Alissa Trotz

Alissa Trotz is a Professor of Caribbean Studies at New College and Director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI) at the University of Toronto. She holds cross-appointments in Caribbean Studies and is affiliate faculty at the Dame Nita Barrow Institute of Gender and Development Studies, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. She is actively involved in transnational feminist scholarship and serves on the O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination, and Global Health.

Her research is grounded in feminist political economy and Caribbean feminist traditions, with a focus on social reproduction, transnational migration, diaspora, social movements, and the black radical tradition. She explores how gendered, racialized, and colonial violences manifest in everyday life and how communities resist through care, organizing, and insurgent knowledge.

Her recent publications (2023–2025) center on diaspora, extractivism, Andaiye’s radical praxis, and anti-violence activism in Guyana. These works reflect a consistent engagement with grassroots movements, particularly through her collaboration with Red Thread Women’s Organization. Her scholarship bridges academic and public spheres, notably through her weekly column In the Diaspora in Stabroek News.

• Named one of 100 Accomplished Black Women in Canada (2018)
• University of Toronto Faculty Association Academic Citizenship Award (2016)
• Appointed to President’s Teaching Academy (2013)
• Outstanding Teaching Award, Faculty of Arts & Science (2010)
• Undergraduate Teaching Award (2007)
• Distinguished contribution to graduate teaching (OISE)

Trotz mentors graduate students and teaches advanced feminist theory. She has co-organized academic salons and is deeply committed to pedagogical innovation and academic citizenship. Her current research examines diaspora, indigeneity, and extractivism in colonial Guyana, tracking survival strategies and creative resistance within neoliberal insecurity. She is a key figure in Caribbean feminist thought and transnational solidarity networks.