People Details

Biography

My scholarship reflects and informs emerging directions in African Diaspora Studies, with a focus on Caribbean and African-American history. I am a twentieth century historian of social justice movements, relational histories of racialization and colonialism, Black Internationalism, and the politics of solidarity.

My current book project, Seeds of Solidarity: African-Indian Relations and the 1935 Labor Rebellions in British Guiana, explores the historical possibility of a movement forged by those at the edges of empire in the midst of economic, political, and environmental crises. My intervention is three-pronged: to center the 1930s and working people in the development of modern politics in the Caribbean; to expand the framework of “overlapping diasporas;” and, by examining the seeds of solidarity, to counter generations of hegemonic narratives that focus exclusively on racial discord. 

In 2015, I earned my Ph.D. in Latin American and Caribbean History and African Diaspora Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center.  Among my primary commitments are: fostering global consciousness among students; developing a pipeline of students of color to enter academia; and compelling higher education to reflect the needs and aspirations of students and communities. For ten years, I recruited underrepresented undergraduates to pursue graduate studies through my work as a mentor and subsequent Assistant Director of the Schomburg-Mellon Humanities Summer Institute at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.  

Beyond academia, I have extensive experience in community organizing and documentary film. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and my family is from Guyana, South America.

Publications

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Burrowes, Nicole. “Building the World We Want to See: Sista II Sista and the Struggle Against State and Interpersonal Violence.” Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society 20, no. 4 (October-December 2018): 375-398.
• Burrowes, Nicole, Laura Helton, La TaSha Levy, and Deborah McDowell. “Freedom Summer and its Legacies in the Classroom.” The Southern Quarterly 52, no. 4 (2014): 155-172.

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Lee, Tamara and Nicole Burrowes. “Critical Lenses in the Global South: Two Scholars in Conversation.” In A Racial Reckoning in Industrial Relations: Storytelling as Revolution from Within, edited by Tamara L. Lee, SheriDavis-Faulkner, Naomi R. Williams and Maite Tapia, 131-147.Ithaca:  Labor and Employment Relations Association, Cornell University Press, 2022.
• Burrowes, Nicole, and La TaSha Levy. “Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Teaching the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Project.” In Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, edited by Hasan Jeffries, 144-158. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019.

BOOK REVIEWS

• Burrowes, Nicole. Review of Post-Colonial Trajectories in the Caribbean: The Three Guianas, edited by R. Hoefte, M.L. Bishop, and P. Clegg. Small States and Territories Journal 1, no.1 (May 2018): 135-6.
• Burrowes, Nicole. “Responding to King Sugar's Painful Rule: Clive Thomas and the Vision for an Economically Independent Caribbean.” Review of Plantations, Peasants and State, by Clive Y. Thomas. C.L.R. James Journal 22, no. ½ (Fall 2016): 287-296.

PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

• Burrowes, Nicole. “ABWH Series Legends in the Field: Interview with Dr. Deborah Gray White.” YouTube, Association of Black Women Historians channel, June 25, 2022. Video, 01:10:11. https://youtu.be/opOPtwvN3A8.
• “Young, Gifted and Black: Teaching Freedom Summer to K-5 Students – with Nicole Burrowes, La TaSha Levy, and Liz Kleinrock.” Produced by Teaching Tolerance/Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching Hard History, January 26, 2021. Podcast, 01:17:00. https://www.learningforjustice.org/podcasts/teaching-hard-history/civil-rights-movement/young-gifted-and-black-teaching-freedom-summer-to-k-5-students.
• Burrowes, Nicole. Interview with Alissa Trotz. “The Legacy of Andaiye: A Conversation with Alissa Trotz and Nicole Burrowes.” August 7, 2020, #CiteBlackWomen, produced by Christen Smith, podcast, 49:25. https://soundcloud.com/user-211649525/the-legacy-of-andaiye-trotz-and-burrowes
• Burrowes, Nicole. “Andaiye: Caribbean Radicalism and a Black Woman’s Critical Imprint.” Association of Black Women Historians Blog, October 2, 2019. http://abwh.org/2019/10/02/andaiye-caribbean-radicalism-and-a-black-womans-critical-imprint/
• Burrowes, Nicole. “Sugar Workers: A Sustaining Life Force.” Stabroek News (National newspaper in Guyana), March 26, 2018. In the Diaspora Column, https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/03/26/features/in-the-diaspora/sugar-workers-a-sustaining-life-force/
• Burrowes, Nicole. “Remembering, Learning and Loving What Pan-African Activist Walter Rodney Did for Black People.” Atlanta Black Star, October 7, 2017. Feature, https://atlantablackstar.com/2017/10/07/remembering-walter-rodney/

Selected Awards and Fellowships

• Distinguished Lecturer, Organization of American Historians, September 2021 – August 2024
• American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, September 2020 – August 2021
• Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty, Woodrow Wilson National Foundation, June – December 2020
• Mellon Post-Custodial Archives Engagement Mini-Grant, The University of Texas at Austin, March 2019
• George A. Smathers Libraries Special and Area Studies Collections Travel Grant, University of Florida, July 2018
• Summer Research Fellowship, John L. Warfield Center, The University of Texas at Austin, June 2018
• Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of History, Brown University, July 2015 – June 2017
• Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, University of Virginia, August 2013 – July 2015
• Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, African and African Diaspora Studies Department, The University of Texas at Austin, September 2011 – May 2012
• Doctoral Student Research Grant, CUNY Graduate Center, January 2011
• Travel Award, CUNY Office of Educational Opportunity & Diversity, June 2008
• Project Involve Awardee – Documentary Section, Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), May 2004
• Social Justice Fellow, Open Society Foundations, September 2002
• Named by the New York Daily News: “21 New Yorkers to Watch in the 21^st Century,” January 2000