By: Alison Wickham
Hello everybody, this week I will be sharing my research on how nationalism and inequality play a role in Jamaica. There is much to say about both of these topics, but I would like to take a deeper look into the inequalities that are very prominent in this country. To be more specific, I would like to talk about the poverty that is embedded within Jamaica.
Poverty is one of many inequalities in this country, but is a specifically severe issue in Jamaica and several other parts of the Caribbean. The article, Examining Race in Jamaica, uses statistics from the World bank which state, “About 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, while three-fifths of the country’s wealth is held by only 10% of its population… “. This statistic illustrates the intensity of poverty in Jamaica by showing that the majority of the population is consumed by this hardship. Why is poverty such a huge problem here? Due to very slow and weak economic growth, the country produces very little income. Another issue which you can learn more about in my first blog is the large amount of goods they import. The country spends about half of their revenue on imported goods which leads to an increased deficit.
Where does this intense poverty stem from and what effect does it have on nationalism in Jamaica? I believe a section of Darrell Levi’s article, Fragmented Nationalism, summarizes the answer to this question very well, saying, “Jamaican nationalism can be defined as the continuing search for self-government, sovereignty, social and economic justice, and national identity. It has resulted from a history of struggle against colonialism (Jamaica was a British colony from 1655 to 1962), neocolonialism since 1962, dependent capitalism, slavery, and racism. Given the complex interweaving of such factors , scholars have debated whether there are one, two, or perhaps three Jamaicas, corresponding roughly to the white, brown, and black caste/class structure of island society”. From this quote we can gather that Jamaica has been seeking its true sense of nationalism for a long period of time. The country has suffered from a prolonged history of class difference and social inequality which has resulted in intense racism. Jamaica is still healing from its past and hopefully one day they will mend inequalities such as poverty which reside in the country at present.
To end on a brighter note we can look to the importance of reggae music in Jamaica especially during the 1970’s. The well known reggae artist, Bob Marley, had an immense affect on politics during his time. He often incorporated words from political freedom fighter speeches into his songs, creating a revolutionary and motivational sensation to his music. Marley was a figure many Africans could connect with and look to as a sign of hope against oppression, racism and other inequalities such as the ones we see in Jamaica today.
Click the video below to see a performance from Marley’s One Love Peace Concert. This was one of the most iconic events in Jamaica’s history. It served as a response to deadly political violence going on during that time.
Sources
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/news/031820-Jamaica-springer.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25612569.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1016/0191-6599%2892%2990159-A?needAccess=true
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/poorest-countries-in-north-america
https://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2021/03/22/bob-marley-a-spiritual-and-revolutionary-hero-through-
music/#:~:text=By%20extracting%20his%20lyrics%20from,d%20compare%20to%20Mahatma%20Gandhi.