International Journal of Caribbean Studies

International Journal of Caribbean Studies
Title	International Journal of Caribbean Studies
Discipline	Caribbean studies
Language	English
Publisher	University-based press
Country	Caribbean region
Frequency	Quarterly
History	1990–present
Issn	0000-0000

Contents

International Journal of Caribbean Studies The International Journal of Caribbean Studies is a peer-reviewed scholarly periodical dedicated to research on the Caribbean Sea, West Indies, and associated diasporas. It publishes interdisciplinary work engaging histories such as the Haitian Revolution, cultural studies linked to figures like Aimé Césaire and Edouard Glissant, and political analyses referencing events including Jamaican Independence, Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1961, and the Cuban Revolution. The journal serves scholars associated with institutions such as the University of the West Indies, Sixth Caribbean Studies Association, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the Institute of Caribbean Studies.

History

Founded in the early 1990s by scholars connected with University of the West Indies campuses and research centers like the Caribbean Studies Association, the journal emerged amid scholarly responses to debates sparked by publications such as C.L.R. James's works and the postcolonial interventions of Frantz Fanon and Edward Said. Early editorial boards featured contributors affiliated with Howard University, University of Havana, McGill University, University of Toronto, and Oxford University. The journal documented regional crises including the 2004 Haiti coup d'état, recovery efforts after Hurricane Ivan (2004), and treaty negotiations like the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. It has traced cultural movements from calypso and soca developments tied to artists such as Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener to literary renaissances involving Derek Walcott and Jean Rhys.

The journal emphasizes research on Caribbean politics, history, literature, anthropology, and environmental studies, publishing analyses tied to events such as the Moncada Barracks attack and the Bay of Pigs Invasion when pertinent to regional dynamics. It foregrounds work on migration patterns connecting to destinations like New York City, London, Toronto, Miami, and Paris, and pays attention to diasporic communities exemplified by figures such as Marcus Garvey, Stokely Carmichael, and Derek Walcott. The scope includes studies on regional organizations and agreements including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, and trade links with entities like the European Union and United States. It supports interdisciplinary pieces linking environmental studies of coral systems in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and Sargassum influxes to economic histories of sugar plantations like those involved in the Sugar Act debates and abolitionist campaigns associated with William Wilberforce.

Published quarterly, the journal is distributed through academic presses associated with universities such as University of the West Indies Press, Routledge-linked imprints, and regional distributors operating in islands including Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. Subscriptions reach libraries at institutions like Columbia University, Harvard University, University of the West Indies Mona Campus, University of Havana, and Universidad de Puerto Rico. Digital availability aligns with platforms used by JSTOR, Project MUSE, and regional repositories supported by the Caribbean Community Secretariat. Special issues have been co-published with conferences held by the Caribbean Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and symposia at venues such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The editorial board historically included scholars affiliated with University College London, Yale University, Brown University, University of the West Indies St. Augustine, Florida International University, and University of the West Indies Cave Hill. Editors have included specialists with research interests in figures such as Sylvia Wynter, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, and Kamau Brathwaite, and in movements connected to Black Power and Decolonization in the Americas. The journal employs double-blind peer review drawing referees from networks at centers like the Caribbean Policy Research Institute, the Institute of Latin American Studies, Duke University's Caribbean research programs, and independent scholars who have written on topics including maroon communities like Jamaica Maroons, plantation archives such as the Codrington Plantations, and migration case studies involving Windrush scandal-era research.

The journal is indexed in regional and international databases including Scopus, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and area studies indexes used by libraries at University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of the West Indies Mona Campus, and Kingston University. Its impact is measured by citations in monographs from presses such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Duke University Press, and Palgrave Macmillan, and by influence on policy papers issued by organizations like CARICOM, the Pan American Health Organization, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The journal's articles are frequently assigned in courses at institutions including Howard University, Hunter College, University of the West Indies St. Augustine, and University of Miami.

Noteworthy contributions have addressed topics from the historiography of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to contemporary analyses of climate change in the Caribbean referencing events like Hurricane Maria (2017) and Hurricane Dorian (2019). Special issues have focused on themes such as Caribbean literature responding to postcolonial theory with essays on Derek Walcott, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Díaz, and Maryse Condé; migration and remittances involving pathways between Haiti and Dominican Republic, and labor studies tracing sugar, banana, and bauxite industries in places like Guyana and Suriname. Other issues examined regional responses to public health challenges referencing Zika virus epidemic research, and legal-political analyses concerning cases like R v. Dudley and Stephens analogues and maritime disputes adjudicated through the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The journal has published archival discoveries drawing on collections at the British Library, National Archives (UK), Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, and the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí.

Category:Caribbean studies journals