Caribbean literary history, particularly with a searchable, annotated, and mapped timeline of Caribbean literature from 1800 – the present.

Carisealand began as a collaboration with Caribbean writer Oonya Kempadoo to develop a larger network of Caribbean writers, scholars, artists, scientists and environmental activists. The project was created for research and centralized sharing of projects, data, art and works in progress within the Caribbean region. It is intended for the express purpose of collaborative knowledge sharing and inter-disciplinary exchange for sustainable development. Over time, it has expanded to include both intellectual inquiry and narrative representation of the histories and possibilities of the Caribbean’s struggle with modernity through the discourses of nature and environment. At its core, the Carisealand project hopes to bring scholars, artists and activists to think through some challenging questions as highlighted on the project’s Home page. The ultimate work of the Carisealand project is to offer models for designing an alternate Caribbean future; a Caribbean that clarifies and streamlines what the UN Sustainable Goals have offered into three pillars: sustainable living, community accountability, and planetary responsibility. The hope is that the project inspires governments, students, artists, civil society and the general public a digital platform and user-friendly access to information and projects per island/nation, area or subject, with a focus on the environment and preservation. The project has been supported by and enjoyed collaboration with Duke University’s Forum for Scholars and Publics.

Carisealand began as a collaboration with Caribbean writer Oonya Kempadoo to develop a larger network of Caribbean writers, scholars, artists, scientists and environmental activists. The project was created for research and centralized sharing of projects, data, art and works in progress within the Caribbean region. It is intended for the express purpose of collaborative knowledge sharing and inter-disciplinary exchange for sustainable development. Over time, it has expanded to include both intellectual inquiry and narrative representation of the histories and possibilities of the Caribbean’s struggle with modernity through the discourses of nature and environment. At its core, the Carisealand project hopes to bring scholars, artists and activists to think through some challenging questions as highlighted on the project’s Home page. The ultimate work of the Carisealand project is to offer models for designing an alternate Caribbean future; a Caribbean that clarifies and streamlines what the UN Sustainable Goals have offered into three pillars: sustainable living, community accountability, and planetary responsibility. The hope is that the project inspires governments, students, artists, civil society and the general public a digital platform and user-friendly access to information and projects per island/nation, area or subject, with a focus on the environment and preservation. The project has been supported by and enjoyed collaboration with Duke University’s Forum for Scholars and Publics.

“This presentation is a critical reflection on a personal story. I begin with a question: how was I made? I was made in maroon history, in postcolonial modernity, in black and indigenous anticolonial resistance, in books and reading, in food and water. Each of these contexts marks a primary theme in my genealogy. But I think they intersect in complex ways in the story of my paternal grandparents’ and their farming and community practices.” – Dr. Schuyler Esprit

“This presentation is a critical reflection on a personal story. I begin with a question: how was I made? I was made in maroon history, in postcolonial modernity, in black and indigenous anticolonial resistance, in books and reading, in food and water. Each of these contexts marks a primary theme in my genealogy. But I think they intersect in complex ways in the story of my paternal grandparents’ and their farming and community practices.” – Dr. Schuyler Esprit

On the 18th September 2017, Dominica was struck by category 5 Hurricane Maria. Lives were lost, families traumatized, homes and livelihoods were damaged. Months later Dominica’s government vowed to make the island the world’s first ‘climate resilient nation’ by strengthening emergency response systems, infrastructure, house building and tourism facilities. As the years roll on and lives are reassembled planetary warming continues to produce longer and more intense hurricane seasons there. So there is a need to better understand how Dominican people prepared for, survived and recovered from Maria and earlier storms – like David (in 1979) or Erika (in 2015). This site is a transdisciplinary public archive. I reveals how islanders understand the hazards embedded in their mountainous landscape, as well as prepare for and recover from storms. The site features a map – which contains stories and hazard data – to stand as an archive of risk and repair, an open-source prototype which fellow Small Island Developing States can apply to tell their own stories of, and for, survival in a warming world.

On the 18th September 2017, Dominica was struck by category 5 Hurricane Maria. Lives were lost, families traumatized, homes and livelihoods were damaged. Months later Dominica’s government vowed to make the island the world’s first ‘climate resilient nation’ by strengthening emergency response systems, infrastructure, house building and tourism facilities. As the years roll on and lives are reassembled planetary warming continues to produce longer and more intense hurricane seasons there. So there is a need to better understand how Dominican people prepared for, survived and recovered from Maria and earlier storms – like David (in 1979) or Erika (in 2015). This site is a transdisciplinary public archive. I reveals how islanders understand the hazards embedded in their mountainous landscape, as well as prepare for and recover from storms. The site features a map – which contains stories and hazard data – to stand as an archive of risk and repair, an open-source prototype which fellow Small Island Developing States can apply to tell their own stories of, and for, survival in a warming world.