Being there, walking the streets where they walked, helped me to be more present and grounded in my studies.
Maya Sudarkasa, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in history, is examining early 20th-century Pan-Africanism from a transnational perspective, in the contexts of the United States, France and the Franco-Caribbean, and South Africa. She is focused on exploring the lives and activities of key Black women figures whose work has been largely eclipsed in the historical record.
With support from the Boyce Family Caribbean Studies Grant, Maya spent two weeks in Martinique researching sisters Jeanne and Paulette Nardal, who were among the intellectual architects of the cultural, political, and literary Négritude movement. In tandem with the American “New Negro” Movement, or the Harlem Renaissance, Négritude sought to redefine and affirm Black global identity, to dispel and challenge white supremacy and colonialism, and to connect thinkers and creatives of African descent from near and far. Supported by the Boyce grant, Maya conducted archival research at the Archives Territoriales de Martinique, also known as the Departmental Archives of Martinique, in Fort-de-France. Her visit also coincided with the CPA conference, so she took the opportunity to network with other Caribbean scholars and colleagues from the University of Michigan.
With such a far-reaching topic and dispersed archives, Maya’s dissertation research is taking her around the world, as she attempts to follow along the Pan-African circuits of this vibrant turn-of-the-century moment—from various regions within the United States, to Europe, the Caribbean, and finally, back home to South Africa, where she grew up. It is an expensive undertaking, so it might have been understandable for her to choose to put off the trip to the small island of Martinique, if not for the Boyce grant.
“Being in Martinique allowed me to connect with the history I study in a way that no digital archive could replicate,” she said. “I went to Martinique to view the Nardal sisters’ personal and professional papers, but also to visit sites where they lived and worked, and to learn more about the island’s past and how it shaped them.”
The Boyce grant alleviated logistical stress by funding ample time in Fort-de-France to coordinate with archivists for access to the treasured Nardal documents, and then to fully immerse herself in social activities, museum visits, and outdoor adventures during her stay. The trip reinforced the importance of field research in understanding historical movements that transcended borders and shaped global thought.
“Now, I am interested in visiting other places in the Caribbean to get a sense of each of their particularities. I want to see how those perspectives might factor into my grasp of the Diaspora more broadly,” she added, noting that this was her first trip to the Caribbean.
“Contact with people really helps. It brings your project to life. The living memory is with the Martinicans themselves,” she noted. “These women belonged to broader communities whose imprints are with us today. Some of the institutions they created are still in operation. Being there, walking the streets where they walked, helped me to be more present and grounded in my studies.”
Read about Paul and Simone Boyce's personal inspiration for establishing the Boyce Family Caribbean Studies Grant.
Read "Voices from the Caribbean," and learn about all three 2025 Boyce Family Caribbean Studies Grant recipients, Simon Rakei, Ben Kalosa-Kenyon, and Maya Sudarkasa.
Life-changing Education in LSA
In the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, life-changing education in the liberal arts and sciences extends beyond the classroom, and research and discovery happen further afield. Culturally immersive international internship and field research opportunities—like those that the Boyce Caribbean Studies Grant supports—expand students’ perspectives and help them contextualize global affairs, including political, educational, societal, and economic issues.
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