Introduction: Time Changes

Abstract

In this chapter the author, an audiovisual producer and lecturer of cultural and media studies, shares elements of the reflexive journey from Jamaica’s Public Service Broadcasting to Commercial Broadcasting eras, and on to the emergent Cultural Economy era. She argues that in the emerging cultural economies of the Global South, the production and trade of screen-based content are central to development positioning and geostrategic planning for nations like Jamaica and Ghana. The author presents #decolonization2point0 (d2k) as a cultural economy methodology for nations of the Global South that seeks to “personify” the cultural economy process through culturization rather than “disembody” it through marketization. Audiovisual production and trade in Jamaica and Ghana are presented as “metaphors of transformation” and as case studies to test the application of the South Star Policy Model she proposes for cultural economy policy development in the Global South. This model focuses on sustainable development objectives rather than exploitative and extractive intentions to guide planning for cultural and creative economy growth. It encourages a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of the processes to integrate cultural economy thinking into development planning, in countries of the Global South with an emphasis on growing the audiovisual sector, particularly in Jamaica.