Faculty Profile: Percy Hintzen


This is the fourth article in a series highlighting some of the 124 faculty members who were hired during the 2011-2012 academic year

When Percy Hintzen joined the faculty at FIU, he did so with more than just a passion for teaching. He also brought his love for the Caribbean.

Committed to building a partnership between FIU and the University of the West Indies, Hintzen is ready to expand on a storied career of exploring the network of islands, islets, reefs and cays that make up the Caribbean.

“I believe the Caribbean was the first, modern geopolitical space — the movement of people, resources, goods, etc. for the development of Europe and the new, modern industrial world,” Hintzen said.  “The Caribbean is much more important than people realize.”

Formerly the chairman of the Department of African American Studies at U.C. Berkeley, Hintzen also served as the director of the university’s Peace & Conflict Studies Program and director of the Center for African Studies. He said he joined the faculty at FIU because of its focus on global issues, especially when it relates to Latin America and the Caribbean. He said a formal relationship between FIU and the University of the West Indies is a natural fit because he believes the two share what he calls mutual possibilities.

“I’m attempting to look at synergies between the two to see how we can collaborate in research, student exchange, etc.,” Hintzen said.

As part of the faculty in FIU’s Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies, Hintzen said he plans to further study the African diaspora and its role in Latin America and the United States. He also is serving as an affiliate faculty member and steering committee member of FIU’s African and African Diaspora Studies Program.

Hintzen received his Ph.D. in comparative political sociology from Yale University, a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Yale, a Master of Arts in international urbanization and public policy from Clark University in Massachusetts and a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Guyana. A native of Guyana, Hintzen’s research, scholarship, and scholarly practice is trans-disciplinary, taking into account ways in which culture and institutions permeate, define, produce and fashion every aspect of reality. Author of many books, articles and chapters on the political economy of the Caribbean and Africa, West Indian immigration and issues of race and ethnicity.

Other faculty members profiled in this series:

Tawia Ansah

David A. Ralston

Margaret Scisney-Matlock