Abstract
In this article, I analyze how Kerry Young’s novel Pao negotiates the Jamaican political economy from the inception of Jamaica’s political parties, through the Manley period in the 1970s, and into the neoliberal era. I focus, in particular, on how the novel aligns with Manley’s claims of CIA involvement in destabilizing his government, and on the ascendancy of US-backed neoliberal hegemony that followed Manley’s defeat. I argue that we can read the protagonist’s character, riven between anti-imperialist ideals and capitalist ambitions, as a critique of Jamaican political economy and the waning of emancipatory politics since the neoliberal turn.
Highlights
The history of political violence in Jamaica dates at least as far back as the 1944 election, shortly after the formation of its two main political parties
Conditions became dire enough leading up to the 1976 election for Manley to declare a state of emergency, despite the potential consequences that the appearance of instability would have on foreign investment and tourism
Rumors of a CIA presence abounded,2 fueled by the public claims of ex-CIA operative Philip
Summary
Kristine A. (2015) "“A Cloak That Looks like Help”: US Intervention and the Neoliberal Turn in Kerry Young’s Pao," Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal: Vol 12 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. For example, that “the whole history of the escalating difficulty between the two [political] gangs reeks of provocation” (139) and he has “no doubt that the CIA was active in Jamaica [in 1976] and was working through its own agents to destabilise [his government]” (140). The novel follows Pao’s various exploits and misadventures through the early days of Independence, the Manley administration and political violence of the 1970s, and the neoliberal turn of the 1980s under Edward Seaga
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