Trinidadian-born scholar Carole Boyce-Davies named to prestigious Howard University chair
Key Points(5)
- Carole Boyce-Davies, the distinguished Trinidadian-born scholar on Caribbean and African studies with deep ties to South Florida, is being honored with a prestigious endowed chair at Howard University in Washington, D.C., one of the nation’s leading historically Black universities.
- The school announced that Boyce-Davies will become the Eric Eustace Williams, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Caribbean Studies.
- The appointment recognizes her international scholarship and contributions to Caribbean and African diaspora studies, while the chair honors the legacy of Eric Eustace Williams.
- A historian and scholar, Williams taught at Howard before becoming Trinidad and Tobago’s first prime minister after the country gained independence from Britain on Aug.
- Boyce-Davies is currently chair and professor of African Diaspora Literatures in the Department of Literature and Writing at Howard.
Trinidadian-born scholar Carole Boyce-Davies has been named to a prestigious endowed chair at Howard University in Washington, D.C., recognizing her international scholarship and contributions to Caribbean and African diaspora studies.
Howard University announced that Boyce-Davies will become the Eric Eustace Williams, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Caribbean Studies, a position named in honor of the renowned historian who became Trinidad and Tobago’s first prime minister.
Boyce-Davies currently serves as chair and professor of African Diaspora Literatures in Howard’s Department of Literature and Writing. She is also the H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters emerita and professor of Africana Studies and Literatures in English at Cornell University and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Havana.
The endowed chair honors the legacy of Eric Williams, who taught at Howard before entering Caribbean politics and eventually becoming Trinidad and Tobago’s first prime minister following the country’s independence from Britain on Aug. 31, 1962.
Howard said the appointment continues the historically Black university’s longstanding intellectual relationship with Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. The chair will provide a platform for scholarship, teaching, research and dialogue examining the Caribbean and its global influence.
“Eric Williams understood that scholarship carries its greatest power when it moves beyond the academy and is put into service to people, communities and nations,” Howard University President Emeritus and Interim President Wayne A. I. Frederick said.
“His years at Howard were an important chapter in a remarkable journey that ultimately helped shape the future of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.”
Frederick said Boyce-Davies, who divides her time between Miami and Washington, represents a similar tradition.
“Through this endowed chair, Howard University is ensuring that Dr. Williams’ intellectual legacy will continue through new scholarship, new ideas and generations of students who will deepen the connections between Howard, the Caribbean and the broader African diaspora,” he said.
The appointment also has personal significance for Frederick, who was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago before enrolling at Howard as a student.
Boyce-Davies joined Howard’s faculty in 2023 after an academic career that included positions at Cornell University, Northwestern University and Florida International University.
At FIU, she served as director of African New World Studies from 1997 to 2006 and co-founded the Eric Williams Lecture Series with Williams’ daughter, Erica Williams Connell. The series was held at FIU for 19 years before moving to the University of Texas in 2021.
Boyce-Davies also has longstanding ties to Howard as a former student. She earned a master’s degree in African Studies from the university before completing a doctorate in African and Caribbean Literature in the English Department at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
She also holds an advanced postgraduate degree in International Law, with a concentration in Intercultural Human Rights Law, from St. Thomas University in Miami.
Howard described Boyce-Davies as a distinguished scholar whose work has contributed to the study of Caribbean and African diaspora literature, culture and intellectual thought.
She will be formally installed as the Eric Eustace Williams, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Caribbean Studies during a ceremony at Howard University on Sept. 17.
