Noise Up the World: Introducing the Archive of Sylvia Wynter

There are many titles to describe Sylvia Wynter. To the thinker, she is a philosopher; to the interdisciplinary scholar, she is an archetype; to the writer, she is a muse; to the student of Black Studies, she is a pioneer. This exhibition provides an introduction to the life and work of Sylvia Wynter, including a biographical timeline and selections from her writings, lectures, and teaching. The curatorial team developed specific sections within the exhibit to highlight some of the themes Wynter tackled in her writing. These sections include the New Seville and Spanish Jamaica Project, Man Is Not Human: Sylvia Wynter's Critique of Western Humanism, and the Autonomy of Human Cognition. 

This Cuban-born, Jamaican scholar used her thoughts and her pen to explore the depths of knowledge in search of a new way of looking at the world and the way that humans exist in it. That journey is preserved in her archive, now housed at Duke in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. 

“There is wonderful work being done everywhere,” Wynter once wrote. “Yet all of this [is] locked up, each so much buried treasure to the other. I had no choice. I had to cross boundaries to find answer[s].” 

This exhibition is curated by John B. Gartrell, Professor Deborah Jenson, Diego Avila Lopez, and Michaelle Vilmont, with special contributions from Michael Cavuto and Krista Bradley.

Thank you to Kate Collins, Michael Daul, Johanna Hamby, Henry Hebert, Epiphanie Ineza, Yoon Kim, Angela Nettles, Sony Prosper and Aaron Welborn. This exhibition has been sponsored in part by the Department of Romance Studies, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Office of the Dean of Humanities, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History & Culture. The graphic design was by Jim Jarvis and Ben Alper produced and installed the panels. Special thanks to Tracy Jackson, Russell-Flowers Technical Services Archivist and lead processor of the Sylvia Wynter papers.