George Brown Polytechnic professor and researcher Natalie Wood has been awarded the Michael Baptista Essay Prize by York University's Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).
Wood, a professor in the Social Service Worker program and co-designer of the Black Futures Research Institute, was recently named the 2025 Baptista Prize winner for the essay, Tidal Relations: Pelagic Theories of the Black Atlantic.
The essay outlines ocean-based (pelagic) theories that demonstrate how Black scholars and artists analyze and respond to anti-Black racism, oppression, environmental harm, and Eurocentric power systems by thinking through the significance of the Atlantic Ocean and sites of the Middle Passage.
"This paper is guided by the question, what pelagic theories can be applied to explain, comprehend, and inspire Black contemporary life and struggle in the aftermath of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery?" Wood states in the essay's abstract.
This prestigious annual prize honours an outstanding scholarly essay from a humanities, social science, business or legal perspective that relates to the Latin American or Caribbean studies. Wood is currently pursuing doctoral studies at York University.
"As a first-generation immigrant settler, Canadian artist from the Caribbean, I create artwork inspired by the diasporic wonder and trauma of the sea," Wood states in the essay. "I see deep connections between my struggles now and the trauma of the Middle Passage, slavery, and racial capitalism."
Read Natalie Wood's award-winning essay
Congratulations, Professor Natalie Wood, on this achievement and your ongoing contributions!
Photo: Professor Natalie Wood, centre, with colleagues and guests at William Peyton Hubbard Atrium naming event, February 5, 2026.
