The Contestation of Jamaica's Post-Independence Identity in The

Wesleyan University The Honors College AWe Dis?! : The Contestation of Jamaica‘s Post-Independence Identity in the Jamaica Festival Song Competition by Carolyn Sinclair McCalla Class of 2010 A thesis submitted to the faculty of Wesleyan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors in Music and Latin American Studies Middletown, Connecticut April, 2010 Table of Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………2 Introduction……………………………………………………………......................3 Chapter 1 Cultural Institutions and their Role in Post-Independence Jamaica……...................18 Chapter 2 The Work of the Jamaica Festival Commission and Jamaica Festival………………23 The Jamaica Festival Song Competition…………………………………………….28 Government, Private Interests and the Imperatives of the Inter-state System………33 The Urban Poor and the Production of an Alternative Cultural Logic………………38 Chapter 3 Lyrical Analysis of Festival Songs…………………………………………………..41 Chapter 4 Sounds that have come to Rule the Nation ………………………………………….69 Chapter 5 The Problem with Equating Dancehall with the Nation…………………………….79 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...93 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………..100 1 Acknowledgments This work, which bears my name, would not have been possible without the love, energy and time invested by a number of persons I collectively call ―lovely.‖ Thank you to: Professor Eric Charry, my thesis advisor and mentor for lending his time, expertise and energy in support of my work. Professor Jay Hoggard, my mentor, for fiercely challenging my ideas and encouraging me to step outside of my comfort zone. My beautiful mother, Patricia Sinclair McCalla, for teaching me that the definition of true beauty is in agreement with the truth of who I am as a human being, and for always motivating me to strive for excellence. My father, Leon McCalla, for your love and sense of humor and for always believing in my ability to realize my dreams. My brother, Christopher Sinclair McCalla, for always being in my corner. My sister and best friend, Omolara Otunla, for staying up with me on the many long nights I spent on this work (especially when you were tired) in order to encourage me keep strong. New broom sweep clean, but old broom know di corners (New friendships are wonderful and exciting, but old friendships are rich with history, love and an intimate knowledge of the other). To my itty-bitty inner-circle (Marie-Eve Augier, Colleen Carpenter, Kara Ingraham, Rachelle Copeland, and CaVar Reid) for consistently providing an escape from the madness. Renee Johnson-Thornton, for making your office my safe place and for reminding me that good health, rest and laughter are just as important as hard work. Krishna Winston, for your invaluable help in editing my work. 2 Introduction The year 1962 saw the first unveiling of Jamaica‘s flag of black, gold and green. In anticipation of the nation‘s independence a bipartisan committee of the Jamaica House of Representatives designed the flag and imbued the flag‘s colors with the following meanings: black to represent the strength and creativity of the people; gold, to depict the wealth and beauty of the island‘s sunlight; and green to symbolize both the hope and agricultural resources of the island (www.jis.gov.jm). This flag was to symbolize the birth of a new nation. Here a nation is defined as ―a named human community occupying a homeland, and having common myths and a shared history, a common public culture, a single economy and common rights and duties for all members‖ (Smith 2001:13). But, what exactly would be the character of this new nation? And who would have the privilege of defining the boundaries of this character‘s expression? Distinct responses to these questions have emerged and formed the basis of the conflicts surrounding, not only Jamaica‘s path to independence, but also its attempts to form, promote and solidify a new and separate sense of a national identity. In this paper, I examine the formation and promotion of a Jamaican national identity by examining the Jamaica Festival Song Competition, an event that began in 1966 and has continued under various names up to the present day. By looking at the role of this Festival one can gain insight into how various conceptions of ―Jamaicanness‖ have been contested in post-independence Jamaica. Additionally, the contestation of these identities reveals the ways in which power relations are established, re-negotiated, and maintained within the field of culture. 3 I first lay the groundwork by summarizing some of the crucial events leading up to Jamaica‘s independence. Jamaican Independence and Attempts to Define the Nation In 1494 Christopher Columbus first stepped foot on the northern coast of Jamaica; in 1509 the Spanish formally established their presence on the island and initiated a short and unremarkable period of rule, which saw the introduction of sugar cane cultivation and African slaves. The British, in 1655, annexed Jamaica from Spain and began what would become a long and penetrating period of colonial rule. Britain saw to the establishment of a plantation economy based on the cultivation of sugar by enslaved Africans as well as the development of a society in which power was held exclusively by the white planter and merchant classes. During the formative years of their rule persons of African descent far out-numbered whites, who comprised the oligarchy. This fact resulted in the planters employing a strategy of societal control that stratified the population. As M.G. Smith suggests in his theory of ‗Social Pluralism‘, ―the plantation society produced a stratum of whites associated with ownership, management and protection of property, a middle stratum of browns in professional, technical and white collar occupations and a lower stratum of poor black ex-slaves‖ (Smith in Stone 1973:8). The slave trade was abolished in 1807 and twenty-one years later The Emancipation Act of 1834 granted freedom to the slaves. The period after Emancipation was marked by severe difficulties for the newly emancipated population and by the growing instability of the Old Representative System of a 4 Governor and Council appointed by the Crown and the elected Assembly. The Jamaican Assembly (the organizational body within which the political elite manifested its power), which was in fact the elected legislature of the old system, had become unresponsive to the concerns of the masses of its disenfranchised citizens. Instead the Assembly was preoccupied with re-instating the power dynamics, which had secured their privilege during slavery. The planter class‘s lack of responsiveness was recognized by the masses who staged several acts of rebellion, most notably the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion, which convinced the Crown of the need for its direct rule of Jamaica. As time progressed the British slowly facilitated the increased representativeness of the political process. However, at the turn of the century, executive power was still concentrated in the hands of the Governor, and the Legislative Council only served in an advisory capacity (Panton 1993:19). Direct Crown Rule lasted until 1944, and it was during this period that the political consciousness of the people began to take on a more overt form of expression, such as Marcus Garvey‘s formation of the first Black political party in 1928 (the People‘s Political Party) and the mass following achieved by the black nationalist Alexander Bedward. Despite an increase in the masses‘ political awareness, the scope of their political action remained severely limited. ―In 1930, only eight percent of the population was eligible to vote and in 1935 that number had fallen to six percent‖ (Panton 1993:20). In 1944, thanks to the efforts of Norman Manley, universal adult suffrage was granted and the masses were given the opportunity to make the ultimate expression of their political consciousness by casting their votes in a national election. That year the politically aroused masses 5 were divided amongst at least eight political parties: Federation of Citizen‘s Association, The Jamaica Liberal Party, The Jamaica Radical Workers‘ Party, The J.A.G. Smith Party, the Rent Payer‘s Party, The Jamaica Labour Party and the People‘s National Party (Panton 1993:23). The latter two would become the two primary contenders in Jamaican politics. The longstanding role of both of these political parties in the political life of Jamaica was solidified by their ability to mobilize the support of the mostly unaligned black urban poor in general elections. Initial distinctions in the politics of the two parties were to be found in their beliefs pertaining to the issue of Jamaica‘s independence. The Jamaica Labour Party, led by Sir Alexander Bustamante, was opposed to the idea of self-rule (an idea put forward by the People‘s National Party) and suggested that if Jamaica were to become independent that it would only result in the continued disenfranchisement of the black masses by the enfranchised classes. According to Bustamante, ―self-government=slavery‖ or ―brown man rule,‖ ―evoking not only racial cleavages but also class-based antagonisms between the middle-class professionals in leadership positions within the nationalist movement and the Jamaican masses‖ (Thomas 2004:54). It was Bustamante who found success in the 1944 elections, winning 23 of the 32 seats compared to the 4 won by Manley‘s PNP. The ambivalence many Jamaicans had towards the idea of self-governance may be explained by their experience under Crown rule. For instance, ―traditionally, most acts of welfare reform for the Jamaican people (such as the 1838 emancipation proclamation and the 1938 labour reforms) originated in the English Parliament only to face the resistance and hostility of local authorities‖ (Panton 1993:23). 6 By 1955 the two political parties had converged on the issue of the nation‘s independence and Bustamante struggled to find an issue around which to mobilize the masses.

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