Tonika Sealy-Thompson (born 1977?) is an academic, curator and arts activist from

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. She was appointed

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in 2019, and was Barbados' youngest female ambassador at the time.

Biography

Sealy-Thompson graduated from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

with a degree in International Trade Policy and Diplomacy. She was also awarded an MA from

Hult International Business School Hult International Business School (also known as Hult Business School or Hult) is a private business school with campuses in Cambridge, London, San Francisco, Dubai, New York City, and Shanghai. Hult is named for the school's benefactor Bertil ...

, Shanghai Campus, in International Business Administration. She is fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Chinese. Prior to her appointment she was studying for a PhD at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where her research explored how the performing arts link to politics in three locations: Barbados, the Bay Area and Brazil. In order to take up the appointment, Sealy-Thompson put her research on hold. During her time at Berkeley she hosted anti-racism workshops in addition to her research.

Ambassadorial career

On 8 March 2019, Sealy-Thompson was accepted by President Bolsonaro as Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil. At the time of her appointment, she was Barbados' youngest woman ambassador at the age of 42. Strengthening diplomatic links between Barbados and countries in South America, including Brazil, is a key element of her work and in 2019 worked with colleagues from Barbados and Argentina to extend their mutual understanding. In 2019, she visited Bahia state to explore connections between it and Barbados, particularly in relation to the shared heritage of the Black population in both places. Sealy-Thompson was also instrumental in establishing a festival of Caribbean culture in Porto Velho, where there a Barbadian community. In 2020, she paid an official visit to

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Recife metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state capi ...

, along with the ambassadors of Romania and Ireland.

Career in the arts

Sealy-Thompson's first career in the arts, involved working as an international festival director in Cape Verde, Brussels and Barbados. She founded the Fish & Dragon Festival, held in Barbados. She is interested in how creative work can help people recover from trauma. She co-founded, with Stefano Harney, the arts project Ground Provisions. This project explores black metaphysics and the politics of reading.

Awards

1997 - Tom Adams Prize for outstanding work in the humanities.

References

External links

The Poetry Center and the SFSU Labor Archives and Research Center co-presen
"Working with Others: Convivial Research (Revisited)"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sealy-Thompson, Tonika 1977 births Living people Barbadian women ambassadors Barbadian academics Ambassadors of Barbados to Brazil University of California, Berkeley alumni Carleton College alumni