The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers) by Diana Paton


The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers)
Title : The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1478010495
ISBN-10 : 9781478010494
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 536
Publication : Published June 18, 2021

From Miss Lou to Bob Marley and Usain Bolt to Kamala Harris, Jamaica has had an outsized reach in global mainstream culture. Yet many of its most important historical, cultural, and political events and aspects are largely unknown beyond the island. The Jamaica Reader presents a panoramic history of the country, from its precontact indigenous origins to the present. Combining more than one hundred classic and lesser-known texts that include journalism, lyrics, memoir, and poetry, the Reader showcases myriad voices from over the centuries: the earliest published black writer in the English-speaking world; contemporary dancehall artists; Marcus Garvey; and anonymous migrant workers. It illuminates the complexities of Jamaica's past, addressing topics such as resistance to slavery, the modern tourist industry, the realities of urban life, and the struggle to find a national identity following independence in 1962. Throughout, it sketches how its residents and visitors have experienced and shaped its place in the world. Providing an unparalleled look at Jamaica's history, culture, and politics, this volume is an ideal companion for anyone interested in learning about this magnetic and dynamic nation.

The Jamaica Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers) Reviews

  • Jada

    I picked up this book on a whim after making a google search and I was pleasantly surprised at its quality. As the title suggests, the book covers jamaican history, culture, and politics, but since I was only interested in the latter two parts, I started reading the book halfway through (I went back to read the introduction though, I felt obliged).

    I found this book quite engaging because of its format: excerpts or short essays tackling various historical or cultural events, with a particular focus on primary sources. It covered many topics that I learnt about either in sociology, carib or just through osmosis, like the 1907 earthquake, my mother who fathered me, the federation, those kind of stuff. What particularly interested me were the post-independence developments, because those are the stuff that I've heard a lot about over the years but never managed to get a complete grasp on.

    I learnt about rastafarianism and the long-standing prejudice against its practicioners, the Coral Garden Incident, the origins of dreadlocks, and blackness and beauty, and pleasure island (speaking about the beginnings of jamaican tourism), which allowed me to better understand why the island is how it is now. I also appreciated reading not only academic articles, but poems and songs by louise bennett, olive senior, and others; I believe this is one of the anthology's greatest strengths: the broad variety of perspectives it brings on such topical issues. I give it extra points for featuring Kei Miller too, but that's just my subjectivity showing. While the anthology deviated from its chronological format at the end with its Jamaicans in the World section, I don't grudge it for that because migration is undoubtedly a focal point of the Jamaican experience and grouping the experiences together by topic rather than by time range allowed for a greater understanding of their differences, but more importantly, their similarities over the years (by which I mean the constant thread of exploitation).

    In summary, I haven't been so engaged in reading non-fiction in ages, and it killed two birds with one stone: it satisfied some of my long-standing curiosities but in such an academic way that I can consider this studying for Carib. It was an excellently selected and edited anthology and I definitely learnt a lot from it.