Todné Thomas

Sociocultural Anthropology

Regional Focus: Caribbean diaspora in the U.S. South

Topical Interests: Caribbean transnationalism, anthropology of the U.S. South, extended family kinship and relatedness, anthropology of Christianity, and urban anthropology

In 2004 I received my B.A. in anthropology and Africana Studies from Cornell University. During my undergraduate career I cultivated my ongoing interest in Caribbean migration and family studies through qualitative research on West Indian migrant child care businesses in Brooklyn, New York as well as coursework completed at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica.

For my dissertation research, I have applied my specialization in Anglo-Caribbean kinship to analyze the church relationships of a West Indian evangelical denomination. My ethnographic project examines the intersections of religion and kinship in the everyday lives of West Indian Brethren church members in Atlanta, Georgia. In particular I am investigating the relational features of West Indian "church families" and examining how cultural and theological understandings of kinship inform the constitution of West Indian church networks. In crafting a project that seeks to think across the analytical domains of religion and kinship, I also attend to the fluidity of sacred and secular relatedness as expressed in the personal migration, life crisis, and spiritual narratives of West Indian churchgoers. Finally, my examination of the multi-ethnic regional network of Brethren "sister" churches allows me to view how church kinship responds to national, ethnic, racial, and gender differences.

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