Institute for Gender and Development Studies


STAFFsquare2020_AVNixon.png

Senior Lecturer & IGDS Graduate Studies Coordinator


Ph.D. (University Florida), M.A. (Florida Atlantic University), B.Sc. (Nova Southeastern University)

“In your work, be accountable to the space and community.”

Biography

Dr. Angelique V. Nixon is a Bahamas-born, Trinidad-based queer writer, artist, community worker, scholar, and activist. Dr Nixon is a Senior Lecturer (with tenure) and Researcher at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Her research and teaching areas include Caribbean and postcolonial studies, African diaspora literatures, gender and sexuality studies, tourism and diaspora studies, and transnational migrations. Dr. Nixon holds a Ph.D. in English and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies and Gender Research from the University of Florida, where she specialised in Caribbean and African diaspora literatures and postcolonial, feminist, and gender studies. She also holds a M.A. in English and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Florida Atlantic University and a B.Sc. in Accounting with Minors in Humanities and Global Studies from Nova Southeastern University. Further, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Africana Studies focused on “Migration and Theories of Africana” at New York University. She has held academic posts at University of Connecticut (2009-2011) and Susquehanna University (2011-2014). She joined the UWI IGDS in 2014 as a Fulbright Scholar and in 2015 as a Lecturer.

Angelique’s research and creative work are available widely. She is author of Saltwater Healing – A Myth Memoir and Poems – an art and poetry chapbook collection (2013). Her scholarly book Resisting Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora, and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture (2015) won the Caribbean Studies Association's 2016 Barbara T. Christian Award for Best Book in the Humanities. Her current research investigates race, sexuality, migration, and climate crisis at the crossroads of Caribbean freedom, social movements, and decolonial poetics. Angelique has been active in Caribbean movements for social and environmental justice for many years, and she is committed to intersectional queer feminist praxis, decolonial politics, and Black liberation. She is also a working director of the feminist LGBTQI civil society organisation CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice in Trinidad & Tobago, where she spearheads operations, resource mobilisation, and community building.

Teaching

Currently
Undergraduate courses taught

 

Postgraduate courses taught

 

Currently supervising
  • PhD, Jacelle Alexander
  • PhD, Joanne Briggs
  • PhD, Kathleen Belcon
  • PhD, Yolanda Simon
  • MPhil, Alessandra Hereman
  • MPhil, Sandra Chisholm-Ford
  • MSc, Chinyere Brown

 

Completed supervising
  • Psyche Gonzales, IGDS MSc Research Project. “Resisting the Myth of Erasure: Accounts of First Peoples Women in Arima.” Submitted August 2022. Passed with Distinction.
  • Jonelle Jones, IGDS MSc Internship. “Assessing Gender and Health through the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society.” Submitted August 2021. Passed.
  • Nataki Lewis, IGDS MSc Research Project. “Hair Stories – The Interpretations of Mine, Ours, and Your Hair from an Afro-Trinbagonian Women’s Perspective.” Submitted September 2019. Passed.
  • Shelley Santiago. IGDS MSc Research Project. “Exploring Women’s Unequal Geographies of Gendered Displacements in Post-Earthquake Haiti.” Submitted October 2018. Passed with Distinction.
  • Renuka Anandjit. IGDS MSc Research Project. “Exploring the Absence of Abortion Services in the Public Health Sector: Implications for Rural Women in Guyana.” Submitted July 2018. Passed with Distinction.
  • Yolanda Simon. IGDS MSc Research Project. “HIV+ Women and the HIV Epidemic in Trinidad and Tobago.” Submitted July 2018. Passed. 
  • Tivia Collins, IGDS MSc Research Project. “The Politisation of Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Assessing the 1995 Medical Termination Pregnancy Act in Guyana.” Submitted June 2016. Passed with Distinction.
  • Rachel Thomas, IGDS MSc Research Project. “Bare-ing Witness: Uncovering Black Women’s Experiences of Police Violence in Militarized Communities.” Submitted June 2016. Passed with Distinction.

 

Research

Areas of Specialization
  • African Diaspora Literatures and Cultures 
  • Black and Intersectional Feminisms 
  • Caribbean and Postcolonial Studies
  • Caribbean Sexuality Studies 
  • Critical Race and Ethnic Studies 
  • Gender and Sexuality Studies
  • Postcolonial and Feminist Theories
  • Social, Environmental, and Climate Justice
  • Tourism and Diaspora Studies
  • Transnational Migrations 
Research Actiivities

Project Lead, Human Rights Grant Award – 2017-2021 (completed)
Successful Award for “Respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms in Trinidad and Tobago” Grant from the European Commission, Trinidad and Tobago Delegation (Europe/Aid/151167/DD/ACT/TT).  

  • Human Rights, Activity-Based Project Titled “A Sexual Culture of Justice: Strengthening LGBTQI & GBV Partnerships, Capacity & Efficacy to Promote & Protect Rights in Trinidad and Tobago” 
  • Project Lead Researcher: Angelique V. Nixon. The UWI IGDS. In partnership with Six Partners - LGBTI and feminist civil society organisations (CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice, Friends For Life, I Am One, The Silver Lining Foundation, Womantra, and Women’s Caucus).
  • Project Lead provided oversight of all Project Activities, Budget, Payments, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting.
  • This ambitious project produced new local/regional analysis and solutions for ways to approach gender based violence and LGBTI discrimination – and achieved all its outcomes and exceeded expectations. Project work continues through CSO partners and ongoing research activities. 

Project Highlights – Outputs and Impact: 

Research

  • LGBTQI+ working class Lifestories – 18 Qualitative Interviews completed by a community-based research team led by Project Lead Dr Angelique Nixon and CSO Partner Friends for Life. (Publications in Progress)
  • National School Survey of Bullying and Gender Based Violence (Quantitative Survey completed by 2,285 students across 37 secondary schools in Trinidad and 2 in Tobago – led by CSO Partner Silver Lining Foundation and Final Report by Dr Krystal Ghisyawan. 

Education - Training and Workshops

  • LGBTQI+ Family & Individual Psycho-Social Support 
  • GBV Training, Media Creation, and Community Actions 
  • Safer Schools Teacher Training and Toolkit
  • Short Course on Diverse Genders & Sexualities in the Caribbean 
  • Transforming Each Other’s Advocacy - 6-month Action Learning Course – and completion of Five Action Campaigns (details on the portal).

Public Campaigns

  • Men Speak Up! Champions Against GBV – Pull Up Yuh Bredren Campaign
  • Policy Legislative Call to include protections in the T&T Equal Opportunity Act on the basis of Age, Health Conditions, and LGBTI Status. Add All Three Campaign 

Policy and Legislation Advocacy: Campaigned for Legal Protection against Discrimination (to Amend the Equal Opportunity Act and add protections including LGBTI status); Developed the 2020 LGBTI Policy Agenda based on LGBTQI working-class Lifestories.

Project Website and Knowledge Online Portal in partnership with Caribbean IRN (to host and maintain the site beyond the project) – www.portal.caribbeansexualities.org.

Manuscript in Preparation

Book Project – Working Title: “Submerged Freedom and Decolonial Justice: Caribbean Sexualities, Migrant Politics and Climate Crisis” - In Progress.
The book project engages Caribbean sexual-cultural politics through an investigation of Caribbean social justice movements and cultural productions at the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, migration and the environment. It is a multi-disciplinary project that seeks to challenge public discourse and offer decolonial models for social (sexual, gender, racial, economic), climate and ecological justice.

 

Outreach

Selected Media (Interviews)

International  

  • Magazine Interview. Bitch Media. “What Hedonistic Tourism Costs the Global South.” By Nicole Froio. 28 January 2022.
  • Radio Interview and Podcast. “The Legacy of Colonialism in Caribbean Tourism.” The Takeaway with Tanzina Vega. WNYC Public Radio. 13 January 2020.
  • BBC Radio Interview. “Dorian’s Destruction is hurting the Bahamas’ most vulnerable.” Interview with Marco Werman, PRI’s The World (produced by BBC World Service.) 12 September 2019. 
  • TV Interview. Trinidad LGBT+ Protest. TeleSur. Hosted by Soyini Grey. 9 April 2018.
  • Podcast Interview. New Books in Caribbean Studies. Resisting Paradise. 2 December 2016.
  • Magazine Interview. Griots Republic. Issue #4. Global Sex and Sexuality. Interview with Ebony Booth about Resisting Paradise. (April 2016).

National (selected)

  • Radio Interview. 95.5FM. Interview with Ardene Sirjoo. Discussion on Discrimination facing LGBTQI+ people. 18th May 2022.  
  • Newspaper Interview. “CAISO offers legal support to queer persons facing discrimination.” By Tevin Gill. Loop TT. 18th May 2022.
  • Newspaper Interview. “CAISO wants more protection, safe houses for LGBTQI+ community.” Trinidad & Tobago Guardian. 17th May 2022. 
  • Newspaper Interview. “CAISO launches report on support for LGBTQI+ community.” Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. 17th May 2022. 
  • TV Interview. WESN. Morning News with Andy Johnson. IDAHOBIT. 17th May 2022.
  • Newspaper Interview. “CAISO creates programme to address LGBTQI-rights violations.” Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. 16th May 2022.
  • TV Interview. TTT. Sex and Prejudice. Special Feature on Sexual Harassment. Hosted by Dike Rostant and the Equal Opportunity Commission. 10th May 2022. 
  • TV Interview. “On Sexual Harassment Legislation.” TTT. Special Feature “Sex and Prejudice with the EOC.” 10 May 2022.
  • TV Interview. WESN. One to One. LGBTQI Agenda. 6th April 2022.
  • TV Interview. Now Morning Show. TTT. Stigma and Discrimination in Same-Sex Relationships. 
  • Radio Interview. 95.5FM. Discussion on School Survey Report on Gender Based Violence and Bullying in Secondary Schools – Sexual Culture of Justice Project. 13 October 2021.
  • Radio Interview. 95.5FM. Budget Conversation and Response. 4 October 2021.
  • Radio Interview. 95.5FM. Add All Three Campaign on IDAHOBIT. 19 May 2021. 
  • TV Interview. WEGN. International Women’s Day. 8 March 2021.
  • Radio Interview. 95.5FM. Human Rights Day. 10 December 2020.
  • TV Interview. NOW Morning Show. TTT. “Let’s Talk Consent.” 25 August 2020. 
  • TV Interview. TTT News. Special: Sex and Gender Justice. 13 August 2020.
  • Internet Radio Interview. Over the Hump. TriniGoodMedia. “Black Lives Do Matter.” 4 June 2020. http://trinigoodmedia.com/2020/06/04/black-lives-do-matter/. 
  • TV Interview. The UWI TV. Gender and COVID-19 Response. 14 May 2020. (Air Date TBD)
  • Radio Interview. 95.5FM. On IWD Women’s Rights Rally. 4 March 2020.
  • Radio Interview. 102 FM with Tony Frazier. On Same Sex Parenting. 15 January 2020.
  • TV Interview. CCN TV6 Evening News. Bahamas Relief Drive. Trinidad and Tobago. 18 September 2019.
  • Radio Interview. 102 FM. Host Andy Johnson. Discussion on Climate Change, Hurricane Dorian and Relief Efforts. Trinidad and Tobago. 15 September 2019.

Selected Events

Publications

Books 
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2015. Resisting Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora, and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture. Jackson, Mississippi: The University Press of Mississippi.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2013. Saltwater Healing – A Myth Memoir and Poems. Art and Poetry Chapbook, Handbound Letterpress, Limited Edition. Nassau, The Bahamas: Poinciana Paper Press.
Edited Multimedia Collections
  • Caribbean Sexualities Online Collection. Love | Hope | Community: Sexualities and Social Justice in the Caribbean. August 2017. Co-Editor. Caribbean IRN. <caribbeansexualities.org>
  • Theorizing Homophobias in the Caribbean: Complexities of Place, Desire and Belonging. June 2012. Co-Editor. Online Multimedia Collection. Caribbean IRN. <caribbeanhomophobias.org>
Edited Journal Issues - Refereed Journal
  • Nixon, Angelique V. Co-Editor with Carole Boyce Davies. “Caribbean Global Movements.” The Black Scholar. Special Issue. Volume 51, Issue 2, 2021.
    “Caribbean Global Movements: An Introduction.” The Black Scholar, 51:2, pp. 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2021.1891605.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2015. Co-Editor with Rosamond King & Lawrence La-Fountain-Stokes. “Love | Hope | Community: Sexualities and Social Justice.” Sargasso: Caribbean Journal of Language, Literature and Culture. Special Double Issue 2014-15, Volume I & II. (released 2016)
Commissioned Article
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2016. “Troubling Queer Caribbeanness: Embodiment, Gender, and Sexuality in Nadia Huggins’ Visual Art.” CQV - Caribbean Queer Visualities - A Small Axe Project. Curated by David Scott, Erica Moiah James, Nijah Cunningham. pp. 100-113. (CVQ Online Catalog released in 2017)
Book Chapters - recent
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2023. “Decolonial Poetics and Queer Resistance in Anglophone Afro-Caribbean Women’s Literature.” African American Literature in Transition, 1980–1990. Eds. D. Miller & R. Blint. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 187-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009179355.011
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2020. “Innovative Methodologies for Studying the Productivity and Well Being of Working Men and Women.” Connecting the Dots: Work • Life • Balance • Ageing. Eds. Patricia Mohammed and Cheryl Ann Boodram. Ian Randle Publishers. pp. 17-24.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. and Rachel Taylor. “Work Life Balance – Reflections on Health and Well Being”. Connecting the Dots: Work • Life • Balance • Ageing. Eds. Patricia Mohammed and Cheryl Ann Boodram. Ian Randle Publishers. pp. 41-57.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2019. “On Being a Black Sexual Intellectual: Thoughts on Caribbean Sexual Politics and Freedom.” Black Sexual Economies: Race and Sex in a Culture of Capital. Eds. Adrienne D. Davis and The Black Sexual Economies Collective. University of Illinois Press. pp. 237-249.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2016. “Seeing Difference – Visual Feminist Praxis, Identity and Desire in Indo-Caribbean Women’s Art and Knowledge.” Indo-Caribbean Feminist Thought: Genealogies, Theories, Enactments. Eds. Gabrielle Hosein and Lisa Outar. Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 171-191.
Journal Articles (selected)
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2016. “Sex, Work, Trade in the Caribbean: Challenging Discourses of Human Trafficking.” Commentary in Special Issue – Countering Human Trafficking. Social and Economic Studies 65:4. Edited by Kamala Kempadoo. pp. 83-91.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. 2015. “In Search of the Erotic: Boundaries of Male Same-Sex Desire in Caribbean Film.” Black Camera. Volume 6, Issue 2. pp. 168-186.
  • Nixon, Angelique V. and Rosamond S. King. 2013. “Embodied Theories: Local Knowledge(s), Community Organizing & Feminist Methodologies in Caribbean Sexuality Studies.” Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, Issue 7. pp. 1-16. Reprinted in Methodologies in Caribbean Research on Gender and Sexuality. 2021. Edited by Kamala Kempadoo and Halimah DeShong. Ian Randle Publishers. pp. 269-288.
Recent Publications in Newspapers
  • “Fighting for Our Lives, Our Rights, Our Bodies: Reproductive and Sexual Rights and Justice in the Caribbean.” Stabroek News. 15 August 2022.
  • “The Crisis of Now, GBV and, State Accountability.” Stabroek News. 6 December 2021. Co-authored with Renuka Anandjit.
  • “COVID-19 Crisis and Vaccine Inequity: Caribbean Perspectives.” Stabroek News. 24 May 2021. Co-authored with Alissa Trotz.
  • “When Enough is Enough – Rising Up Against GBV.” Stabroek News. 15 February 2021. Co-authored with Renuka Anandjit.
  • “Tangled Webs: Gender Based Violence, Xenophobia and Migration.” Stabroek News. 7 December 2020. Co-authored with Karyn Diaz.
  • “Black Lives Matter – What does it mean for us in the Caribbean?” Stabroek News. 16 June 2020.
  • “Caribbean Vulnerability and Survival in Times of COVID-19.” Stabroek News. 27 April 2020.
  • “Missing, Deported or Uncounted – Who Matters After Dorian?” Stabroek News. 6 January 2020.
  • “What Does It Mean to Survive After Dorian? On Caribbean Disasters, Development and Climate Crisis.” Stabroek News. 30 September 2019. Reprinted in Repeating Islands. 4 October 2019.
  • “When the Apocalypse is Now: Climate Crisis, Small Island Disasters and Migration in the Aftermath of Dorian.” Stabroek News. 9 September 2019. Reprinted in Pree Lit Issue 5. 2020.
Factsheets

For more Publications – Academia.edu:
-- https://sta-uwi.academia.edu/AngeliqueVNixon 

 

Associations & Memberships

Appointed Position (2023-2024)
Caribbean Advisory Council, Feminist Organising for Climate Action
Global Fund for Women, Movement-Led Approach

Appointed Position (2021 to 2023)
Caribbean Regional UN & EU Spotlight Initiative. Civil Society Regional Reference Group.

National Appointment - Government of Trinidad and Tobago
Ministry of Labour - HIV Workplace Advocacy Advisory Board
- Sub-Committee Work – Communications and Advocacy

Chair, Working Board of Directors
CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice

Co-Director
Caribbean IRN (International Resource Network)

Member | Coordinator, Sexualities Working Group
Caribbean Studies Association

Member
Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars

Member
Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

Member
National Women's Studies Association