Hilbourne Watson

A Caribbean Studies Association member for 35 years, Professor Hilbourne Watson is Emeritus of International Relations at Bucknell University. Watson attended his first CSA conference in Castries, St. Lucia in 1976. He joined the organization officially in 1979 when it met in Martinique. Since then, he attended CSA every year until 2002 when it was held in the Bahamas. Missing a few more years, he returned to the conference in 2006 when it was held in Trinidad. Although Watson missed the next year’s conference in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, he has not missed one since then.

Watson was elected to the CSA Executive Council in 1988 and was re-elected each subsequent term through 1993. He served as vice president in 1992-93 (Jamaica), president in 1993-94 (Merida), and as immediate past president in 1994-95.

Graduating from Howard University with a graduate degree, Watson went on to teach in the Department of Political Science from 1973 to 1994. He served as chair of the department from 1986 to 1990. Watson was also acting chair of the Department of International Relations at Bucknell University from 2011 to 2012. For several years, he served as Examiner in International Relations for the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad.

Until his retirement in 2013, Watson taught the Modern World System (Foundation Seminar); Theories of International Relations; Seminar in International Relations: Global Restructuring; Race, Nation-State & International Relations; and International Relations, Caribbean. He specialized in areas within international political economy, international relations, and political theory.

Watson’s latest publications include an edited volume entitled Globalization, Sovereignty and Citizenship in the Caribbean, to be published this year by UWI Press; “Oliver Cromwell Cox’s understanding of capitalism and the problem of his materialist perspective.” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Vol. 39, Issue 3, 382-402, 2015 – http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08263663.2014.1013287; and “Grenada: Non-capitalist Path and the Derailment of a Social Democratic Revolution.” The Grenada Revolution: Reflections and Lessons, edited by Wendy C. Grenade. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi 2015.

Perhaps his most important accolade comes from “Rate My Professors.com” where a student wrote, “Watson is probably the smartest man I know. I’ve had him for several classes over the years and he continues to make me think in new ways. I have definitely learned more in class with Watson that can be applied outside of Bucknell than any other professor. He’s tough, but I highly recommend him. It’s worth it.”