“Sargassum in the Black Atlantic” Selected as 2019 Atlantic Studies Early Career Essay Award

Posted November 26, 2019:

My article “Sargassum in the Black Atlantic: Entanglement and the abyss in Bearden, Walcott, and Philip” has been awarded the 2019 Atlantic Studies Early Career Essay Award. This award is for graduate students or persons who have received their PhD less than three years prior to submission. Articles are judged on academic merit by a team of judges chosen from among the journal’s Editorial Board. Special preference is given to articles which emphasize Global Currents in relation to the Atlantic World.

The judges noted the following:

The judges have unanimously selected Dr. Aaron Pinnix’s essay as an outstanding piece of research by a young scholar. They note that the article offers a new concept for the analysis of life in the Black Atlantic, different from the terrestrial and well-known rhizome. The transformation from the terrestrial to the oceanic in Glissant is an excellent basis for the discussion of materials, which include Columbus’ Logbook, paintings by Romare Bearden, and poems by Derek Walcott and M. NourbeSe Philip. This is a very rich and original manuscript which deserves the prize.

Winning this award also means that the article is made open access, and available for all. You can read it online, or download it as a pdf.