Patrick D M Taylor
Professor Emeritus
CERLAC Fellow
Email: taylorp@yorku.ca
Professor Taylor is past chair of the Department of Humanities and past director of the Caribbean Religions Project at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean. He teaches Postcolonial Thought and Caribbean Literature, Culture, and Religion in the Department of Humanities. He is currently working on constructions of whiteness in the Anglophone Caribbean.
Research
Professor Taylor directed the Caribbean Religions Project, an international collaborative project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Ford Foundation. The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions, co-edited by Professor Taylor and Frederick I Case (University of Illinois Press, 2013) is the primary outcome of the project, and covers the religions of the world as they manifest themselves in and are transformed by the Caribbean context. Professor Taylor edited an early collection of essays on Caribbean religions, Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean (Indiana University Press, 2001). This follows on several other major publications, including a co-edited collection, Forging Identities and Patters of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (Co-edited with Joanna Rummens and Polo Diaz, Canadian Scholars Press, 1991) and The Narrative of Liberation: Perspectives on Afro-Caribbean Literature, Popular Culture and Politics (Cornell University Press, 1989).
Teaching
Professor Taylor teaches courses on Postcolonial Thought and Caribbean Religion, Culture, and Literature. He finds that teaching energizes him and pushes him in new intellectual directions. “Often I find my research is influenced by the classroom experience. My students challenge me to ask new questions and to see things from new perspectives.” In addition to working with undergraduate students in Humanities, Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Religious Studies, Professor Taylor teaches and supervises students in the Graduate Programs in Humanities, Social and Political Thought and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Service
“One of the stimulating things about life at York University,” states Professor Taylor, “is the opportunity to serve students and colleagues in a range of different administrative capacities.” Chair of Humanities from 2006 to 2010, Professor Taylor’s roles in the university have included graduate program director, deputy director of a research centre, interdisciplinary program coordinator, academic advisor and organizer of study abroad programs. Like other York faculty, he is committed to a balance of university service, teaching and research, each one a learning experience, each one supporting the other.
Degrees
PhD, York UniversityMA, York University
BA, York University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
Professor Taylor is past chair of the Department of Humanities and past director of the Caribbean Religions Project at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean. He teaches Postcolonial Thought and Caribbean Literature, Culture, and Religion in the Department of Humanities. He is currently working on constructions of whiteness in the Anglophone Caribbean.
Research
Professor Taylor directed the Caribbean Religions Project, an international collaborative project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Ford Foundation. The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions, co-edited by Professor Taylor and Frederick I Case (University of Illinois Press, 2013) is the primary outcome of the project, and covers the religions of the world as they manifest themselves in and are transformed by the Caribbean context. Professor Taylor edited an early collection of essays on Caribbean religions, Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean (Indiana University Press, 2001). This follows on several other major publications, including a co-edited collection, Forging Identities and Patters of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (Co-edited with Joanna Rummens and Polo Diaz, Canadian Scholars Press, 1991) and The Narrative of Liberation: Perspectives on Afro-Caribbean Literature, Popular Culture and Politics (Cornell University Press, 1989).
Teaching
Professor Taylor teaches courses on Postcolonial Thought and Caribbean Religion, Culture, and Literature. He finds that teaching energizes him and pushes him in new intellectual directions. “Often I find my research is influenced by the classroom experience. My students challenge me to ask new questions and to see things from new perspectives.” In addition to working with undergraduate students in Humanities, Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Religious Studies, Professor Taylor teaches and supervises students in the Graduate Programs in Humanities, Social and Political Thought and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Service
“One of the stimulating things about life at York University,” states Professor Taylor, “is the opportunity to serve students and colleagues in a range of different administrative capacities.” Chair of Humanities from 2006 to 2010, Professor Taylor’s roles in the university have included graduate program director, deputy director of a research centre, interdisciplinary program coordinator, academic advisor and organizer of study abroad programs. Like other York faculty, he is committed to a balance of university service, teaching and research, each one a learning experience, each one supporting the other.
Degrees
PhD, York UniversityMA, York University
BA, York University
