Journal of West Indian Literature

Journal of West Indian Literature
Title	Journal of West Indian Literature
Discipline	Caribbean literature
Language	English
Publisher	University of the West Indies Press
Country	Trinidad and Tobago
Frequency	Biannual
History	1980–present
Issn	0000-0000

Journal of West Indian Literature is a peer-reviewed periodical devoted to scholarship on Caribbean literary production, criticism, and cultural history. The journal publishes articles, reviews, and bibliographies that engage with authors, movements, and institutions across the Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanophone, and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Contributors and readers include scholars associated with University of the West Indies, King's College London, Harvard University, Columbia University, and University of Toronto.

History

Founded in 1980 by academics at University of the West Indies and allied scholars from University of the West Indies Mona and University of the West Indies Cave Hill, the journal emerged amid debates influenced by publications such as Savacou and Caribbean Quarterly. Early editorial collaboration involved figures linked to Bank Street College of Education, University of the West Indies St Augustine, and visiting scholars from University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and University of the West Indies Open Campus. The journal’s formative decades corresponded with intellectual currents generated by conferences at The University of the West Indies Cultural Studies Centre, symposia connected to Caribbean Studies Association, and archives housed at National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago.

Scope and Editorial Focus

The journal foregrounds close readings of writers associated with Derek Walcott, V. S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Édouard Glissant, and Kamau Brathwaite, while also addressing work on Michelle Cliff, Wilson Harris, George Lamming, Sam Selvon, and Martin Carter. It considers intersections with theatrical figures such as Beryl McBurnie and Bertolt Brecht productions staged in the region, and critical responses to festivals like Carifesta and institutions such as Trinidad and Tobago National Library and Information System. The editorial agenda engages archival research drawing on collections at British Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Vanderbilt University Special Collections, and Soka University Library, and theoretical conversations invoking names associated with Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Stuart Hall, and Homi K. Bhabha.

Publication and Distribution

Published biannually by University of the West Indies Press, the journal is distributed through academic outlets including JSTOR, Project MUSE, and university presses such as Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press for selected reprints. Subscriptions are maintained by libraries at institutions like New York Public Library, University of the West Indies Mona Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Library of Congress, and National Library of Jamaica. Special themed issues have been co-published in partnership with centers such as Caribbean Philosophical Association and events at institutions like Royal Anthropological Institute.

Editorial Board and Contributors

The editorial board traditionally comprises scholars affiliated with University of the West Indies, University of the West Indies Cave Hill, University of the West Indies Mona, Brown University, Duke University, University of Miami, University of Leeds, Florida International University, and research fellows from Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Notable contributors have included essays by critics and writers connected to Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott Prize nominees, awardees such as Commonwealth Writers' Prize winners, and commentators who have taught at University of the West Indies St Augustine and guest-lectured at Yale University and Princeton University. Peer review is overseen by external referees drawn from networks that include Caribbean Studies Association and editorial partners at Journal of Caribbean History.

Notable Articles and Impact

Seminal articles have mapped the postcolonial poetics of Derek Walcott and V. S. Naipaul, re-evaluated exile narratives of Jean Rhys and George Lamming, and traced revolutionary tropes resonant with Toussaint Louverture and Marcus Garvey movements. The journal’s special issues have catalyzed debates on topics such as creolization examined alongside Édouard Glissant’s work, diaspora studies engaging with scholars from African Studies Association and curatorial projects at Museum of London Docklands, and pedagogical approaches adopted by departments at University of the West Indies Open Campus and University of the West Indies Mona. Citations of the journal appear in monographs published by Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Bloomsbury, and in doctoral dissertations from University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.

Indexing and Abstracting

The journal is indexed or abstracted in major bibliographic services including MLA International Bibliography, Scopus, Web of Science, Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals for interdisciplinary pieces, Historical Abstracts, and specialist Caribbean indexes maintained by Caribbean Studies Association archives and HathiTrust Digital Library. Library catalogs that list the journal include WorldCat, Library of Congress Online Catalog, and regional union catalogs such as National Library of Jamaica catalog.

Category:Literary journals Category:Caribbean literature Category:Academic journals established in 1980