Assistant Professor
Teaching Areas: Postcolonialism, Queer Theory, Black Atlantic Studies, Contemporary Literature
In my research and teaching I explore the intersections of literature, postcolonial theory, diaspora studies, critical race theory and gender and sexuality studies. My current book project Queer Marronage and Caribbean Writing examines the work of Dionne Brand, Michelle Cliff, Shani Mootoo and Patricia Powell, and their representations of the figure of the Maroon—the runaway slave—in narratives which explore questions of sexual citizenship, gender and identity politics in the contemporary Caribbean. I have also published articles on queer theory and Caribbean writing and on representations of gender and sexuality in Jamaican popular culture.
I welcome undertaking student supervisions on topics relating to Black Atlantic Studies, Diaspora, Queer Theory, Masculinity Studies, Postcolonial Theory.
Cummings, Ronald. “Michelle Cliff.” Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Post-Colonialism. Eds. Sangeeta Ray and Henry Schwarz. London: Wiley-Blackwell (2014). Forthcoming.
Cummings, Ronald. “Maroons.” Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Post-Colonialism. Eds. Sangeeta Ray and Henry Schwarz. London: Wiley-Blackwell (2014). Forthcoming.
Cummings, Ronald. “Jamaican Female Masculinities: Nanny of the Maroons and the Genealogy of the Man Royal.” Journal of West Indian Literature (Special Issue on Masculinities) Vol. 21:1/2 (Nov 2012/ April 2013): 129-154
Cummings, Ronald. “Queer Theory and Caribbean Writing.” The Routledge Companion to Anglophone Caribbean Literature. Eds. Michael Bucknor and Alison Donnell, Routledge, (2011): pp. 323-331.
Cummings, Ronald. “(Trans)Nationalisms, Marronage and Queer Caribbean Subjectivities.”, Transforming Anthropology Vol. 18 (2), 2010: 169–180.