Welcome to the site of a woman whose feminist intersection is decidedly decolonial. I am Isis Semaj-Hall, a dub scholar with a PhD in Caribbean literature. I offer you cultural analysis and provocative thinking. I was born in Jamaica and grew up between the cool green, mountainous community of Stony Hill in St. Andrew, Jamaica and the vibrant, Caribbean diaspora that is the Bronx, New York. Caribbeing has defined my immediate past and has sounded my African future. I create with the consideration that we in the Caribbean thrive in spite of a history of Euro/American dominant models of behavioral discourse and hegemonic thinking. I curate word and sound with the goal of uplifting past, present, and future generations not only to know more, but to know better.
RIDDIM BECAUSE… Click here to read my blog “write pon di riddim”. The dancehall enthusiast will recognize my reference to the phrase “ride pon di riddim.” As a musical genre that is, amongst other descriptors, invested in contemporality, the rhythm/ riddim becomes the vehicle for an artist/ deejay to maintain relevance and dominance in an ever-expanding marketplace. This is to say that if the dancehall patrons/ massive are taken by a riddim, it is in an artist’s best interest to record lyrics on to that riddim with all immediacy, so that he too becomes a part of the conversation, so to speak. The male dominated field of Jamaican dancehall has heard deejays discuss how they “ride di riddim,” “hitch up pon di riddim,” and even how they have chosen to “siddung pon di riddim” for decades. For this blog I transform the deejay’s microphone into the analyst’s pen to “write pon di riddim.”
SOUND PRAXIS… With the launch of my For Posterity podcast in 2020, I have not only added a unique contribution to what is an ever-growing digital archive of Caribbean voices, but I started to sink deeper into sound and audio production. I have leaned into my childhood experiences of mixing and fading on the controls of my father’s sound system, Judgement. Listen to some selections I played for the Equiknoxx hour on NTS Radio.
MORE ABOUT… I am a proud Penn Quaker (B.A.) and Maryland Terrapin (M.A. & Ph.D.). Both my research and my creative practice center identity, the digital, sound studies, and gender. I’m digital, but one can find me physically in Kingston, Jamaica where I specialize in Caribbean literature and popular culture as a lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. I have published writing in Caribbean Quarterly, Cultural Dynamics, and Jamaica Journal. As co-founder of PREE: Caribbean Writing, I’d encourage you to check out the latest Caribbean short fiction, poetry, and non-fic works.
All material on this site is a part of my research, is my intellectual property, and may not be reproduced without my permission. These ideas do not represent those of any institutions or organizations to which I belong.
Browse images from various events and symposiums that keep me writing the riddim.
Below is a short-list of some of my recent and upcoming events.
- July 2019 – “Women in Music: The Jamaica Case,” Reggae Sumfest Symposium, UWI, Mona, Jamaica.
- June 2019 – 11th Annual Maroon Conference, Charlestown, Portland, Jamaica.
- June 2019 – International Autobiography Association invited to present for emerging scholars.
- April 2019 – Kingston Creative, Panelist on Jamaican writing, Kingston, Jamaica.
- March 2019 – International Women’s Day invited to deliver Keynote Lecture, Mary Seacole Hall, UWI, Mona, Jamaica.
- February 2019 – “Goodas fi Dem” reggae month panel on women in dancehall, Institute of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica.
- December 2018 – Caribbean Digital Conference, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
- October 2018 – West Indian Literature Conference, Miami, Florida, USA.
- June 2018 – Calabash International Literary Festival, Treasure Beach, Jamaica.
- April 2018 – Pop Music Conference, Museum of Popular Culture, Seattle, USA.
- April 2018 – “From Black Power to Black Panther to Afro-Furturism: A Critical Review of the Movie”, UWI, Mona, Jamaica.
- March 2018 – “Future Sounds: Talking Reggae with Lila Ike, Koffee, Gussie Clarke, and Kevy the Artist”, Reggae Talks, UWI, Mona, Jamaica.
- March 2018 – “So Many Islands”, Book Launch, Bookophilia, Kingston, Jamaica.
- November 2017- Imagine Kingston Conference, UWI, Mona, Jamaica.
- October 2017- West Indian Literature Conference, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
- June 2017 – The 9th Annual International Maroon Conference, Charles Town, Jamaica.
- February 2017- Global Reggae Conference: Dancehall, Music and the City, UWI, Mona, Jamaica
- January 2017- Beyond Homophobia: Centring LGBT Experiences in the Caribbean, UWI, Mona, Jamaica
- October 2016- West Indian Literature Conference, Montego Bay, Jamaica
- June 2016- The 8th Annual International Maroon Conference, Charles Town, Jamaica
- June 2016- Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) annual conference, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- March 2016- Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) annual conference, Connecticut, USA
"write pon di riddim" 