Hello our very dear, esteemed, and beloved audience and communities! This is Jacqui, writing with our final batch of show notes for the “Under the Sycamore Tree” podcast. Here are our show notes for our final Episode 10: “Sealing this Sankofa.” Possible triggers in this episode include climate change, racism, European colonization, U.S. imperialism and neoliberal capitalism, patriarchy, homophobia, and transphobia.

Remember that you can find out more about the Women’s Voice and Leadership - Caribbean partner organizations on our shared funders’ websites: Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and Equality Fund. Also learn more about the WVL partnership between these two funders here.

The passages in this episode, in order, are:

• Unraveling, a novel by Dr. Karen Lord of Barbados. Published in New York, NY, USA by DAW Books in 2019. This passage is taken from page 102.
• “The Race for Theory,” an Black Feminist academic article by the late Dr. Barbara Christian (St. Thomas & California, USA). Her article was published in volume 14, issue 1, of the journal Feminist Studies (Spring 1988, pages 67 - 79).
• We closed this episode with multiple passages from Kei Miller’s novel, Augustown, Published in New York, NY, USA by Pantheon in 2016. The passages come from pages 115 - 116, 144, and 232.

You can find former USVI State Senator Janelle K. Sauraw’s July 4th post here on her instagram profile, @jksauraw. Check out Democracy Now’s suite of coverage on U.S. imperialism, which provided rich references for this episode. We were specifically informed by the following of their reports / stories:

• “How to Hide an Empire”: Daniel Immerwahr on the History of the Greater United States” (March 5, 2019)
• “Juan González: In Surprise Move, Gorsuch Challenges U.S. Colonialism in SCOTUS Ruling on Puerto Rico” (April 27, 2022)
• “The Monroe Doctrine, Revisited: How 200 Years of U.S. Policy Have Helped to Destabilize the Americas” (April 27, 2023)

We are also indebted to the example of Zora’s Daughters, as well as their syllabi. The Caribbean Sheroes Initiative, led by UNESCO with UWI’s Institute of Gender and Development Studies, has compiled a host of resources that you all might be interested in. You will even see our own Dave-Ann featured in the interview on their website!

Your’s deeply, sincerely, and truly,

Jacqui.

We would like to offer you some bonus content as we wrap up our final full episode, Ep. 10, “Sealing this Sankofa.” This short bonus episode, “Mothering Organisers” features two interview excerpts which we did not include in the episodes. Candacy McEwan of Guyana Trans United and Amira Teul of Toledo Maya Women’s Council transport us back to their girl- / young adulthood selves, recounting how their mother’s built and nourished a foundation for their ongoing organizing. Their experiences of being mothered is also the foundation of what we can think of as their womanist approach to organizers - a commitment to working, patiently, with families, and being a support in any way, including extra-programmatically. Triggers include transphobia, misogyny, domestic violence, and death.

Possible triggers include (neo-)colonialism, land theft, legacies of monoculture, domestic violence, sex work criminalisation, (neo-) colonialism, class discrimination, patriarchy, sex shaming, and the impact of climate change.

The organizers and organizations featured in this episode are:
Keithlin Caroo, Founder and Executive Director of Helen’s Daughters, based in St. Lucia. Helen’s Daughters is an organization founded in 2016 to promote the economic development of rural women through adaptive agricultural techniques, capacity-building, and improved market access. More specifically, the organization aims to expand opportunities for rural women who work in agriculture; promote financial and digital inclusion for rural women in aspects of agricultural outputs; foster female entrepreneurship and enhance the productivity of women-owned enterprises; enhance the voices of rural women in decision-making related to agricultural policy and beyond; eliminate legal barriers to female economic empowerment; and reduce gender pay gaps in the agricultural sector. Visit their Facebook page, their instagram profile @helensdaughters, and, of course, their website!Dr. Nicola Suraleigh, Executive Director of Integrated Health Outreach based in Antigua & Barbuda. Integrated Health Outreach (IHO) is an organization which works at the intersection of gender, climate change, and health. The organization was founded in 2013 to meet the neglected needs of women and girls, and other vulnerable populations. IHO delivers programs to build eco-sustainability and advance health management as measures to bolster the resiliency of vulnerable groups. The organization is committed to addressing the challenges faced by small island developing states, including climate change and natural disasters, in relation to how these issues exacerbate economic, social and gender inequalities. Visit them on Facebook, Instagram (@iho_ab)and Twitter (@integrated_iho), and make it over to their website! Denise Carr and Philona Roberts of SUCOS. Read more about SUCOS in our show notes for Episode 7: “A Self-Possessed Selfhood, or Sex Workers to the Front!”

Hello dear audience!
Possible triggers in this episode include sex work criminalisation, (neo-) colonialism, class discrimination, patriarchy, sex shaming, and the impact of climate change. We focus on Suriname Coalition of Sex Workers (SUCOS) for this episode. We spoke to SUCOS Founder Denise Carr and member Philona Roberts in early 2021. You can read more about SUCOS on Equality Fund’s website and Red Umbrella’s website (also here). Equality Fund is our mutual funding partner and Red Umbrella is one of SUCOS’s international funding partners referred to in this episode.
The audio from this episode is from a larger conversation which Carla guided between SUCOS alongside rural women’s agricultural organizations Integrated Health Outreach of Antigua & Barbuda and Helen’s Daughters of St. Lucia. This larger conversation will be featured in our next episode, #8 “Land, Labor Cooperatives”.
And this is a note directly from me, Jacqui. I want to address and clarify a line in this episode’s introduction: “First of all, sex workers, whether it is a livelihood chosen or forced upon you, contribute hugely to the society!” Carla nor I intended for “livelihood forced upon you” to mean human trafficking. By extension, I want to make it clear that I am not saying that human trafficking or trafficked persons contribute hugely to our societies. Trafficked persons and the value we gain from this is certainly a conversation, but not one for this episode. This is line I intended to refer to socioeconomic factors that make sex work not a first (or even fifth) option, but perhaps the only option or only one of a few poor options. I extend my apologies that I wasn’t able to catch and clarify this before our production and release of this episode. Please reach out to us via Rebel Women Lit and / or Queerly Stated’s social media accounts to discuss this in more depth. - Jacqui

Hello dear audience! Welcome back after our short summer break. Here are our show notes for our Episode 6: “Language & Leadership.”

Possible triggers in this episode include sex work, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence. The organizers and organizations featured in this episode are:

• Michele Irving, Founder and Coordinator of POWA, or Productive Organization for Women in Action (Belize). POWA advocates for the rights of women and girls to live lives free from violence, exploitation and abuse. Its members are certified peer counselors and provide outreach to communities to raise awareness on human rights, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, Gender Based Violence, HIV/AIDS and the gender inequalities affecting women and girls. Visit POWA online via their Facebook page; and their Equality Fund webpage.

Dylis McDonald, Project Coordinator for CIWIL, the Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership (Regional / Antigua & Barbuda). CIWiL is a non-political, multi-partisan, and independent organization founded in 2005 to monitor, strengthen and increase women’s political participation and leadership in the Caribbean. The organization aims to increase the number of women in politics, leadership and decision-making at all levels in the Caribbean through high-quality training, networking, research, analysis and advocacy. CIWIL acts as a coordinating and implementing mechanism for a regional programme of work developed and delivered by a network of organizations and individuals, to advance women’s transformational leadership. Visit CIWiL online via their Website; their Equality Fund webpage; their Facebook page; and Twitter: @CIWiL.

Hello dear audience! This is Jacqui, writer and researcher of “Under the Sycamore Tree.” Here are our show notes for our Episode 5: “Stats & Storytelling: Fi di Dolly dem.”

Possible triggers in this episode include abortion, domestic violence, HIV+ / AIDS, SRH, mental health, class. The organizers and organizations featured in this episode are:

• 
  Sarah-Ann Gresham, Co-Founder of Intersect Antigua, (Antigua and Barbuda). Intersect Antigua is a Queeribean feminist collective committed to gender justice and to centering the experiences and needs of the most marginalized among us, including queer, trans, and non-binary people and those with disabilities who are Black, Indigenous, and identify as people of colour. Intersect is here to re-imagine a world where Caribbean women, men, and non-binary people are free to live and love in societies where they are cared for and cherished. Check out Intersect’s literary magazine on their website! Find them also at their Equality Fund webpage; their Facebook page; Twitter: @intersect_anu; IG: @intersect.anu; and LinkedIn.

• 
  Shantae Porteous, who, at the time of our discussion, was Health & Wellness Officer at WE Change JA (Jamaica). Women’s Empowerment for Change (WE Change) is a feminist organization focused on advocating for and with lesbian, bisexual, and queer women. WE Change is focused on equipping women with the tools to advocate and become activists for the creation of a world that recognizes and protects the rights of all people, regardless of nationality, socioeconomic status, abilities, race, gender, or sexuality. Visit WE Change online via their Website; their Equality Fund webpage; their Facebook page; Twitter: @WEChangeJA; and IG: @wechangeja.

• 
  Denae Fairweather, Director of Publicity and President of the Board of Our Circle, based in Belize. Our Circle advances legal and lived equality for LGBT-formed family units, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy reform. Visit Our Circle online via their Website; their Equality Fund webpage; their Facebook page; and Twitter: @ourcirclebze.

Carla led this conversation with Sarah-Ann, Shantae, and Denae in March 2022. We sealed this episode with audio from one of Colin Robinson’s final interview in this plane: Sex & Gender Justice in Trinidad and Tobago with Colin Robinson, Interview with Abby Charles, CaribNationTV.

I hope you connect with these texts and enjoy the episode even further! Sincerely,

Jacks.