Patricia Mohammed

Patricia Mohammed is the Head and Lecturer at Centre for Gender and Development Studies - Mona Unit at the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. A citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Mohammed obtained her B.Sc. in Economics and Sociology from the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies in 1976, and in 1987 her M. Sc in Sociology, with her dissertation on "Women and Education in Trinidad and Tobago, 1838 - 1980." In 1993 she completed her doctoral thesis on "A Social History of Post-Migrant lndiansin Trinidad, 1917-1947: A Gender Perspective" and was awarded her degree from The Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands.

She began her career in the field of women and development studies as Co-Director of a three month study course in Sussex England followed by Co-ordinator of the Rape Crisis Centre in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in 1985. She has held numerous posts in this arena including Regional Course Director, (Seminars), UWI/ISS of the Women and Development Studies Project, University of the West Indies and Teaching and Research Assistant, in Women and Development, The Institute of Social Studies, Den Haag.

Dr. Mohammed has written and published extensively on Feminism, Feminist Theory, Gender Relations in Caribbean society, Gender Based Violence and Feminist epistemology and the study of masculinity. She has been the Primary Researcher and Consultant in areas including Gender Research Methodology Trainer for Gender Research Methodology, University of Namibia, The Family Planning Association of Jamaica - Various Projects, The Women's Studies Program, University of Colorado, Boulder and Instituto Latinamericano de Servicios Legales Alternatives (ISLA) and Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action, Project "The Working Sex: Caribbean Development, Tourism, Sex and Work", IPPF/WHR, Sexual and Reproductive Health Project for the Caribbean: Belize and Guyana, and Regional Research Project: "Decision-Making in the lives of Caribbean women of Barbados, St. Lucia and Dominica.

Her membership in various organizations includes: The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action [CAFRA], the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, The Caribbean Studies Association, Contributing Editor to the Feminist Review Collective, London, The Editorial Board, Inter Press Service, Editor/Chair of the Advisory Committee Caribbean Monograph Series on Gender, The Press, UWI, The Association of Caribbean Historians, and The Board of Film Censors ofthe Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Mohammed is married to Mr. Rex Dixon and resides in Jamaica.

Patricia Mohammed's publications focus on these themes:

1. Gender Relations in Caribbean society.
2. Gender Mythology in the Calypsos of the 1920s and 1930s The Reconstruction of Gender Identities among Indians in Trinidad through Mythology
3. Gender Based Violence in Jamaica
4. Tourism and Sex Trade in the Caribbean
5. The Creation of a Caribbean Iconography and the Evolution of Caribbean Identity Feminist epistemology and the study of masculinity
6. The Making of Feminism in the English Speaking CariWean Women, Gender and Engendering history in the Caribbean
7. Women's situation and project needs in Trinidad and Tobago
8. Women and Education

BOOKS

Caribbean Women at the Crossroads: The Dilemma of Decision-making among women of Barbados, St. Lucia and Dominica: Caribbean Women at the Crossroads. Co-authored with Althea Perkins. New York: UWI Press and IPPF, 1998.

EDITED BOOKS/JOURNALS

Rethinking Caribbean Difference. Special Issue on the Caribbean, Feminist Review No. 59. (June 1998).

Working Paper No 1 Mona Unit: Patricia Mohammed, Editor, Working Paper Series of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston Jamaica. (1997).

Gender in Caribbean Development Papers presented at the Inaugural Seminar ofthe Women and Development Studies Project of the University of the West Indies. Co-edited with Catherine Shepherd. (Women and Development Studies, U.W.I., Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados, 1988).

ARTICLES

"Towards Indigenous Feminist Theorizing in the Caribbean" in Rethinking Caribbean Difference, Special Issue on the Caribbean, Feminist Review No. 59 (June 1998): 6-33.

"Midnight's Children and the Legacy of Nationalism in Trinidad" in Callaloo: Eric Williams and the Post-Colonial Caribbean Ed. Sandra Pouchet Pacquet. Volume 2O, No 4, (1998): 737-752.

"Gender Matters in Caribbean Development", in Caribbean Perspectives: Gender Issues that Challenge the Development of the Caribbean. Ed. Frank Mills. (January 1998): 3-8.

"Ram and Sita: The Reconstitution of Gender Identities among Indians in Trinidad through Mythology," in Portraits of a Nearer Caribbean: Gendered Ideologies. Ed. Christine Barrow. (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 1998).

"Midnight's Children and the Legacy of Nationalism" in Small Axe, A Journal of Criticism. No. 2 (September 1997).

"The Idea of Childhood and the Age of Sexual Maturity among Indians in Trinidad" Chapter in Caribbean Families: Diversity Among Ethnic Groups. Ed. Jaipaul Roopnarine and Janet Brown. (Connecticut and London: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1997), pp.115-145.

"The Negotiation of Gender Relations and Identity among Indians in Village Trinidad in the Post Indentureship Period", in WAND Occasional Paper Series: Identity. No 3. Ed. Nan Peacocke. (Barbados: UWI, School for Continuing Studies, 1996).

"Gender as a Primary Signifier in the Construction of Community and State among Indians in Trinidad" in Caribbean Quarterly. Volume 4O, No 3 (1995).

"Love and Marriage among Post Indentureship Indians in Trinidad: Indicators of the Status of Indian Women in Trinidad in the Twentieth century", in In Celebration of 150 years of The Indian Contribution to Trinidad and Tobago. Ed. Brinsley Samaroo and Kenneth Ramchand. (Trinidad: Estorical Publications Limited, 1995), pp. 108-128.

"History and Philosophy of Caribbean Feminism," in The Women's Studies Encyclopaedia Ed. Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender. (London: Simon Schuster, 1995).

"Writing Gender into History: The Negotiation of Gender Relations" in Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective. Ed. Bridget Brereton, Verene Shepherd and Barbara Bailey. (Kingston: Ian Randle and London: James Currey, 1995), pp. 20-47.

"Nuancing the Feminist Discourse in the Caribbean" in New Currents in Caribbean Thought, Special Issue of Social and Economic Studies Ed. Brian Meeks. Vol. 43, No.3 (1994).

"Ruminations on Sexuality" in CAFRA NEWS: Newsletter of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action Vol 8 Nos. 1 & 2 (1994): 5-6.

"Tegentonen in Trinidad: De calypso's van Lady Jane en Singing Francine," (translated into Dutch by Jansen Schottelndreier) in LOVER (Amsterdam) No. 19, Vol 92/4 (1992).

"Structures of Experience: Gender, Ethnicity and Class in the lives of two East Indian women" in Trinidiad Ethnicity. Ed. Kevin Yelvington. (Coventry: Macmillan/Warwick University Caribbean Series, 1992), pp. 208-234.

"Reflections on the Women's Movement in Trinidad: Calypsos, Changes and Sexual Violence" in Feminist Review No. 38 (1991): 33-47.

"A Survey of Educational Research in Trinidad" in Education and Society in the Caribbean Ed. Errol Miller (Jamaica: ISER, 1990), pp 143-180.

"From Laventille to St. Ann's: Towards a Caribbean Feminist Philosophy" in CAFRA News, Vols. - Newsletter of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (1990).

"The Women's Movement in Trinidad and Tobago in the 70's and 80's" in Caribbean Quarterly Vol. 35, No 1 & 2, (1989): 38-45.

"Popular Conceptions and Misconceptions on the Indian family in Trinidad", WAND Discussion Bulletin Series, Barbados, and SCHOLAS Issues, Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands (1989).

"Editorial Introduction" and "The Caribbean Family Revisited" in Gender in Caribbean Development Ed. P. Mohammed and C. Shepherd. (WDS, U.W.I., 1988).

"The Creolization of Indian Women in Trinidad", in Trinidad and Tobago: The Independence Experience 1962-1987. Ed. Selwyn Ryan. (St. Augustine: ISER, UWI, 1988).

"Domestic Workers in the Caribbean", in Women in the Caribbean. Ed. Pat Ellis. (London: ZED Press, 1986). Translated into Spanish and published in El Trabajo de la Cuarta parse: Servicio Domestico en America Latina Y el Caribe. Ed. Elsa Chaney and Mary Garcia Castro. (Caracas: Nueva Sociedad 1988).

"Gender and Conflict", in WAND Discussion Bulletin Series. (Barbados: U.W.I., 1986).

"The Women's Movement in Trinidad since the 60's" in WAND Discussion Bulletin Series. (Barbados: U.W.I., 1986).

Six interviews carried out with women attending the "WAND Caribbean Celebrations", Barbados, March 1985, published in WOMANSPEAR, A Quarterly Newsletter about Caribbean Women. No. 18 (July/December 1985).

"Social and Cultural Dimensions ofthe Health Status of Women in the Caribbean", in The Health Status of Women in the Americas (PAHO, 1985).

"Building the Women's Movement in Trinidad", in CARABAISCH FORUM No.3 (Suriname, 1983).

"Women and the Media  An Uncomfortable Relationship" in WOMAN SPEAK Vol. 1O (October 1983).

"Educational Attainment of Women in Trinidad and Tobago, 1946  1980" in Women in Education, Women in the Caribbean Project. Ed. Joycelin Massiah. (Cave Hill, Barbados: ISER, 1982) pp. 3577.

"Introduction" to Women of Trinidad Speak, by Bori Clark, (United States: Libros Latinos, 1981).

Patricia Mohammed's work in women's rights and issues in the Caribbean revolves around issues of sexual and domestic violence. She has worked through women's organizations, such as:

1. The development of the Rape Crisis Centre in Trinidad from 1980 to 1987
2. The development of tertiary level gender studies at the University of the West Indies from 1982 to the present
3. Sex workers rights in the Caribbean, 1998, in respect of projects and hosting of conference in Jamaica.