A Jamaican-born academic based in Canada has earned international recognition after receiving a prestigious award from Oxford University Press for her forthcoming scholarly work examining the political experiences of Black women in Jamaica.
According to reporting from Toronto Met Today, the news platform of Toronto Metropolitan University, Professor Lahoma Thomas of the university’s Department of Criminology has been awarded the 2025 Early Career Researcher First Book Prize. The publication also noted that Thomas is the only Canadian recipient of the inaugural award.
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The prize is designed to recognise scholars who are developing their first academic book within six years of completing a PhD or securing their first academic appointment.
Upcoming Research Publication
Thomas’s forthcoming book, Black Women and the Politics of Respect in Jamaica: Seeing from Da Yaad, is scheduled for publication in 2027. The study explores how women in inner-city communities in Kingston negotiate issues of political authority, state power and social dignity.
Commenting on the recognition, Thomas said the award reinforces the value of the questions raised in her research.
“It reflects confidence in the questions the book brings to the study of political life,” she 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.”
Research Rooted in Caribbean Experience
According to Toronto Met Today, Thomas’s research is closely connected to her Caribbean background and her view of the region as an important site for political thought and analysis.
Her work also examines the 2010 Tivoli Gardens protests, when thousands of women dressed in white protested the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke to the United States.
Thomas argues that support for certain community leaders in Jamaica’s garrison communities cannot be explained solely through coercion or financial incentives. Instead, she suggests that issues of dignity, legitimacy and respect often shape the relationships between residents and local power structures.
“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.”
Professional Background
Prior to entering academia, Thomas worked as a social worker assisting survivors of sexual violence. Her professional experiences have influenced her research focus on how women confront violence and uncertainty while building pathways toward survival and dignity.
Her book is expected to be published by Oxford University Press in 2027.
