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Jamaica, Scotland, and the places inbetween
The Little Wine That Hurt Somebody (or, Soca and the Bad Behaving Gays of Jamaica)
1. With the homeless and supposedly gay boys of New Kingston running rampant throughout the Golden Triangle (for that is certainly the image the alarmists have been trying to paint), my friends Ronald and Esther have pointed out that a new phase of the national debate on homophobia has opened. For suddenly there is this […]
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In Defense of Maas Joe
May 17, 2013
Caribbean writing and Caribbean writers have come full circle – to the interesting place where we seem in danger of standing against many of the things we once stood for. For remember we are those whose project was once simple and noble: to challenge various centres of power. By writing in patois, we challenged orthodoxies […]
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Talking and Dancing Like You’re REALLY from Jamaica
December 11, 2012
When I was in Brazil a month ago the young man who had picked me up from the airport, along with four other writers, expressed pleasure and relief that I would be spending my upcoming sabbatical in Jamaica. He had been listening in on the conversation we were having in the back of the van. […]
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The Occasionally Dangerous Thing Called ‘Nuance’
December 9, 2012
That ‘America is the home of freedom’ or that Jamaica is ‘the most homophobic country in the world’ or that ‘black people are the sons and daughters of kings and queens’ or that ‘white people are generally racist’ These are the kinds of statements to which most sensible people will roll their eyes. The problem of […]
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Jamaica’s Official and Unofficial Languages
January 6, 2012
Like most modern families these days, mine too has a mailing list. We are spread out so far across the globe, from Jamaica to New Zealand, that email is the easiest way to stay in touch. A round of emails passed around this list the other day; members of the family were sending congratulations to […]
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Jamaican Politics: Making Unlikely Mascots out of Dogs and Faggots
December 30, 2011
Perhaps the most dubious endorsement for Jamaica’s new Prime-Minister Elect, Portia Simpson-Miller, came from a woman who proudly declared, ‘All mi dog a seh Portia!’ Yes, apparently even her flea-bitten mongrel had fallen captive to the Portia Fever that was sweeping across the island, a fever which I confess I fell captive to […]
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When poets have Academic ‘posts’ and begin to speak Academicese
December 16, 2011
Times like these are hard. Economic downturns. It means that my job at the university is to prepare students (some of them incredibly bright) for underemployment or unemployment. The concept of ‘professional’ degrees becomes a little bankrupt when there are no professions recruiting. So every year we will graduate new lawyers and pharmacists and accountants […]
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May 19, 2013
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