Speakers: - Teresa E. Leslie (Author: St. Eustatius/USA) - Lianne Leonora (Curacao) - Melissa Weiner (USA) - Antonio Carmona Baez (St. Maarten)
Teresa E. Leslie discusses her new book Eight Years in Statia; Race, Coloniality and Development. Eight Years in Statia is based on her essay in Smash the Pillars, “Colonialism Begets Coloniality: A Case Study of Sint Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands”.
Eight Years in Statia: Race Coloniality and Development investigates the continuing colonial relationship between the special municipality of Sint Eustatius and the Netherlands. The book discusses how race, while subtle and insidious, is a pervasive part of society which directly influences the island’s development. The book is based on eight years of fieldwork and written by an African American woman with family roots on the island. While the book is about the author’s anthropologically informed interpretation of the island’s historical and social structures, it also discusses how the island is a microcosm of the globalized world and, in effect, the island’s challenges of equity and equality represent challenges of modern globalization. Teresa E. Leslie is an anthropologist who holds a Bachelor’s degree from Howard University, an MA from University of South Carolina-Columbia, and a PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She attributes her educational success to her family’s deep and historical belief in education for self improvement. After living and working on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius for eight years, in 2019 Leslie returned to the United States and currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
