Todné Thomas

Sociocultural Anthropology

Regional Focus: Jamaica, Jamaican Diaspora, the Caribbean, the U.S. South, and African Diaspora

Topical Interests: Transnational migration, kinship, globalization, social mobility, urban anthropology, race and ethnicity, history of anthropology

In 2004 I received my BA in anthropology and Africana Studies from Cornell University. During my undergraduate career I cultivated my interests in the Caribbean, migration, and urban anthropology through research on West Indian migrant child care businesses in Brooklyn, New York and adolescent tobacco consumption in Cape Town, South Africa as well as coursework completed at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica.

I am currently interested in looking at how Jamaican transnational kinship informs the process of social mobility for Jamaican migrants living in Atlanta, Georgia. More generally, I am interested in the intersections of kinship with postmodernity and the ethnic diversification of the globalizing U.S. South.

MA Paper (2006): Extending Kinship Links and the Analytical Lens: An Exploration of Transnational Collateral Kinship Among Jamaican Migrants in Atlanta, Georgia