Creolized Media Theory: An Examination of Local Cable Television in Jamaica as Hybrid Upstarts

Abstract

Creolized media theory examines local Jamaican cable channels as forms of creolized media that burgeoned from the dialectics of a plural society marked by colonialism, post-colonialism, and globalization. In doing so, creolized media theory offers an opportunity to assess Caribbean media from the point of view of a concept that “has always been the most indicative product of Caribbean interculturation” (Voicu, Procedia: Social and Behavior Sciences, 149, 997–1002, 2014, p. 999). Creolized media theory posits two main arguments, first, that local cable channels embody a de-territorialization of the traditional broadcast media landscape, over time shifting from the margins of the broadcast media ecosystem closer to the center, and second, in doing so, created a new source of creative empowerment. This creolization process, the author argues, occurred along a continuum, similar to Braithwaite’s (1971) conceptualization of how Caribbean societies were creolized. At the beginning of the continuum is what this researcher is referring to as the neophytic stage, or the very nascent beginnings of creolized media. At the other end is the advanced stage, or more defined phase of the process. This discussion is the first to apply the idea of creolization to an investigation of media in the Caribbean and is also the first to focus on any local Caribbean cable channel as contributing to the politics of media and culture in the region.