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“Co-ordinating the activities of The Writing Centre on campus was a task I enjoyed immensely. It was very challenging at first to make it student-friendly, but it was an exciting opportunity to be inventive as I researched Writing Centre theories and pedagogies and thought of ways in which to create an “oasis “ – a place where students could come and feel unthreatened about exposing their writing weaknesses and getting help to correct them. I want students to understand that there is always room for improving our writing. I also want to be remembered as someone who challenged students about their spirituality, because that aspect of our existence is important too. And I would like to leave behind a few good works of fiction which will make people think deeply, remember much, cry a little and laugh a lot.”

Dr. Paulette Ramsay

SENIOR LECTURER
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND EDUCATION
MONA CAMPUS, JAMAICA
Tel: (876) 383-6486 • Email: Paulette.Ramsay@uwimona.edu.jm

PROFILE

Dr. Paulette Ramsay’s research into the little known, but significant literature and culture of Afro-Hispanic societies in general, and Afro-Mexico in particular, has made an important contribution to the agenda to debunk the myths about race and class in Latin America, to bring the Afro-Latin American experience to the fore and to expand the debate about issues of migration, ethnicity, identity, nation, belonging, agency and self-definition in Latin America and the hispanophone Caribbean. An important milestone for Dr. Ramsay was the publication of her novel Aunt Jen, in English and German translation, with an Italian translation currently at press. Aunt Jen was also added to the Caribbean Women Writers’ courses of a number of universities in North America and selected by some Jamaican schools for literature. It is a very special book to Dr. Ramsay and she is happy that it has received such enthusiastic responses. Currently, Dr. Ramsay is coordinating a collaborative project for the publication of a Rhetorical Reader for Caribbean Tertiary students. This will be a groundbreaking UWI publication as it is the first reader with all materials written by Caribbean scholars, musicians, journalists, among other persons. It will fill an important gap because all texts used in our Writing programmes have been imported from North America and deal with North American contexts and issues. Dr. Ramsay has won several awards in her career, including a UWI Postgraduate Award, Alcan Junior Research Fellow, OAS and AECI scholarships.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Ramsay prefers to function in an interdisciplinary capacity as she believes it is more interesting and allows her greater versatility. Afro-Hispanic Literature and Culture, however is her main area of research. This has allowed her to publish on Costa Ricans of West Indian descent, on Afro-Cuban writers, on an Afro-Ecuadorian writer, and on Afro-Mexican oral culture. She is currently on a Mona Research Fellowship which allows her to do more extensive investigation into this neglected aspect of Mexican identity and nation. Her other areas of research include Language Pedagogy and Writing Theories and Pedagogies. As a result of the former, she has been able to supervise graduate students in language teaching, while the latter has enabled her to coordinate the activities of the Writing Centre for four years, as well as publish essays on the teaching of writing.