Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean: Historical Roots, Contemporary Continuities

Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean: Historical Roots, Contemporary Continuities is a landmark collection that addresses one of the region’s most pressing crises. Edited by Dalea Bean and Verene A. Shepherd, the volume traces the historical roots of gender-based violence, showing how enslavement, colonial domination and systemic inequalities became embedded in cultural norms and everyday life. Contributors draw on court records, literature, music, oral histories and archival sources to uncover how violence – physical, psychological and symbolic – was normalized and perpetuated across generations.

Spanning six sections, the book brings together pioneering feminist scholars and new voices to examine gender-based violence through intersecting frameworks of race, class, religion, sexuality and nationhood. The essays reveal both the persistence of violent structures and the spaces where resistance, agency and transformation take shape. While unsparing in confronting injustice, the collection also highlights resilience, activism and movements for change. This volume offers indispensable insights for scholars, policymakers, advocates and communities committed to ending gender-based violence in the Caribbean.

Dalea Bean is head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. A specialist in women and gender in Caribbean history, she is the author of Jamaican Women and the World Wars (2017) and Jamaican Women of Distinction (2020), contributing significantly to feminist Caribbean scholarship.

Verene A. Shepherd is professor emerita of history and gender studies at The University of the West Indies. Her research spans Jamaican economic history, slavery, reparations and gender discourses. She is the author of several influential works, including Livestock, Sugar & Slavery and I Want to Disturb My Neighbour.