Bio
Dr. Yanique Hume is a multifaceted interdisciplinary scholar, dancer and tenured lecturer in Cultural Studies. Her research interests and teaching areas include Africana religions, the festive and sacred arts of the African diaspora, African diaspora dance and performance cultures, Caribbean thought and popular culture. She is the co-editor of Caribbean Cultural Thought: From Plantation to Diaspora (2013); Caribbean Popular Culture: Power, Politics and Performance (2016); and Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death in the Caribbean (2018). Dr. Hume is the President of KOSANBA, a Scholarly Association for the Study of Haitian Vodou and is an active member of the Afro-Feminist Performance Routes project – a focused artist-scholar residency initiative exploring embodied philosophies, feminisms, as well as decolonizing and creative pedagogies through African diaspora dance practice. Dr. Hume is the recipient of grants from the Social Science Research Council, the International Development Research Centre, Ford Foundation and the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
Full-length single-authored manuscript in preparation – “Haiti in the Cuban Imaginary” – examines the shifting discursive terrain of cubanidad in relation to the historical Haitian presence on the island.
“Dancing for the Dead and the Living: Mortuary Arts of the Black Atlantic” – research project focused on the aesthetic and performative dimensions of funerary dances.
Qualifications
BA (UVM), MA (Emory), PhD (Emory)
Research Areas
Dr. Hume’s research portfolio and experience is wide-reaching. As a multilingual researcher, her fieldwork experience in Africana religions as well as sacred and popular dance forms are centered in the Caribbean and Latin America, especially Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Brazil and Colombia. In applied research, her work has focused on the creative industries and cultural policy; migration and tourism; as well as museological production and management in underserved communities in Jamaica and Colombia. Dr. Hume has conducted two extensive multi-sited research projects, the first was funded by the International Development Research Centre, Strategic Opportunities in Caribbean Migration and it involved researching the potential of diaspora tourism in the Caribbean with a focus on the Dominican Republic. The second CARICOM initiated and EU funded project, Regional Strategic Plan for Cultural and Entertainment Services/Cultural Industries in CARICOM and CARIFORUM involved an extensive mapping of the creative industries in the region with specific emphasis on the DR and Haiti.
Full-length single-authored manuscript in preparation – “Haiti in the Cuban Imaginary” – examines the shifting discursive terrain of cubanidad in relation to the historical Haitian presence on the island.
“Dancing for the Dead and the Living: Mortuary Arts of the Black Atlantic” – research project focused on the aesthetic and performative dimensions of funerary dances.
Main Research Projects
Multi-media Digital Humanities project, “Spirits at a Crossing: Palo and the Evolution of a Sacred Curative Practice.” This collaborative research project focuses on the transformative evolution of a Kongo-based religious and spiritual complex known as Palo Monte and specifically its observation in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.
Additional Information about Research
Research agenda is committed to using multiple modes of dissemination knowledge including exhibitions and curatorial practices, choreographies, lecture demonstrations, policy reports and documentary films, see for example, Forward Home: The Power of the Caribbean Diaspora (2011).
Teaching Areas
Caribbean Studies; Religious Cultures and Spiritualities of Africa and the African Diaspora; African diaspora dance and performance cultures; Cultural Studies Research Methods; Identity Politics and Cultural Representation, Caribbean Cultural Studies.
Select Publications
Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death and Mortuary Practices in the Caribbean. Editor with Maarit Forde. Duke University Press, Book Series, Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People (Duke University Press, 2018), 312 pages.
Caribbean Cultural Thought: From Plantation to Diaspora. Editor with Aaron Kamugisha. (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Press, May 2013), 643 pages.
Caribbean Popular Culture: Power, Politics and Performance. Editor with Aaron Kamugisha. (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Press, April 2016), 770 pages.
“From Bush to Street: The Shifting Performance Geography of Haitian Rara and Cuban Gagá”. e-Misférica: The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. 12.1: Caribbean Rasanblaj – Guest Editor, Gina Ulysse. (2015).
“Performing Haiti: Casa del Caribe and the Popularisation of Haitian Heritage Communities in Cuba.” Special Issue “Turning Our Heads to Haiti” Guest Editor, Matthew J. Smith (featured article of the inaugural CQ issue with the Taylor & Francis group of journals) Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 62 Issue 1 (2016): 39-68.
Keywords
Caribbean Cultural Thought and Popular Culture; Afro-Atlantic Religions and Spiritualities; African Diaspora Dance and Performance Cultures; Festive and Sacred Arts; Caribbean Mortuary Complex.