Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History and Culture
Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History and Culture

Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History and Culture

Breadfruit Media
Strictly Facts is a podcast and educational platform that aims to educate and celebrate Caribbean history through our art and music.
The History of the Panama Canal: Reconsidering Race and Borders
27 October 2021
The History of the Panama Canal: Reconsidering Race and Borders

The Panama Canal was envisioned as a waterway to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans hundreds of years before its construction. When official building began in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century, thousands of  Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean people migrated as laborers to the canal zone. Dr. Kaysha Corinealdi joins us to talk about how their migration transformed Panamanian society and Panama's growing diaspora.

Dr. Kaysha Corinealdi is an Assistant Professor of History at Emerson College. Her research and teaching interests include twentieth century histories of empire, migration, feminism, and Afro-diasporic activism in the Americas. Her forthcoming book, Panama in Black, centers the activism of Afro-Caribbean migrants and their descendants as they navigated practices and policies of anti-Blackness, xenophobia, denationalization, and white supremacy in Panama and the United States. Her research and reviews can also be found in the Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, the International Journal of Africana Studies, the Hispanic American Historical Review, and the Global South. Dr. Corinealdi’s research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Follow Dr. Corinealdi on Twitter.

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The History of the Dutch Caribbean Islands
29 September 2021
The History of the Dutch Caribbean Islands

We have many differences in the Caribbean, namely language, but also many similarities. In this week's episode, Dr. Margo Groenewoud shares with us the creative, political, and social histories of the Dutch Caribbean and why she believes islands like Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao are sometimes neglected in discussions about the Caribbean region. 

Dr. Margo Groenewoud is a Caribbean lecturer and researcher working at the intersection of humanities and social sciences. She obtained a PhD degree at the University of Leiden (humanities) and the University of Curaçao (social sciences). As social historian she specializes in the twentieth century Dutch Caribbean, with as particular interests postcolonialism, social justice, cultural and intellectual history and digital humanities. She is senior lecturer at the University of Curaçao and board member of the University of Curaçao Research Institute (UCRI). Current research projects include Traveling Caribbean Heritage (NWO, 2018-2021) and the Caribbean Studies and Digital Humanities Institute (NEH, 2019-2020). Dr. Groenewoud teaches social justice and community development at the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences and is involved in ZonMw funded Participatory Action Research in Public and Mental Health, studying policies and practices relative to equity and inclusion in small island developing societies.

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The West Indian Federation (1958-1962)
04 August 2021
The West Indian Federation (1958-1962)

Before many of the formerly British Caribbean territories became independent nations, they attempted to create a political union known as the West Indian Federation. The short-lived union only lasted four years, but went on to influence future organizations for regional unity like the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which later became the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Joined by Dr. Patsy Lewis, we discuss the history of the West Indian Federation, its failures, and current and future possibilities for regional integration.

Dr. Patsy Lewis is a Visiting Professor and Faculty Fellow of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and the Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University. She is a graduate of Cambridge University (Mphil, PhD.) and the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica (BA). Before coming to Brown she was Professor of Regional Integration and Small States Development at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Her work explores the development challenges of small Caribbean states, with a particular focus on regional integration, globalization, trade, agriculture, migration and environmental and political crises.

OECS- Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
CSME- CARICOM Single Market and Economy

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Let's Chat Caribbean Literature
23 June 2021
Let's Chat Caribbean Literature

Caribbean writers have undoubtedly left their mark on history. In this episode, we talk with  author Desiree C. Bailey about Caribbean literature, common themes that have inspired her story and her recently published book What Noise Against the Cane, which combines Caribbean history, music, and culture. 

Desiree C. Bailey is the author of What Noise Against the Cane (Yale University Press, 2021), winner of the 2020 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize. She is also the author of the fiction chapbook In Dirt or Saltwater (O'clock Press, 2016) and has short stories and poems published in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, American Short Fiction, Callaloo, the Academy of American Poets and elsewhere. Desiree has a BA from Georgetown University, an MFA in Fiction from Brown University and an MFA in Poetry from New York University. She has received fellowships from the Norman Mailer Center, Kimbilio Fiction, Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, Poets House, The Conversation and Princeton in Africa. She has received awards from the New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts and Poets & Writers. Desiree was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. Connect with Desiree on Instagram and Twitter.

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Produced by Breadfruit Media