A Jamaican-born scholar based in Canada has been awarded a prestigious academic honor from Oxford University Press for a forthcoming book examining the political experiences and influence of Black women in Jamaica.
Lahoma Thomas, a professor in the Department of Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University, received the 2025 Early Career Researcher First Book Prize, becoming the only Canadian recipient of the inaugural award.
The prize recognizes scholars working on their first academic book within six years of completing a PhD or beginning their first academic appointment.
Exploring Political Life Beyond Formal Institutions
Thomas’s upcoming book, Black Women and the Politics of Respect in Jamaica: “Seeing from Da Yaad,” is expected to be published in 2027. The work explores how women living in Kingston’s inner-city communities navigate political authority, state power and questions of dignity.
“It reflects confidence in the questions the book brings to the study of political life,” Thomas said. “It affirms the importance of understanding Black political life not only through formal institutions, but through everyday relationships and practices that often go unseen.”
Her research focuses on the ways Black women shape political life through social networks, community leadership and daily interactions that are often overlooked in traditional political analysis.
Roots in Caribbean Experience
Thomas grew up in Kingston, Jamaica and says her scholarship is deeply connected to the Caribbean region and its political realities.
According to Toronto Metropolitan University’s news outlet Toronto Met Today, Thomas views the Caribbean as an important site of political thought and analysis, particularly when examining the lived experiences of marginalized communities.
Revisiting a Defining Political Moment
The book also examines the role of women during the 2010 protests in Kingston, when thousands dressed in white demonstrated against the extradition of alleged drug trafficker Christopher “Dudus” Coke to the United States.
The protests occurred in the Tivoli Gardens community and became a defining moment in Jamaica’s modern political history.
Thomas argues that women’s support for influential community figures in such areas cannot be explained solely by coercion or financial incentives. Instead, she suggests their actions are often tied to ideas of legitimacy, respect and social dignity.
“This project is a refusal of narratives that reduce Black communities to sites of crime,” Thomas said. “It listens to how people themselves understand political life.”
From Social Work to Scholarship
Before entering academia, Thomas worked as a social worker supporting survivors of sexual violence. That experience continues to shape her research interests, which center on how women navigate violence, instability and power structures while creating pathways for survival and dignity.
Her award-winning book is expected to contribute to broader academic conversations about Black political life, gender and community leadership in the Caribbean and beyond.
The publication of Black Women and the Politics of Respect in Jamaica is anticipated in 2027.
