The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics

Book

The Jamaica Reader

History, Culture, Politics

Edited by: Diana Paton and Matthew J. Smith

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2021

Published by

View more publications by Duke University Press

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This book is in the series

The Latin America Readers

About this book

Combining more than one hundred classic and lesser-known texts, The Jamaica Reader presents a panoramic history of the country—from its pre-contact Indigenous origins to the present—to provide an unparalleled look at Jamaica's history, culture, and politics.

Author / Editor information

Diana Paton is William Robertson Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh.

Matthew J. Smith is Professor of History and Director of The Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slave-Ownership, University College London.

Reviews

“Jamaica is an endless paradox, virtually impossible to summarize neatly in any single document. In The Jamaica Reader, Diana Paton and Matthew Smith extend an invitation to us to reflect on this paradox, its histories, and its cultural-political implications. In their thoughtful and diverse selection of texts (some expressive, some analytical, some narrative), framed by an engaging introduction, they offer a searching panorama of sometimes competing perspectives on the very idea of Jamaica.”

-- David Scott, Columbia University

“This is a bird's-eye view of the island shaped like a swimming turtle. It is a learned and joyful compendium of everything anyone needs to know about the place Columbus called the fairest isle that eyes ever beheld. Diana Paton and Matthew J. Smith have done a brilliant job of curating what is surely the most complete and all-encompassing gathering of writing about Jamaica ever assembled.”

-- Lorna Goodison, Poet Laureate of Jamaica

"This is an essential text for students of Jamaican history, society, culture and politics, and I am confident it will be a standard reader in Caribbean studies for many years to come.… It is impossible to see this book as anything other than the best introduction to the history of Jamaica, and the lives of the Jamaican people."

-- F.S.J. Ledgister Caribbean Quarterly

"The Jamaica Reader will prove highly useful to students and scholars alike. Indeed, such is the nature and layout of the excerpts that have been included that it appeals simultaneously to those looking for a general introduction to the history, politics and culture of Jamaica, and to those who may be already familiar with the island, but wish to explore further and in greater depth. Additionally, the generally short nature of each of the extracts actually makes the book an ideal teaching resource, whether as an introduction to engaging with the historiography of Jamaica, or as a way of exploring a wider variety of contemporary sources and accounts."

-- Ben Markham History

"It’s hard to think of a better introductory resource on the island, replete with bibliography, illustrations, and excellent brief introductions to each chapter."

-- Richard Price and Sally Price New West Indian Guide

"The cultural selections on visual arts—enhanced by color illustrations—and the worldwide influence of reggae are welcome additions to the more familiar material. Best for courses on Caribbean and Latin American studies in general. Recommended. General readers through graduate students."

-- R. M. Delson Choice

Topics

History Topics in History Global History

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Note on Abridgment Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
I Becoming Jamaica
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	7
Taíno Society Kit W. Wesler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	13
Taíno Worship Ramón Pané Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	17
The First European Account of Jamaica Andrés Bernáldez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	21
A Spanish Settler in Jamaica Pedro de Maçuelo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	25
The Spanish Capital James Robertson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	30
Slavery in Spanish Jamaica Francisco Morales Padrón Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	34
A Description of Spanish Jamaica Francisco Marques de Villalobos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	36
The Economy of Spanish Jamaica Alonzo de Miranda Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	38
The Western Design Juan Ramírez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	41
Mountains of Gold Turned into Dross Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	43
The Establishment of Maroon Society Robert Sedgwicke and William Goodson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	46
II From English Conquest to Slave Society
Pirate Stronghold Nuala Zahedieh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	49
Port Royal Destroyed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	55
White Servants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	60
The Rise of Slave Society Richard S. Dunn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	64
African Music in Jamaica Hans Sloane Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	68
A Maroon Tradition Kenneth M. Bilby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	71
Treaty between the British and the Maroons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	74
African Arrivals Audra A. Diptee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	78
Spiritual Terror Vincent Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	84
Two Enslaved Lives Trevor Burnard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	87
Increase and Decrease Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	91
A Free Black Poet Francis Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	93
Jamaica Talk Frederic G. Cassidy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	96
The War of 1760–1761 Edward Long Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	101
III Enlightenment Slavery
Creole Society Edward Brathwaite Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	109
Cane and Coffee Robert Charles Dallas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	115
Women’s and Men’s Work under Slavery Lucille Mathurin Mair Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	118
Although a Slave Me Is Born and Bred J. B. Moreton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
Capture and Enslavement Archibald John Monteath Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	123
The Black Church George Liele Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	126
British Missionaries Mary Turner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	129
The Second Maroon War Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	132
Jonkanoo Michael Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	134
Provision Grounds Sidney Mintz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	140
The Liberation War of 1831 Henry Bleby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	143
Apprenticeship and Its Conflicts Diana Paton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	147
An Apprentice’s Story James Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	150
Because of 1833 Andrew Salkey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	153
IV Colonial Freedom
Free Villages Jean Besson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	159
Cholera Samuel Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	168
Black Voters Swithin Wilmot Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	171
Religion after Slavery Hope Waddell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	174
Indentured Workers Verene Shepherd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	177
The Morant Bay Rebellion Gad Heuman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	181
Dear Lucy George William Gordon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	186
Vindicating the Race Rev. R. Gordon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	189
August Town Craze Frederick S Sanguinetti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	192
Anansi and the Tiger Walter Jekyll Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	196
The 1907 Earthquake Dick Chislett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	199
Traveling from Kingston to Montego Bay Herbert de Lisser Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	203
V Jamaica Arise
Life in Rural Jamaica Lorna Goodison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	209
An Amazing Island W. E. B. Du Bois Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	215
Marcus Garvey Comes to the United States Marcus Garvey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	217
Jamaica and the Great War Daily Gleaner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	221
Returning from War Glenford Howe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	224
Self-Government for Jamaica W. Adolphe Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	228
The 1938 Rebellion Richard Hart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	231
Remembering the Rebellion Lucius Watson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	234
Now We Know Roger Mais Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	241
Cookshop Culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	244
My Mother Who Fathered Me Edith Clarke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	248
The Origins of Dreadlocks Barry Chevannes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	253
Pleasure Island Esther Chapman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	259
Hurricane Charlie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	262
Jamaican East Indians Laxmi Mansingh and Ajai Mansingh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	264
Blackness and Beauty Rochelle Rowe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	268
Chinese Jamaica Easton Lee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	271
Bauxite Sherry Keith and Robert Girling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	274
The West Indies Federation Michele A. Johnson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	279
Rastafari and the New Nation Michael G. Smith, Roy Augier and Rex Nettleford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	283
VI Independence and After
A Date with Destiny Daily Gleaner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	289
The Meaning of Independence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	295
The Assets We Have Norman Washington Manley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	298
Rastafari and the Coral Gardens Incident John Maxwell and Mortimo Togo Desta Planno Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	302
Country Boy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	307
How to Be a “Face-Man” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	309
Cancer in West Kingston Edward Seaga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	312
Birth of the Sound System Norman C. Stolzoff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	317
Rudie, Oh Rudie! Garth White Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	321
1968 Revisited Rupert Lewis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	325
The Visual Arts Anne Walmsley and Stanley Greaves Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	330
Better Mus’ Come Delroy Wilson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	334
Bob Marley’s Fame Ed McCormack Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	336
Ganja Smoking Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	341
We Are Not for Sale Michael Manley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	344
Zig-Zag Politics and the IMF George L. Beckford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	349
Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow Oku Onuora Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	353
Equal Rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	356
A Helper’s Story Honor Ford Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	359
VII Jamaica in the Age of Neoliberalism
Nine Months of Turmoil Barbara Nelson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	363
Seaga v. Manley Carl Stone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	370
Born Fi’ Dead Laurie Gunst Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	373
Sunsplash 1984 Roger Steffens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	376
Walking Jewellery Store Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	380
Hurricane Story, 1988 Olive Senior Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	384
Wild Gilbert Lloyd Lovindeer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	386
Showing Skin Teeth A. Lynn Bolles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	389
Slackness Lady Saw Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	393
Downtown Ladies Gina A. Ulysse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	397
Jamaica’s Shame Thomas Glave Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	401
Woman Time Now H.G Helps Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	406
A Wild Ride Robert Lalah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	408
Skin Bleaching Carolyn Cooper Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	411
Tragedy in Tivoli W. Earl Witter and Livern Barrett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	414
The Cell Phone and the Economy of Communication Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	420
Unsustainable Development Esther Figueroa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	424
The Case for Reparations P. J. Patterson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	427
These Islands of Love and Hate Kei Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	430
VIII Jamaicans in the World
In the Canal Zone Alfred Mitchell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	435
A Diaspora Story Lok C. D. Siu and Fernando Jackson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	442
Going to Cuba Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	444
Tropics in New York Claude McKay Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	448
Little Brown Girl Una Marson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	449
Colonization in Reverse Louise Bennett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	454
A Farmworker in Florida Delroy Livingston Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	457
Reggae and Possible Africas Louis Chude-Sokei Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	462
Canadian-Jamaican Carl E. James and Andrea Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	465
A Maid in New York City Shellee Colen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	467
My Great Shun Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	471
Homecomers C. S. Reid Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	473
Return to Jamaica Emma Brooker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	475
Things Change Buju Banton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	480
Jamaica to the World Ingrid Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	483
Suggestions for Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	487
Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	493
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	503

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

April 30, 2021

eBook ISBN:

9781478013099

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

544

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478013099

eBook ISBN: 9781478013099

Audience(s) for this book

General/trade;

The Jamaica Reader

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data