Howard University has formally recognised Trinidad and Tobago-born scholar Dr Carole Boyce-Davies through her appointment to the Eric Eustace Williams Endowed Chair in Caribbean Studies, an academic position named in honour of Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister.
The university held an investiture ceremony on September 17 to formally confer the endowed chair upon Boyce-Davies, recognising her international scholarship and contributions to Caribbean and African diaspora studies.
Boyce-Davies was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago and currently serves as chair of Howard University’s Department of English. She is also a professor of English literature and writing and has established an international academic career focused on Black women’s writing, Caribbean Studies and the African diaspora.
Her relationship with Howard stretches back decades. She earned a Master of Arts in African Studies from the university in 1974 before completing a PhD in African and Caribbean Literature at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria in 1978.
The appointment carries particular significance because of the Trinidad and Tobago connection shared by Boyce-Davies and Dr Eric Williams.
Before becoming Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister, Williams was a scholar and historian who served on Howard University’s faculty from 1939 to 1946. During his time at Howard, he continued research associated with his influential 1944 work, “Capitalism and Slavery.” He later became Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister following independence in 1962 and remained in office until his death in 1981.
Howard University said the endowed chair continues the institution’s historic intellectual relationship with Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. It is intended to support scholarship, teaching, research and dialogue examining the Caribbean and its global influence.
Howard’s interim and president emeritus Dr Wayne A. I. Frederick, who was also born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, said the chair would help ensure Williams’ intellectual legacy continues through new scholarship and future generations of students.
For Boyce-Davies, the appointment also represents a connection between her own Trinidad and Tobago upbringing and the intellectual influence of Williams. She recalled hearing his teachings on the radio while growing up in San Juan and described receiving the recognition bearing his name as an unexpected culmination of her career.
The investiture further strengthens a longstanding academic link between Trinidad and Tobago and Howard University, while placing the work of a Trinidad and Tobago-born scholar at the centre of continued research and teaching on the Caribbean and its global diaspora.
