Cooper is a literary and cultural studies professor at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, where she teaches Caribbean, African and African-American literature. She is also director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, and coordinator of the UWI’s International Reggae Studies Centre, an academic project she initiated.

Cooper has written two books on Jamaican popular culture. The first, Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the ‘Vulgar’ Body of Jamaican Popular Culture, was published in Britain in 1993. Her second, Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large, was published in New York in 2004. Her controversial work has been lauded as groundbreaking, revolutionary and liberating in its focus.

This is the sixth annual Jagan Lecture, commemorating the life and vision of the late Cheddi Jagan, Caribbean thinker, politician and political visionary. The event is co-organized by York’s Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC), York International and the Jagan Lectures Planning Committee.

Immediately preceding the event there will be a DJ/Rap performance by Reuben Clark in the Rotunda outside of Vari Hall-A. Toronto poet Afua Cooper will also be featured on the lecture

program.

The lecture is open to the public and admission is free (donations will be accepted).

For more information about the lecture and the lecture series, visit the CERLAC website, e-mail cerlac@yorku.ca or call ext. 55237.

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city.  The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 180,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 21 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries.  This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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