Trotter Institute Director Wins African American Intellectual History Society鈥檚 Book Prize for Pauulu鈥檚 Diaspora
Professor of Africana Studies and Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture Director Quito Swan is the recipient of the African American Intellectual History Society鈥檚 (AAIHS) Pauli Murray Book Prize for his new book, Pauulu鈥檚 Diaspora: Black Internationalism and Environmental Justice.
鈥� Pauli Murray was a critical lawyer, author, and women鈥檚 rights activist-intellectual and it鈥檚 an absolute honor to have the book. 鈥�
The award recognizes the year鈥檚 best book concerning Black intellectual history.
鈥淚 am absolutely humbled and ecstatic. Pauli Murray was a critical lawyer, author, and women鈥檚 rights activist-intellectual and it鈥檚 an absolute honor to have the book carry her name,鈥� Swan said. 鈥淪he was also an alum of Howard University, and we share that in common. I am thrilled to have my work recognized by the AAIHS.鈥�
The AAIHS is a national professional association that鈥檚 committed to the study of the Africana world, and the award committee includes scholar-activists and organizers such as Leslie Alexander, Ibram X. Kendi, Russell Rickford, and Chris Tinson, Swan said.
鈥淚t feels great to be recognized by your peers for completing a book that involved research in nine countries and is offering transformative contributions to the study of the Black world,鈥� he said.
In addition to the AAIHS award, Swan鈥檚 new book has also won a 2021 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowships Open Book Award. Swan said this award is particularly significant as a 2014 NEH Fellowship allowed him to conduct research for the book in nine countries, including Vanuatu, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea, which involved travel that would have been more difficult to arrange.
鈥淭he Open Book Award will also allow the book to reach those distinct communities who may have had issues in accessing the book otherwise,鈥� Swan said.
Pauulu Kamarakafego, the main protagonist of Swan鈥檚 new book, is also the focus of Swan鈥檚 first book, Black Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization, which explored the dynamics of the Black Power movement beyond the borders of the United States. In Pauulu鈥檚 Diaspora, Swan said he wanted to trace Kamarakafego鈥檚 global work as a Pan-Africanist organizer and ecological engineer across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
鈥淥ne of the main messages [of the book] is that the Black Power movement was a global phenomenon,鈥� he said. 鈥淏lack communities have pioneered movements for environmental justice and linked questions of sustainability and technology to our pushes for Black power, civil rights, and Pan-Africanism. In addition, the African Diaspora includes Africa as well as Black communities both west and east of Africa across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean worlds.鈥�
Swan joined UMass Boston as a full professor of Africana Studies in 2019 and became the director of the Trotter Institute in spring 2020. He is also a recent appointee to the chancellor鈥檚 Restorative Justice Commission. He said the university is a critical hub of Black diasporic thought.
鈥淢y work fits within the Black radicalism of Boston鈥檚 William Monroe Trotter, but also within the mission of the institute to address the needs of Boston鈥檚 Black communities through research, public advocacy, and community engagement,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s the words of Amilcar Cabral informed us about imperialism, we cannot eliminate racism 鈥榖y merely shouting insults against it.鈥欌��