Conrad James appointed Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies

New College is pleased to announce that Professor Conrad James has been appointed as the Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies, effective January 1, 2023 until December 31, 2025.

Professor Conrad James was awarded his PhD in modern and medieval languages by the University of Cambridge in 1997. He taught at the University of Durham and the University of Birmingham prior to joining the University of Houston as an Associate Professor in World Cultures and Literatures. In 2021, Professor James joined the University of Toronto as an Associate Professor with tenure in the Centre for Comparative Literature and New College (Caribbean Studies). Professor James’s research focuses on Spanish Caribbean literature and visual culture and more broadly on Afro-Hispanic cultural production. He has published widely on Afro-Cuban writing of the late 20th century and has also written on contemporary Dominican fiction.

In addition to scholarly articles, Professor James is author of Filial Crisis and Erotic Politics in Black Cuban Writing: Daughters Sons and Lovers (Tamesis 2019). His other major publications include Writing the Afro-Hispanic: Essays on Africa and Africans in the Spanish Caribbean (2012) and The Cultures of the Hispanic Caribbean (2000). He is currently working on a monograph on the transnational geographies of 21st-century Caribbean fiction and another on Black Cuban Theatre (1960 – 2000). Professor James has served as Interim Director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies since September 1, 2022.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Conrad James on his appointment to this role.