KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a significant academic achievement, Professor Lahoma Thomas, a Jamaican-born criminology scholar at Toronto Metropolitan University, has been honored with the prestigious 2025 Early Career Researcher First Book Prize by Oxford University Press. This inaugural award recognizes exceptional scholars developing their first academic manuscript within six years of completing their doctorate or initial academic appointment.
Professor Thomas stands as the sole Canadian recipient of this distinguished international prize, which endorses her forthcoming work titled “Black Women and the Politics of Respect in Jamaica: ‘Seeing from Da Yaad.’” Scheduled for publication in 2027, the book presents a pioneering examination of how Black women in Kingston’s inner-city neighborhoods negotiate political authority, state power, and personal dignity within their communities.
The research breaks new ground by challenging conventional narratives that reduce Black communities to mere sites of criminal activity. Instead, Professor Thomas illuminates the complex political consciousness that emerges from everyday relationships and practices often overlooked by traditional political science. Her work particularly focuses on women’s support for community leaders in Jamaica’s garrison communities, arguing that such allegiance cannot be adequately explained through simplistic frameworks of coercion or financial incentive, but must be understood through deeper questions of legitimacy and respect.
Notably, the study analyzes the significant 2010 protest in Kingston where thousands of women dressed in white demonstrated against the extradition of former Tivoli Gardens leader Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke to the United States. This event serves as a critical case study in understanding how women navigate violence and uncertainty while simultaneously creating possibilities for survival and dignity.
Professor Thomas brings unique perspective to her research, drawing from her Caribbean heritage and her previous professional experience as a social worker supporting survivors of sexual violence. She describes the Oxford University Press award as both validation of her methodological approach and affirmation of the importance of understanding Black political life beyond formal institutions.
The forthcoming publication promises to make substantial contributions to multiple fields including Caribbean studies, political science, gender studies, and criminology by centering the experiences and perspectives of Black women in conversations about political authority and community resilience.