Devon Banfield
Program Stream: Women and Gender Studies
Keywords: Lesbian,Caribbean, Feminism, Queer
Title of MRE or Thesis: Gyal Dem Pon Di Frontline: How Women in Jamaica are Shaping the Country’s Queer Liberation Movement
Bio: Dev Banfield is a lesbian writer, Caribbean-European settler, Lordean feminist, journalist, and researcher. As a graduate student in the Women and Gender Studies program, her research focuses on women’s roles in Jamaica’s queer rights movement, blending Black feminist theory, Caribbean studies, and queer liberation politics. Since 2018, she has worked as a journalist in markets across Canada, and over the past 2&½ years has extensively covered Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ communities, documenting stories of resistance, joy, and community through her queer culture column, Queer & Now, published in Now Toronto. She is an avid reader, with creative outlets including poetry, photography, and critical cultural commentary, rooted in the intersections of women’s health, lesbian identity, and her experiences as a mixed-race woman.