This talk explores the Caribbean as a site of research and knowledge production about Caribbean people, by Caribbean people and for Caribbean people.

In what ways do individuals and communities of the region assert their “right to research”? How does the integration of digital technologies and digital humanities methodologies facilitate the preservation and articulation of local knowledges, even in the face of economic underdevelopment, political fragility, climate vulnerability or diminished social significance? This talk will provide examples, through the work of Create Caribbean Research Institute, of unlikely collaborations between community organizations, students and citizen-scholars that lead to formal and vernacular outcomes, constituting an invaluable part of the historical record of the Caribbean region. 

Schuyler Esprit is the Founder and Director of Create Caribbean Research Institute, the first digital humanities center in the Caribbean. As a scholar of Caribbean literary and cultural studies, her research areas of interest include Caribbean literary and cultural studies, environmental and ecological humanities, and digital humanities. Dr. Esprit continues to write and publish on Caribbean literature, including on the impact of reading in communities in real and virtual spaces. Her book Imprinted: The Social History of Caribbean Reading is forthcoming with Papillote Press.

This is the second installment in a series of virtual gatherings on the theme of “Diversity is Knowledge,” which will conclude at the 2023 CRL Annual Meeting in Chicago April 27-28th 2023. Gatherings are open to all, regardless of institutional affiliation or membership status with the Center for Research Libraries.