Perry Mars

Originally from Guyana, Perry Mars was educated at the University of Guyana where he received his Bachelors degree in History, and Carleton University in Ottawa where he obtained both a Masters degree in International Affairs and a Ph.D in Political Science. He served in various university positions before coming to Africana Studies at Wayne State, including a professorship of Political Science and Development Studies at the University of Guyana and various visiting positions at the University of California (Berkeley), California State University (Los Angeles), The New School for Social Research (New York) and the University of West Indies (Mona, Jamaica).

Professor Mars was also the recipient of several academic awards including two Fullbright professorships, and a MacArthur fellowship award. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University where he teaches his primary specialty, Caribbean Politics and Culture. He has also taught several other courses in the Africana Studies department, including Black Social and Political Thought, Race and Racism in America, and Black Social Movements.

Apart from Caribbean Politics and Culture, Professor Mars' academic interests can be gleaned from his various published works. These areas of interest include Ethnic Politics and Conflict Resolution, Black Diaspora Intellectual Contributions, Labor-Political Relations, and Globalization and Political Change in Developing Countries. His works on these themes are published in various internationally reputable journals, including Latin American Perspectives, Comparative Politics, Journal of Peace Research, Social and Economic Studies, and Economic Studies, and International Labor and Working Class History. His books include Ideology and Change: The Transformation of the Caribbean Left, published by Wayne State University Press and The Press University of the West Indies in 1998, and a forthcoming text, with professor Alma Young, entitled Caribbean Labor and Politics: Legacies of Cheddie Jagan and Michael Manley, also to be published by Wayne State University Press.

Professor Mars has been instrumental in developing an international academic exchange project between Africana Studies, the College of Urban Labor and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA), and the University of Guyana. This project envisages the exchange of both students and faculty between Wayne State University and the University of Guyana, embracing graduate training and research activities on Race and Ethnic Conflict Resolution in the Caribbean and Black Diaspora generally. As recognition for and to facilitate the development of this effort so far, Professor Mars was offered a Wayne State University Global Grant for 2002.

Perry Mars, Professor  - Email:  ad5965@wayne.edu