Headshot of Damion Blake

Damion Blake

Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy

Department: Political Science and Public Policy

Office and address: Gray Pavilion - Pol. Science, office 210H 2333 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244

Phone number: (336) 278-5760

Professional Expertise

Comparative Politics, Caribbean and Latin American Politics, International Politics

Brief Biography

Dr. Damion Blake is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Policy Studies at Elon University. Blake holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA.) and a Master of Science (MSc.) from the University of the West Indies (UWI)Mona campus, Jamaica. He has a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in Political Theory and Governance Studies. He is a Drugs, Security and Democracy research fellow (2011-2012) with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the Open Society Foundation. He taught as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Government at UWI (2005-2008) and in the departments of History and Political Science at Virginia Tech (2008-2012). He was an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech (2012 to 2013).

Dr. Blake served as a consultant with his home country’s (Jamaica)Ministry of National Security on its violence prevention program; ‘Unite for Change’. Blake is also a guest columnist and political commentator with the Gleaner newspaper and Nationwide News Network radio station in Jamaica, contributing commentary pieces and analysis on Caribbean electoral politics, political economy, violence and organized crime.

Blake also provides expert country reports, analysis and affidavits to legal firms (in the US and UK) on immigration matters related to Jamaicans & other Caribbean nationals in deportation proceedings.  

His teaching areas are: Comparative Politics and Government; National Security, Politics of the Caribbean, Introduction to International Relations, Elon Core Curriculum and interdisciplinary courses which include The Black man in America. Blake’s research areas are: Organized Crime and urban violence in the Americas; Democracy and Mass participation in the US; Social Justice and Race the US; and Caribbean politics, governance and development. 

Podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQXaF6wRmJw

Links

    Education

    BA History and Government (with First Class Honors): University of the West Indies (UWI, Mona, Jamaica) 2002 

    MSc. Comparative Politics and Political Theory: UWI; 2004

    Ph.D. Governance and Political Theory: Virginia Tech; 2012

    Employment History

    Violence Prevention Consultant: Government of Jamaica, Ministry of National Security 2014 

    Adjunct Assistant Professor in Department of Political Science: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) 2012-2013

    Graduate Teaching Assistant in Department of History: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) 2009-2012

    Lecturer Department of Government: University of the West Indies (UWI, Mona, Jamaica) 2005-2008

    Courses Taught

    World History

    Introduction to Comparative Politics

    World Politics

    US National Security 

    International Relations

    International Political Economy 

    Caribbean Politics 

    Publications

    Blake, D. (2024). Don Dada: Assessing the socio-economic and political functions of Jamaica's mafia bosses.  Univerity of the West Indies Press. Mona Campus, Jamaica. 

    Blake, D. (2020). State building in the Anglo-Caribbean: Assessing Jamaica’s state formation and development. Journal of Global South Studies Vol. 37, No. 1. (with N. Warmington-Granston)

    Blake, D. (2020). Researching Violence: Conducting risky fieldwork in dangerous spaces in Latin America and the Caribbean. Journal of ethnographic and qualitative research Vol. 14, 153-169. 

    Blake, D. (2017). Governance and Disorder: Neoliberalism and Violent Change in Jamaica.Third World Quarterly, 38, 3, 580-603 (with Munroe, M)

    Blake, D. (2013). Shadowing the State: Violent Control and the Social Power of Jamaican Garrison Dons. Journal of ethnographic and qualitative research (JEQR).  Vol. 8(1) pp. 56-75.                       

    Blake, D. (2013) Lottery Scam in a Third-World Nation: The Economics of a Financial Crime and its Breadth, (with Bourne, A; Chambers, C; Sharpe-Pryce, C and Solan, I) Asian Journal of Business Management, 5(1) 2013: 19-51. 

    Blake, D. (2012). Murder and Politics in Jamaica: A Historical Quantitative Analysis, 1970-2009 (with Bourne, P; Sharpe-Pryce, C and Solan, I). Asian Journal of Business Management, 4(3): 233-251.

    Blake, D. (2004). Direct Democracy and the new Paradigm of Politics in Jamaica. Social and economic studies. 53 (4), 63.

    Service Activities

    1. Faculty Research and Development FR&D
    2. Poverty and Social Justice (current)
    3. African & African American Studies at Elon AASE (current)
    4. Peace & Conflict Studies (current)
    5. Faculty Advisor Sigma Ioa Rho (current)
    6. Faculty Advisor Men's Soccer Club at Elon (current)
    7. Academic Standing Committee (current)
    8. Great Decisions Facilitator/Presenter (2015-present) 
    9. Elon University Student Orientation Facilitator/Advisor (2015-present)
    10. Inclusion and Diversity at Elon Facilitator/Presenter (2016-2018)
    11. Faculty Leadership Fellow (2016- 2017)
    12. Academic Technology and Computing Commitee (Social & Behavioral Sciences Rep) 2018-19

    Awards

    Drugs Security and Democracy Dissertation Fellow 2011-2012: Social Science Research Council (SSRC)

    Award: $11,000 USD to conduct 7 months of fieldwork in Jamaica.