Caribbean Studies Reading Group: Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis (UC Berkeley)
The Caribbean Studies Reading Group
Please join the Caribbean Studies Reading Group in the fourth meeting of the Graduate Foundations in Black Geographies Series with guest scholar, Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis (Geography, UC Berkeley).
The Caribbean Studies Reading Group (CSRG) is halfway through their Graduate Foundations in Black Geographies virtual discussions for the fall quarter. For the second half of their series, CSRG is thrilled to welcome guest scholar from UC Berkeley, Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, who will share his expertise as a thought leader in this dynamic interdisciplinary field. All are welcome - students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and other community members from Stanford and beyond!
Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis is Associate Professor and Chair of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the political economy of racialized poverty in the Caribbean and the United States through analyses of racial capitalism, underdevelopment, and the responding policies and practices for reparations and repair. From 2021-2023, Jovan served as a governor-appointed member of the California State Reparations Task Force. He is the author of Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica (University of Minnesota Press, 2020) and Violent Utopia: Dispossession and Black Restoration in Tulsa (Duke University Press, 2022) and co-editor of the Black Geographic: Praxis, Resistance, Futurity (Duke University Press 2023).
Reading Expectations:
Meeting 4 - Utopias and Reparations (Nov 17 at 10am PST): Jovan Scott Lewis's Scammer's Yard (chapter 4 only) and Violent Utopia (chapter 5 only). Reading through the introductions and conclusions for both books is of course optional, but strongly encouraged. Please also read Lewis's journal article: “The Limits of Repair”. Small Axe (2022) 26 (1 (67)): 191–204. (March 2022).