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This weekend marks the beginning of the country’s Jamaica 50th year of independence celebrations. Today we arrived in Kingston and settled in to a new hotel, met another professor from the University of the west Indies who talked about organic farming in Jamaica, and for the evening, we went to Jubilee Park at the National Stadium to experience Jamaica’s celebrations of its fiftieth year of independence from British rule. I must say that this experience tonight was once in a lifetime. If you can imagine a state fair or county fair back home in the US, that it what is was similar to, but this party is for a whole country. Never before have I been looked at so much just because I was white. This sounds racist but I can assure you it was not intended to be that way. As an American tourist, I viewed this night and experience in a very different way than ninety-nine percent of those people gathered at the National Stadium in Kingston.
For me, this night was a celebration of achievement, not a night of national pride. During the three and a half weeks that I have been here, I have experienced, witnessed, and analyzed much of the industries that fuel the Jamaican country so I feel a bit patriotic to Jamaica at this point. Coming from the United States, which is two hundred and thirty-six years old, fifty years is not that much, but it is still a significant milestone. It was fun to interact with the food vendors and gift shop owners and not have to worry about getting graded or having to study for a test. I was a true spectator of a nation celebrating its identity and independence.
I was able to experience much of Jamaica’s cultural history through song and dance performances from the different cultures and time periods that have shaped Jamaica, a country whose motto is, “Out of many, One People.” Although many Jamaicans probably would not agree with me, it was interesting to see national pride that I feel for the United States, experience a culture that made up of unique cultures like the United States, and get to experience a nation celebrate its history like I do during the Fourth of July. But, as we were driving back to our hotel, I looked at Kingston's neighborhoods, stores Kingston, and its architecture.
I began to notice something.
I noticed that the area of Kingston we were in looks like much of America’s big cities.
Yes, the tropical plants and lush scenery are different, but chain restaurants like Dominoes Pizza, T.G.I. Fridays, and Kentucky Fried Chicken could be found on some street corners. The neighborhoods were laid out in a similar fashion, with gridded streets and single to two story houses built close to one another. And then I realized that Kingston had been modernized in an American fashion. And so I thought about the pride of the Jamaicans I saw at Jubilee Village and the pride they had in their Jamaican identity. And I asked myself, how much has my American way of living changed places like Kingston and many others over the world? That’s a tough question to ask oneself but unfortunately for us Americans, it's a bit a truth. Our society has left its foreign mark on many other societies and peoples all over the world, whether we like it or not.
~ Ryan Walker
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We’re now heading into our final phases of the abroad program.
The freshmen have gone home and we are back to the five of us. This means the
advent of more assignments revolving around our lived experience in Jamaica. I
would really like to highlight the cultural depths we have experienced thus far
in light of some exciting upcoming events.
My general assumptions about the spirit of Jamaicans is that
there is so much pride. There is pride in Jamaica as an island, Jamaica as a
country, Jamaica as a people. Every time I am approached (as an obvious
visitor), I am asked if this is my first time in Jamaica. Whoever I am talking
to asks how I like Jamaica. I generally respond, “I love it here.” It’s a
pretty general response, but it’s always accepted. Once the conversation gets
past that and we sort out where I have been and what I have seen, I turn the
conversation around and start asking questions.
I love hearing about how far away people live, asking about
professions, family, education and training, thoughts on the environment,
thoughts on government policy, views on my country, ideas about the future, the
list goes on. What really strikes me is how open people are. Everyone I’ve
talked to has been super open to me about their life. There is pride in
livelihood, family, nationality, and it’s so refreshing. That pride and passion
in everything they do is something I want to take home with me. On the other
hand, when we were at Dunn’s River Falls, there is a craft village, and the way
people talked to me there was completely different. There was something
artificial that felt strange when I was there, and it came out when I was
talking to one man. One of the merchants started talking to me, trying to get
me to visit his shop, but he ended up telling me all about how they go to a
school or workshop to be trained in how to talk to tourists so that they don’t
make us uncomfortable. I thought this was especially interesting because being
in that craft village was the most uncomfortable I had been since I had gotten
to Jamaica. Once the other students started to talk to the merchants, the
experience seemed a bit more genuine. After we talked amongst ourselves though,
it seems as though even many of those conversations were forced: some of the information
just didn’t match up and it seemed as though some of the merchants may have
been using the opportunity as marketing techniques. All in all though, I’ve
been fascinated by the openness of most of the Jamaicans I have met. It’s
different from many of the other places I’ve been to and at home, where people
are very cautious about sharing anything about their lives to strangers.
Now tonight is the anniversary of the emancipation. I am really
hoping that we will get to go out and witness the festivities, because I feel
like this is a part of the culture that is very foreign to me. It’s something
that at home, we never really paid attention to outside of history class. Here
there is so much more discussion about slavery and how Jamaica is today is traceable
to those plantation roots. I feel like for me to understand mindsets and
culture here, emancipation day activities are something I need to be involved
in. I really hope we get to go out and listen to the emancipation document
being read and see all of the festivities that go along with that. I want to
know if it’s a joyous event or if it is more contempt at colonial rule. (we did
not end up going)
This week also marks the start of track and field events. Jamaica
is home to the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt. I’m really hoping we get
to watch the events and that something amazing happens for Jamaica. I would
love to see celebration and pride stemming from something that I consider to be
as momentous as the Olympics.
Next week marks Jamaica’s fiftieth year of independence from the
British. It is being called Jamaica 50 and the Golden Jubilee. I was talking to
one of our Jamaican friends, Shanique, when she was with us at Durga’s Den, and
she said that some families get really into independence day and others don’t
pay much attention, but she thinks the 50th could get very exciting. I would
love to see pride in the 50th celebration along the lines of what we have on
independence day in the US. Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays at
home, much of what stems from my patriotism; but I want to see how that
manifests in a country that is so different from mine and where independence
was gained so much more recently. I feel like I’m in Jamaica at such an
exciting time and I really want to see how Jamaicans respond to these events
and feel how Jamaicans feel in response to them.
~Melissa Peterson
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If you are interested in seeing more of Ryan's thoughts on these matters, see his other recent post on the "All-inclusive, All-exclusive Resort." Have you had experiences like these? Can and should "we the people" do something differently?
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