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
The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions. Co-editor with Frederick I. Case. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2013.
Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. Ed. Patrick Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
Forging Identities and Patterns of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Co-editor with Joanna Rummens and Polo Diaz. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 1991.
The Narrative of Liberation: Perspectives on Afro-Caribbean Literature, Popular Culture, and Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989
Escape from the Colonial Asylum (book chapter). Refereed Article reprinted in Life Writing Outside the Lines Gender and Genre in the Americas. Ed. Eva C. Karpinski and Ricia A. Chansky. New York: Routledge: 2020.
From Planter’s Daughter to Imperial Soldier and Servant in Britain’s War. In Working Memory: Women and Work in World War II. Ed. Marlene Kadar and Jeanne Perreault. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015.
'Sheba's Song: The Bible, the Kebra Nagast and the Rastafari.' Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. Ed.Patrick Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
'Dancing the Nation: An Introduction.' Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. Ed. Patrick Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
'Postcolonial Encounters: Paule Marshall's ‘Widow's Praisesong’ and George Lamming's ‘Daughter's Adventure’.' 'And the Birds Began to Sing': Religion and Literature in Post-Colonial Cultures. Ed. Jamie Scott. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996.
'Narrative, Pluralism and Decolonization: Recent Caribbean Literature.' Refereed article anthologized in Order and Partialities: Theory, Pedagogy and the Postcolonial. Ed. Kostas Myrsiades and Jerry McGuire. Binghamton, NY: SUNY University Press, 1995.
'Rereading Fanon, Rewriting Caribbean History.' Postcolonial Discourse and Changing Cultural Contexts: Theory and Criticism. Eds. Gita Rajan and Radhika Mohanram. Westport: Greenwood, 1995.
‘Myth and Reality in Caribbean Narrative: Derek Walcott's Pantomime.’ Refereed article anthologized in Critical Perspectives on Derek Walcott. Ed. Robert Hamner. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1993.
‘DuBois, Garvey, Nkrumah, and Fanon on Development.’ African Continuities. Eds. Simeon Chilungu and Sada Niang. Toronto: Terebi Publications, 1989.
‘Ethnicity and Social Change in Trinidadian Literature.’ Trinidad Ethnicity. Ed. Kevin Yelvington. London: Macmillan 1993 and Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
Escape from the Colonial Asylum. Lives Outside the Lines: Gender and Genre. Special Issue of a/b: Autobiography Studies, 33, No. 3 (2018), pp. 557-568.
‘Anthropology and Theology in Pursuit of Justice.’ Special Haitian Issue. Callaloo, 15, No. 3 (1992), pp. 811-23.
‘Rastafari, the Other and Exodus Politics: EATUP.’ Journal of Religious Studies, 17, Nos. 1-2 (1991), pp. 95-107.
‘Deconstruction and Revolution: Merle Collins' Angel.’ The CLR James Journal, 2, No. 1 (1991), pp. 12-17.
‘Perspectives on History in Rastafari Thought.’ Studies in Religion, 19, No. 2 (1990), pp. 191-205.
‘Rasta and Resistance.’ Borderlines, No. 15 (1989), pp. 43-45. (review article)
‘Hegel, Afro-Caribbean Religion, and the Struggle for Freedom.’ Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 13, No. 26 (1988), pp. 19-32.
‘Narrative as a Socially Liberating Act.’ Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory, VI, Nos. 1-2 (1982), pp. 168-75. (review article)
‘Frantz Fanon and Mythology.’ Canadian Journal of African Studies, 16, No. 2 (1982), pp. 385-88. (review article)
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
All Publications
Escape from the Colonial Asylum (book chapter). Refereed Article reprinted in Life Writing Outside the Lines Gender and Genre in the Americas. Ed. Eva C. Karpinski and Ricia A. Chansky. New York: Routledge: 2020.
From Planter’s Daughter to Imperial Soldier and Servant in Britain’s War. In Working Memory: Women and Work in World War II. Ed. Marlene Kadar and Jeanne Perreault. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015.
'Sheba's Song: The Bible, the Kebra Nagast and the Rastafari.' Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. Ed.Patrick Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
'Dancing the Nation: An Introduction.' Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. Ed. Patrick Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
'Postcolonial Encounters: Paule Marshall's ‘Widow's Praisesong’ and George Lamming's ‘Daughter's Adventure’.' 'And the Birds Began to Sing': Religion and Literature in Post-Colonial Cultures. Ed. Jamie Scott. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996.
'Narrative, Pluralism and Decolonization: Recent Caribbean Literature.' Refereed article anthologized in Order and Partialities: Theory, Pedagogy and the Postcolonial. Ed. Kostas Myrsiades and Jerry McGuire. Binghamton, NY: SUNY University Press, 1995.
'Rereading Fanon, Rewriting Caribbean History.' Postcolonial Discourse and Changing Cultural Contexts: Theory and Criticism. Eds. Gita Rajan and Radhika Mohanram. Westport: Greenwood, 1995.
‘Myth and Reality in Caribbean Narrative: Derek Walcott's Pantomime.’ Refereed article anthologized in Critical Perspectives on Derek Walcott. Ed. Robert Hamner. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1993.
‘DuBois, Garvey, Nkrumah, and Fanon on Development.’ African Continuities. Eds. Simeon Chilungu and Sada Niang. Toronto: Terebi Publications, 1989.
‘Ethnicity and Social Change in Trinidadian Literature.’ Trinidad Ethnicity. Ed. Kevin Yelvington. London: Macmillan 1993 and Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions. Co-editor with Frederick I. Case. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2013.
Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean. Ed. Patrick Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
Forging Identities and Patterns of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Co-editor with Joanna Rummens and Polo Diaz. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 1991.
The Narrative of Liberation: Perspectives on Afro-Caribbean Literature, Popular Culture, and Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989
Escape from the Colonial Asylum. Lives Outside the Lines: Gender and Genre. Special Issue of a/b: Autobiography Studies, 33, No. 3 (2018), pp. 557-568.
‘Anthropology and Theology in Pursuit of Justice.’ Special Haitian Issue. Callaloo, 15, No. 3 (1992), pp. 811-23.
‘Rastafari, the Other and Exodus Politics: EATUP.’ Journal of Religious Studies, 17, Nos. 1-2 (1991), pp. 95-107.
‘Deconstruction and Revolution: Merle Collins' Angel.’ The CLR James Journal, 2, No. 1 (1991), pp. 12-17.
‘Perspectives on History in Rastafari Thought.’ Studies in Religion, 19, No. 2 (1990), pp. 191-205.
‘Rasta and Resistance.’ Borderlines, No. 15 (1989), pp. 43-45. (review article)
‘Hegel, Afro-Caribbean Religion, and the Struggle for Freedom.’ Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 13, No. 26 (1988), pp. 19-32.
‘Narrative as a Socially Liberating Act.’ Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory, VI, Nos. 1-2 (1982), pp. 168-75. (review article)
‘Frantz Fanon and Mythology.’ Canadian Journal of African Studies, 16, No. 2 (1982), pp. 385-88. (review article)
