Institute for Gender and Development Studies

Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies

Biography

Professor Patricia Mohammed, Emeritus Professor at the University of West Indies, is a key thinker in Caribbean feminist theory and has been involved in feminist activism in the Region since 1979.  Full Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies since 2005, she has supervised and taught on gender and development, film and in cultural studies, and devoted decades of service to the University, including the development of educational courses and research programmes, retiring as the First Director of the School for Graduate Studies and Research of the St Augustine campus. She was the First Head of the Mona campus Unit, Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Jamaica and on her relocation to Trinidad in 2002 served variously in this capacity. Her scholarly contributions include over 100 publications in journals, edited books and media, including self-authored books Imaging the Caribbean: Culture and Visual Translation (2010; Macmillan Education), and Gender Negotiations Among Indians in Trinidad: 1917-1947 (2001; Palgrave). Forthcoming works include a collection of essays co-edited with Cheryl Ann Boodram (Connecting the Dots: Life. Work. Balance. Ageing, Ian Randle Publishers, 2020) and Writing Gender in the Caribbean: Selected Essays 1988-2020 (Hansib Publications). Since 1986, Professor Mohammed has also been involved in the production of films and other media on gender and cultural issues.  In 2016 co-authored with Rex Dixon the illustrated book Travels with a Husband, (Hansib Publishers, UK).  In 2018, she was recognised as one of the University of the West Indies 70+ Outstanding Women graduates of UWI in its 70th anniversary.  In 2019 she was awarded a Gold Medal from the President of Trinidad and Tobago for her contribution to the country on Women and Development Issues. 

“Two things concern me the most. The first thing is how we learn to manage the concept of gender equality. It is as if we’ve accepted equality in principle, but the management of it is very problematic. We now have to build this component into many programmes. The second thing is the undervaluing and continued misunderstanding of the importance of gender as a fundamental category of social analysis that informs the way a society functions and progresses. It needs to be taken more seriously and become entrenched in mulitiple spheres and not relegated as a personal battle between the sexes on the personal plane. Gender is still seen as something you add on, but the real importance of it is as a new way of thinking, transforming lives and a new world view is still to be realised."