Caryl Phillips opens Lehigh’s Africana Lecture series

With teaching experience at universities in Ghana, Sweden, Singapore, Barbados, India and the United States, Caryl Phillips has shared his knowledge of literature around the world. 

Last week, he brought it to Lehigh.  

Phillips is a renowned Kittitian-British novelist and was the first featured speaker at Lehigh’s Africana Distinguished Lecture-Speaker Series which began on Thursday. The event featured a reading and discussion of his new book, “Another Man in the Street,” which delves into themes of grief, migration and identity. 

Phillips grew up in Leeds, England, and studied English literature at the University of Oxford. His work has earned him numerous awards, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. 

While he has taught at multiple institutions in several countries, Phillips is currently settled as an English professor at Yale University.

The lecture took place in Lehigh’s Business Innovation Building. The series invited students, faculty and community members to interact with Phillips by asking questions and sharing perspectives on his book. 

Simone A. James Alexander, an English professor and the director of Africana studies at Lehigh, launched the inaugural Africana Distinguished Lecture-Speaker Series last fall in an effort to integrate Africana studies on Lehigh’s campus. bn

In addition to this series, she’s teaching a class this semester called “Contemporary Black British Writers.” The course explores British writers like Phillips who have traveled around the world. 

“The class themes deal with migration, and as well as immigration, the whole notion of identity, identity formation issues in terms of citizenship and especially different folks of color who were experiencing a kind of second class citizenship,” Alexander said. 

Phillips read an excerpt from his book, specifically a section titled “The Boy Under the Bridge,” without revealing too much content to the audience. He focused his discussion on the fourth main character in the story, while also highlighting the roles of the three primary characters — Peter, Victor and Ruth. 

Phillips honed in on the fourth main character, Victor’s wife, throughout his discussion as he said no one had asked about her yet.

The three main characters include an Eastern European Holocaust survivor who comes to England after World War II, a young woman who falls out with her mother and travels from the north of England to London, and a man who immigrated from the Caribbean to England. Phillips said all three lives intersect. 

“That’s what I wanted to explore — the idea of not just how their lives intersect, but how, individually, they all feel a little unrooted, out of place,” Phillips said. 

Phillips’ parents immigrated to England from the Caribbean. He said he’d never read a story that shares what that experience entails. 

Driven by a desire to write, Phillips said he realized he had a story to tell that wasn’t fully represented in literature.

In his writing, Phillips said he’s deeply interested in the concept of “home.” He’s intrigued by the questions of where one belongs, where home is and how complicated it can be for many to navigate these questions.

“I would at least claim that this book is very much connected to trying to find a place in the world, trying to find some security, trying to find a new home, a new beginning,” Phillips said. 

Carlisa Defreitas, ‘28, attended the event because she said she’s interested in pursuing a minor in Africana studies. She said she also hoped to network and hear different perspectives from professionals in the field at the event. 

“I really related to the book, as in the immigrant mindset, the Black women mindset and then the whole thing about love in the mix, because I feel like I relate to all the little pieces,” Defreitas said. 

Defreitas said feeling seen by and relating to works like Phillips’ is why she wants to study this field and what she hopes to do with her work in the future. 

Alexander also highlighted the Africana Book Club as a way to integrate Africana studies in the Lehigh community. The club is a new initiative through which Africana studies and English faculty, along with students and anyone interested, will read novels by authors invited to the university. 

When Phillips was invited to campus, the Africana studies and English departments purchased copies for its faculty. The event also provided the opportunity to purchase signed copies of the book from Phillips after the discussion. 

Alexander hopes the Africana Distinguished Lecture-Speaker Series will serve as an effective way to collaborate with anyone and everyone on campus who is willing to grow the department and its mission.