Feminist to Know: Sylvia Wynter

Sylvia Wynter is a Black feminist writer, theorist, playwright, and professor whose work focuses on environmentalism, colonialism, and social power from a multi-disciplinary and intersectional vantage. Although she was born in Cuba, Wynter was raised in Jamaica by Jamaican parents. She later moved to the UK for her college and then relocated to the US for career positions in academia.

In 2010, Wynter was awarded the Order of Jamaica, a recognition that is likened to British knighthood and is bestowed by the Jamaican honours system. She currently teaches at Stanford University in California.

Wynter’s arts and academic contributions destabilize the hierarchy of anthropocentrism which she calls the “overrepresentation of Man.” In her critique is also an awareness of hierarchies within humanity, with a particular focus on race and colonialism.

Fundamental to all of her work are questions that get at being, belonging, mutuality, and power, especially in relation to environmental place. Engaging the lenses of multiple disciplines and her own lived experiences, Wynter’s critical work has pushed the bounds of both feminist and environmental movements and provoked academia to rethink what it means to be human.