Jak Peake is a Senior Lecturer in Literature in the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex. He is a scholar of Caribbean and African American writing. His current research focuses on the New Negro, Black Modernism (or the Harlem Renaissance) and Caribbean-U.S. print culture networks in the 1910-1940 period.

During the fellowship period, Dr. Peake is at work on Black Routes, American Waves and Caribbean Undercurrents, 1889-1931, a book project that examines the literary and cultural connections between the Caribbean and the United States during the years 1889 to 1931. The project explores the exchange of ideas, texts, and people, primarily focusing on the works of Afro-Caribbean and African American authors who wrote about black subject matter. Spanning four decades, it begins with historical events like Frederick Douglass’s involvement in the Haiti exhibit at the 1889 Chicago World Fair and its implications for the later flourishing of black art, literature, and politics in the 1920s. The project analyses key figures from both regions, such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Claude McKay, and Eric Walrond, along with lesser-known individuals, highlighting the broad scope of black creativity and intellectual exchange during this transformative period. It also sheds light on often overlooked Caribbean contributions to pan-Africanism, the Negro Renaissance, and trans-American Modernism. Ultimately, the project aims to reveal the intricate web of cultural, political, and intellectual connections between black Americans and Afro-Caribbeans, emphasizing both cooperation and contention.