Desire, with Angelique Nixon

What’s behind the reductive pursuit of “paradise” in travel to the Caribbean? How does tourism continue the legacy of colonialism? And how is this being resisted? We’re joined by Angelique Nixon, a scholar and activist at The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, whose book “Resisting Paradise” examined how tourism shapes Caribbean life and identity, including via deep-rooted notions of “paradise” grounded in colonialism and exploitation. Angelique describes how the Caribbean, a region of such diverse islands, has been constructed a site for the fulfilment of particular desires, while other forms of desire have been suppressed in mainstream narratives. Angelique joins us to discuss this, as well as her new project, “Submerged Freedom”.

Plus: Angelique reflects on writing as a “black sexual intellectual”, and describes how Franz Fanon led her to reflect on tourism as “the stagnation of decolonisation” – as reproducing and reinforcing existing racialised inequalities. Also, we celebrate thinkers including the sociologist Kamala Kempadoo, authors Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid and Erna Brodber. And we profile the radical Caribbean philosopher Sylvia Wynter, whose work challenged the assumptions of western liberal humanism and highlighted the importance of working on ourselves as part of decolonial work.

Guest: Angelique Nixon; Host: Rosie Hancock; Executive Producer: Alice Bloch; Sound Engineer: David Crackles; Music: Joe Gardner; Artwork: Erin Aniker

Find more about Uncommon Sense

Episode Resources

By Angelique Nixon

• Resisting Paradise (2015)
• On Being a Black Sexual Intellectual (2019)
• Angelique’s academic profile, including information on her latest project, “Submerged Freedom”
• CAISO – feminist non-profit civil society organisation committed to ensuring wholeness, justice and inclusion for Trinidad and Tobago’s LGBTQI+ communities

From the Sociological Review Foundation

• Uncommon Sense episodes on: Europeans, with Manuela Boatcă (2023) and Margins, with Rhoda Reddock (2024)
• Len Garrison: Archives and Self-Esteem – audio essay by Hannah Ishmael (2025)

Further resources

• “Island Futures” – Mimi Shiller
• “An Eye for the Tropics” – Krista Thompson
• “Sexing the Caribbean” – Kamala Kempadoo
• “Paradise and Plantation” – Ian Strachan
• “The Repeating Island” – Antonio Benítez-Rojo
• “The Wretched of the Earth” – Franz Fanon
• “After The Dance” – Edwidge Danticat
• “A Small Place” – Jamaica Kincaid
• Sylvia Wynter: Beyond Man – short introductory video by Al Jazeera

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