Institute for Gender and Development Studies


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Research Assistant & Archiving and Library

MSc. Gender and Development Studies (UWI Mona)
BSc. Gender and Development Studies (UWI St. Augustine)

“A reflective scholar dedicated to illuminating gender, culture, and Caribbean identity through research, teaching, and creative practice.”

Rachel Taylor is a Research Assistant at the IGDS, UWI, St Augustine Campus. Her current research examines gendered experiences and negotiations in cultural performance, specifically that of Afro and Indo Trinidadian women drummers. She has worked on local, regional and international projects in the areas of disability advocacy, gender-based violence and active ageing all giving voice to marginalised groups. She enjoys educating students and conducting research. In her spare time she volunteers with a career guidance and mentorship NGO and immerses herself in creative and active spaces.

Teaching

Teaching Assistant
  • GEND 2109 Social Media and Gender
  • GEND 3031 Sex, Gender and Society
Course coordination 
  • GEND 3501/5001/6002/7001/8001
    Philosophy of Gender Undergrad/Postgraduate course

 

 

 

 

Research

Rachel’s practice-based research explores how women navigate gendered, racial, and ethnic identities within traditionally male-dominated drumming spaces in Trinidad. She positions film not only as a representational medium but as a methodological tool. Her research seeks to foreground the lived experiences, bodily negotiations, and resistive strategies employed by women as they claim space. The literature draws on intersectional feminist theory, Caribbean cultural studies  and Caribbean film to examine how women have negotiated belonging. The work engages theoretical collaborative and reflexive filmmaking practices, building on the work of Patricia Mohammed and Christopher Ballengee. She positions how this practice-based research becomes both an archive and an act of intervention, challenging dominant narratives around musical authority, cultural inheritance, and gendered space in Trinidadian performance culture. 

Graduate Research Seminars
  • Second PhD seminar June 2025. Supervisor - Dr. Angelique Nixon
    Through the Lens: Gender Negotiations of Women Drummers in Trinidad Using Film as a Methodological Tool

 

Research and Outreach 

Select presentations given 
  • The UWI Department of Behavioural Sciences Conference Caribbean 10/2025 
    “Women, Disability and Praxis in the Caribbean: A Decade of Inclusivity?”
    “Rethinking Social Research: Pathways to Equity and Social Justice in the Caribbean”
     
  • Caribbean Studies Association Conference 06/2025
    “Sound the Call: Women Drummers’ Resistance and Retention as rooted in Trinidad and Tobago Carnival”
     
  • One-UWI Post Grad Conference  11/2024
    “Gendered Negotiations of Identity in Trinidadian Drumming”
     
  • Caribbean Disability Conference  10/2024
    Presentation of findings from CDB country assessments
     
  • American College Personnel Association Conference 03/2023
    "Advocacy and Post Secondary Students with Disabilities - The Case of The University of the West Indies"
     
  • Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel Association Conference  06/2022
    “Cultivating a Culture ofMentorship in the Caribbean: A Case Study of the Minds Of Initiative”
     
  • Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel Association Conference  06/2022
    “Advocacy and the role of organisations of and for Person with Disabilities – the case of students at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine”
     
  • Caribbean Studies Association Conference  05/2021
    "Female Negotiations of Identity in Indo-Trinidadian Music"
     
  • Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars Conference  01/2021
    “A Sign of the Times:Tassa Drumming, Women and Performance in Trinidad”
     
  • Connecting the Dots: Work.Life.Balance.Ageing  06/2020
    "Work-Life Balance: Reflections on Health and Well Being"
     
  • IGDS Biennial Conference  05/2018
    “Cinematic Engagement of race/ethnicity, classand gender difference in the Caribbean region throughmusic and ritual”
     
  • Work/Life Balance Conference  05/2018
    UWI St. Augustine “WLBA project findings: “Finding anEquilibrium Full of Ups and Downs”

 

Media Commentary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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