To ‘Look Smart’ and Run Fast: Jamaican Track Athletes and the Advertisement of Creole Nationalism at the 1948 Olympic Games

Abstract

At the 1948 London Olympic Games, the colony of Jamaica made its Olympic debut. In a postwar moment that presaged the possibility of greater self-governance for colonized places, participation in the foremost international athletic festival provided an opportunity for the island to promote and perform a national identity. On and off the track, Jamaica’s track stars communicated creole nationalism, the island’s nationalist ideology that balanced Jamaican pride with British propriety. The multiracial and mixed-gender cohort of track athletes was understood as safely and successfully symbolizing the island’s nationalist aspirations because they adhered to colonially-imposed hierarchies of race, color, class, and gender. Their careful presentation demonstrated Jamaican character and capacity, while also reinforcing a commitment to the cultural values of Britain. The praise for Jamaica’s Olympians in the Jamaican, British, and American presses indicates their effectiveness. However, because Jamaica’s athletes expertly abided by traditional racial, color, class, and gender arrangements, they reinforced the relevance of these distinctions, inscribing them into the island’s nationalist project. Jamaica’s inaugural Olympic experience thus illuminates how the politics of identity structured the possibilities and limitations of the eventual Jamaican nation.