Island Of Jamaica Research Articles

Climate, predation, and the controls of island lizard abundance and community structure

AbstractAlternative ecological theories make divergent predictions about the relationship between predators and their prey. If predators exert top‐down ecosystem control, increases in predation should diminish prey abundance and could either diminish or enhance community diversity of prey species. However, if bottom‐up ecosystem controls predominate, predator populations should track underlying variation in prey diversity and abundance, which ultimately should reflect available energy. Past research, both across islands and comparing islands with the mainland, has frequently invoked the importance of predation in regulating lizard abundance and diversity, suggesting an important role of top‐down control when predators are present. However, others have posited a stronger role of food limitation, via competition or bottom‐up forces. If top‐down control predominates, then negative correlations between prey abundance and predator occurrence should emerge within and among islands. Using data from eBird, we inferred landscape‐level presence data for bird species on the islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola. By summing occurrence probabilities of all known anole‐predator birds, we estimated total avian predation pressure and combined these estimates with anole community data from a mark‐recapture study that spanned spatial and climatic gradients on both islands. Avian predators and anole lizards were both affected by climate, with total predator occurrence, anole abundance and anole species richness increasing with mean annual temperature. Anole abundance and predator occurrence showed a curvilinear relationship, where abundance and predator occurrence increased together until predator occurrence became sufficiently high that anole abundance was negatively impacted. This indicates that bottom‐up ecosystem controls drive richness of both anoles and their predators, mitigating the negative effects predators might have on their prey, at least until predator occurrence reaches a threshold. We did not detect consistent evidence of predator occurrence reducing anole community richness. These findings support past research showing that islands with more predators tend to have lower prey abundances, but it does not seem that these top‐down forces are strongly limiting species coexistence. Instead, bottom‐up forces linked with climate may be more important drivers of diversity in both lizards and their avian predators on these islands.

Prioritising climate adaptation options to minimise financial and distributional impacts of water supply disruptions

Climate-related disruptions to water supply infrastructure services incur direct financial losses to utilities (e.g. to repair damaged assets) and externalise a societal cost to domestic customers due to additional costs that they may incur (e.g. to acquire water from alternative sources). The latter often represents an uncompensated social burden, which should be properly accounted for in investment planning. Here we present a new framework for quantifying direct financial risks burdened by utilities and alternative water purchase losses incurred by domestic customers, including those in low-income groups, during flood- and drought-induced utility water supply disruptions. This framework enables the comparison of benefit-cost ratios of a portfolio of flood protection and leakage reduction for water supply systems across the island of Jamaica. A system-level optioneering analysis allows the identification of the optimal adaptation option per system. We estimate that 34% of systems would benefit from flood defences and 53% would benefit from leakage reduction to adaptation to droughts. The benefit that could be achieved by implementing all system optimised adaptation options is estimated to be 720 million Jamaican dollars per year on average, representing a substantial saving for the utility and its customers, including low-income customers. We identify options that offer strong synergies between economic and equity objectives for both types of adaptation option. The proposed framework is established to support the business case for climate adaptation in the water supply sector and to prioritise across flood and drought mitigation options. We take a first step towards mainstreaming equity considerations in water supply sector optioneering frameworks by estimating the contribution of adaptation options towards reducing household costs for low-income customers.

Fugitive Ecologies

This paper seeks to refine scholarly thinking regarding invasive species and decolonial politics in plantation ecologies by following bamboo’s contradictory relationships to various parties on the island of Jamaica. Planters imported bamboo to Jamaica for its remarkable propensity to grow, a quality that soon let it loose on the island’s hinterlands. There, bamboo allied with a people whose flight mirrored its own: Maroons, or fugitive African and Indigenous Taino people who built autonomous communities in the island’s interior. Lately, bamboo is on the move again, precipitating an ecological “invasion” in the eyes of the island’s conservationists and an opportunity for green growth from the perspective of its business interests. These parties, though differing in many ways, both approach bamboo through an idiom of mastery with roots in the plantation and colonial forestry. Maroons, on the other hand, model a creative openness to more-than-human encounters, building relationships to bamboo that are both quotidian and sacred, salutary and trying, but which point toward Maroon autonomy. I offer the concept of fugitive ecologies to attune scholars to these patchy geographies of partial freedom Maroons build with this “invasive” collaborator at the plantation’s edges. Whereas existing paradigms within the environmental humanities tend to focus on species-level classification, fugitive ecologies allow us to see how plants and animals—native, invasive, or otherwise—can “become with” Black freedom struggles.

Post-independence challenges for Caribbean tourism development: a solution-driven approach through Agenda 2030

PropósitoEste trabajo ofrece un análisis comparativo del desarrollo del turismo sostenible en toda la región del Caribe anglófono desde el período posterior a la independencia de 1962 hasta la década de 2020. Se explora las implicaciones de la insularidad, la inversión turística y el ritmo de adopción de la tecnología en la posible realización de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) en las islas de Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad y Tobago y los Estados del Caribe Oriental.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueEl análisis se basa en datos secundarios bibliográficos a partir de documentos de política gubernamental, literatura académica, periódicos e informes de consultoría para explorar los temas centrales y proporcionar un marco conceptual en este documento.ConclusionesLas conclusiones revelan que los pequeños estados insulares en desarrollo (Caribbean Small Island Developing States, SIDS) están más próximos del enfoque del turismo como único sector económico o sostenibilidad débil para el desarrollo del turismo sostenible. Las conclusiones generales revelan que la fuerte concentración de la región en las prioridades económicas hace que se preste menos atención a los retos de la competitividad, como la gestión medioambiental, la equidad social y las innovaciones tecnológicas.Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigaciónLa investigación presenta una visión global de la trayectoria de desarrollo turístico de otros Estados insulares dependientes del turismo. La investigación ofrece lecciones y oportunidades de aprendizaje que pueden ser útiles para los responsables de la toma de decisiones en los SIDS. La principal limitación es que las conclusiones sólo pueden ser transferibles y generalizadas en la medida en que otras jurisdicciones tengan estructuras de gobernanza macroeconómica y características culturales similares a las de los SIDS del Caribe.Implicaciones practicesEste documento ofrece un análisis significativo y contribuye al conjunto de conocimientos sobre la historia del desarrollo del turismo en el Caribe, los retos y el potencial futuro de la sostenibilidad, y se presta a oportunidades para futuras investigaciones en el Caribe y otros SIDS.Implicaciones socialesEl estudio esboza las implicaciones sociales del turismo inclusivo, responsable y sostenible que puede llevar a los SIDS del Caribe de un crecimiento lento a la eficiencia en el desarrollo del producto turístico, incluyendo el entorno tecnológico. Esto puede reducir las desigualdades, contribuir al desarrollo socioeconómico y mejorar el capital humano de la región.Originalidad/valorEste trabajo proporciona un análisis comparativo exhaustivo del desarrollo del turismo en el Caribe, específico para Jamaica, Trinidad y Tobago, Barbados y los Estados del Caribe Oriental. No se ha realizado ningún trabajo anterior para comparar el desarrollo del turismo dentro de esta agrupación. Por ello, este trabajo es esencial para informar a los responsables de la toma de decisiones y sentar las bases para continuar la investigación en este ámbito.

Spatial Mapping of Jamaica’s High-Resolution Wind Atlas: An Environmental-Sociotechnical Account

To utilize wind energy, how it works, its value, and where the best locations are for extrapolation must be understood. A high-resolution wind atlas of Jamaica aids the understanding of the sociophysical phenomena leading to a better understanding of wind energy on the island. This study incorporates a mesoscale method with eight years of relevant data in ArcGIS 10.8.1 to derive then indicate sites for potential onshore wind power plants (WPP). It uses secondary and real-time data from domestic and international sources to evaluate economic, environmental, and sociotechnical criteria. The results indicate a high possibility for future wind power (WP) generation expansion since 2867.15 km2, 26% of the land is available. With the installation of Vestas V80 turbines, 62,818.71 GWh/year can be generated. Conversely, Vestas V112 turbine installation can produce 56,321.74 GWh/year of electrical energy. The average speed goes up to 12.5 miles per hour, while the power density of the 10% windiest areas is between 156.60 and 768.37 W/m2 at 50 m above ground, with several parishes having appropriate locations for WPPs. Thus, 29-point sites are identified in the study. However, St. Elizabeth and Manchester are most favorable, with mean wind speeds of 8.26 m/s and 10.08 m/s, respectively, in the excellently suitable zones. The research offers several advantages, which encompass the quantification of wind potential with and without prohibition, assessment of wind suitability on the island of Jamaica, reduction in environmental damage, and available data amelioration to aid better energy policy decisions, which will ensure a faster and easier transition from fossil fuel (FF) to renewable energy (RE) to meet Jamaica’s 2030 50% RE generation target. Specifically, the atlases will assist policymakers and WP developers in making informed decisions by reducing costs, time, and ambiguities to enhance the development of renewable energy use for electrical energy in Jamaica. The Geographical Information System (GIS), which is one of the most popular energy assessment tools, was utilized to derive suitable land zones of 24.41 to 26% for onshore wind farm development in Jamaica. It incorporates environmental, economic, social, safety, and technical criteria with underlining categorical variables as indicators to derive the quantitative values appropriate for Jamaica’s landscape and comparable to international studies with similar objectives. It found that unrestricted areas can theoretically generate up to 62,818 GWh per year of electrical energy.

Costs and trade-offs associated with renewable energy policies for Small Island Developing States: Case study for Jamaica

Due to their unique economic and geographic features, Small Island Developing States may find that energy policy recommendations in the existing literature (i) have only limited applicability to their specific context or (ii) are primarily descriptive. Furthermore, inconsistencies in energy policy targets in Small Island Developing States call into question the analytical basis for these targets. To fill these gaps, this paper uses an empirical, dynamic optimization model to assess the costs and trade-offs associated with a menu of renewable energy policies while accounting for the economic and geographic idiosyncrasies of small island states. Using the island of Jamaica as a demonstration, four policies are examined. Findings indicate that a carbon tax results in the lowest additional cost to society if the government's primary objective is reducing carbon emissions. If, however, the government's priority is energy independence, then a renewable portfolio standard is more effective.

SLAVE RESISTANCE AND DECOLONIZING CARIBBEAN HISTORY IN ANDREA LEVY’S THE LONG SONG

Set during the final days of Slavery on the island of Jamaica, Andrea Levy’s 2010 novel, The Long Song is a neo-slave narrative that explores the nature of slave resistance and colonial historiographical control. When read through a postcolonial lens, The Long Song takes the form of a counter-discourse, where the main character of Miss July offers a corrective to the dominant white narratives of Caribbean history. This essay argues that the experience of resistance in Levy’s narrative is one of literary mimicry, analysing July’s written resistance as it answers back to and confronts the colonial narratives that disregard the oppressed individual experience from history. Levy, in reanimating the history of Jamaican slavery by aligning her text with the unheard ‘History From Below’ perspective, demonstrates and replicates the unreliable narratives orchestrated by those ‘From Above’. As such, both Levy and her fictional July employ a method of historiographic metafiction to reclaim the previously silenced voice of the Jamaican slaves that the hegemonic White Planter class seek to oppress and obliterate from historical record. 
 
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Modeling Profitability in the Jamaican Coffee Industry

It is well known that producers of agricultural products do not able to capture most of the value from what they grow. As such, it is important for producers to be attuned to the various factors that impact the viability of their products. One such potential avenue for coffee producers is developing a strong awareness of profitability across their respective geographic regions. This research presents a fine-scale geospatial profitability model for coffee production using the test case of the Jamaican Coffee Industry, a sector which once guaranteed profitability but now presents variable (often losing) returns for many producers, this research presents a cost-surface model for coffee production in the island of Jamaica. Results indicated large scale profitability in the 2016–2017 coffee year but limited profitability in the 2019–2019 coffee year, highlighting the important role of revenue fluctuation in island-wide profitability. Results underscore importance of scenario planning in the coffee production cycle. By understanding the spatial properties of profitability producers will obtain better decision-making insight for production and management decisions in the coffee industry around the world. The geospatial profitability model establishes a baseline approach that can be accessed by industry stakeholders of varying technological capacities.

Areas of endemism of Jamaica: inferences from Parsimony Analysis of Endemism based on amphibian and reptile distributions

Islands represent interesting biogeographic features often defined by unique and dynamic geological and biological components. Such systems serve as examples of the basic fundamental units of biogeographical analyses: areas of endemism. The island of Jamaica is recognized as possessing a unique biota with a large number of herpetofauna species persisting only within the island. Further, Jamaica exhibits a dynamic geologic history characterized by an easterly migration and repeated inundation, resulting in a contemporary biota formed through dispersal. Here, we infer areas of endemism across Jamaica based on 57 amphibian and reptile distributions using Parsimony Analysis and Endemism (PAE). We recover 19 areas of endemism concentrated in two regions: The Blue Mountains region diagnosed by 8 taxa and the west/central limestone plateau region including Cockpit Country and the western Dolphin Head region, diagnosed by 9 taxa. Further discussion on the utility of ambiguous syntaxa in diagnosing extinction, dispersal and ecological patterns as they pertain to biogeographic units is provided.&nbsp

A mathematical programming formulation for long-term infrastructure investment planning in Small Island Developing States

Mixed-integer programming is a common method used in electricity generation and transmission optimization models. However, the size of the problem can result in extraordinarily long run times. Solve time also increases exponentially with the number of variables to optimize. There is therefore a constant trade-off between a realistic representation of the network and computational tractability. Additionally, actual data and publicly available, real-world application are scare. This is particularly true for Small Island Developing States. This paper bridges these gaps by describing a customized mathematical formulation for co-optimizing generation and transmission infrastructure investments. Data from the island of Jamaica and program scripts are available for reproduction. Key customizations to a mixed-integer programming model for long-term generation and transmission infrastructure investment planning include:•Hours are treated as representative hour categories and multiplied by the number of hour types within a given period.•Simulated construction is limited to every other year.•While fossil fuel plants are treated as discrete variables, renewable energy plants are treated as continuous variables.

Evaluating Culturally-targeted Fear Appeal Messages for HPV Self-Sampling among Jamaican Women: A Qualitative Formative Research Study

ABSTRACT Despite the disproportionate burden of cervical cancer among Caribbean women, evaluations of targeted communication interventions to increase screening behaviors are sparsely represented in extant literature. Informed by data on the cognitive, affective and sociocultural factors associated with low cervical screening in the English-speaking island of Jamaica, the current study aimed to explore how theory-based message design, coupled with innovative solutions, might increase screening. In this formative research study, we first described the process used to develop culturally-targeted fear appeal messages embedded within an HPV self-sampling kit developed by the researchers. Then, we shared the results of an evaluation of the kit, which was reviewed by 36 Jamaican women in 8 focus groups, to understand the potential impact of the messages and the utility of HPV self-sampling to increase screening behaviors in this population. The results provide data on effective messages for cervical cancer prevention among Jamaican women, which may be further applicable to underscreened women in the English-speaking Caribbean. Additionally, results from this research suggest support for HPV self-sampling to address salient cultural and structural barriers to screening, which provides an impetus for experimental research in message design to inform policy and practice.

Keeping up with best practices: Library exhibitions at a university library in a small island developing state

Libraries over the years have developed best practices for planning, organising, promoting and evaluating exhibitions. Many are based on practices in museums. These best practices have been written into policies and shared with libraries worldwide. However, just as there has been an acknowledgement that some museum practices must be modified to suit the needs of libraries, the same applies to exhibition best practices across countries and libraries with different budgets. Small island developing states are particularly challenged by, among other things, limited resources, high cost of transportation and energy and vulnerability to natural disasters, which can have a direct or indirect impact on libraries and their ability to carry out functions like curating exhibitions. The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Library, located on the island of Jamaica and founded in 1948, has a long tradition of curating exhibitions. Planning and executing physical exhibitions at The UWI are guided by Library-adapted policies and guides, recently formalised in an exhibition policy. A review of some of the exhibitions curated by The UWI Mona show that the physical exhibits are, for the most part, executed in keeping with international best practices, but the Library has had to make adjustments primarily because of financial challenges. These financial challenges affect the availability of resources for exhibits, exhibition space, dedicated exhibition staff, how special collections items are used and the magnitude of exhibitions mounted. Exhibition reports, annual reports, photographs and visitor comments books reveal that the Library attempts to follow best practices with regards to planning, designing, executing and evaluating physical exhibitions. On the other hand, the Library is in the early stages of converting its physical exhibitions to digital formats but may have to establish more formal guidelines to ensure that online exhibitions are planned, designed and evaluated in keeping with international best practices to be successful. Successful exhibitions not only satisfy Library organisers and ‘edutain’ users but also build a good reputation for the Library and lead to further collaboration with faculty and benefit students, administrators and sometimes the general public. These practices at The UWI that are guided by policies can serve as an example to other institutions with small budgets on how to successfully plan and deliver physical exhibitions and build relationships with faculty and the wider community. The Library would need to ensure that formal guidelines and practices are followed for online exhibitions to be as effective and successful.

Precolonial/early colonial human burials from the site of White Marl, Jamaica: New findings from recent rescue excavations

AbstractThe recent excavation of three human burials at White Marl, Jamaica (AD 900–1500), presented an important opportunity to garner new insight into precolonial life and death on Jamaica. The study, undertaken as a part of a collaborative heritage mitigation programme in the wake of planned infrastructural development of parts of the site, focused on burial practices and ancient diet and mobility. The results reveal that the burial treatment of these three individuals is consistent with contemporaneous practices observed throughout the Caribbean in regard to burial location, body treatment, body position, and grave goods. The radiocarbon dates of the three individuals are consistent with a long occupation span of the site (cal. AD 1221–1641) and additionally reveal the possibility that one of the individuals (Burial 3) lived during the Spanish colonial occupation of the island. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of bone collagen of the three individuals indicates a relatively low marine protein contribution to the diet. Carbon isotope values from tooth enamel are consistent with whole diets dominated by C3‐plants. Starch grains identified in dental calculus indicate that, similar to contemporaneous sites throughout the region, White Marl inhabitants were consuming arrowroot, palms, achira, maize, and wild beans. Plant preparation techniques included grinding, roasting, and toasting. In addition, the tentative identification of a Theobroma cacao starch grain in Burial 1 represents the first finding of precolonial cocoa in the Caribbean islands. Expansion of the strontium isotope programme is needed to improve our understanding of the mobility of the White Marl population; however, tentative assessment of the results suggests that Burial 2 may have originated from elsewhere on the island of Jamaica.

The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae: The Complete Story of Reggae Told through Its Greatest Songs, Famous and Forgotten by Michael Garnice

Reviewed by: The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae: The Complete Story of Reggae Told through Its Greatest Songs, Famous and Forgotten by Michael Garnice Paul Kauppila The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae: The Complete Story of Reggae Told through Its Greatest Songs, Famous and Forgotten. By Michael Garnice. (Popular Music History.) Sheffield, UK: Equinox, 2016. [vi, 604 p. ISBN 9781781790953 (hardback), $49.99; ISBN 9781781794012 (e-book), $49.99.] Acknowledgments, introduction, bibliography, index of names, index of songs. The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae takes a highly subjective but very informative look at what the author considers to be the best reggae songs ever recorded. In some cases, the author uses reggae as an umbrella term to cover the myriad of subgenres of Jamaican music, while at other times he uses it to refer to the classic 1970s-era reggae style perhaps most familiar to American listeners. A writer for numerous reggae Web sites and magazines (including articles on Bob Marley for Reggae Beat magazine), Michael Garnice is also known for his Web site devoted to mento, a Jamaican folk style that was an early precursor to reggae. Since the 1950s, the island of Jamaica, with a population of less than three million, has produced a truly mind-boggling number of recordings relative to its population size. The author's stated mission is to help readers discover the highest-quality examples of all the various reggae subgenres he describes. [End Page 116] The author begins with a brief introduction, in which he addresses his reasons for writing the book and the challenges he sees as common misconceptions about reggae. This section also includes a list of frequently asked questions and a very helpful "Jamaican Music Roadmap," which provides a useful graphic detailing the history of Jamaican popular music from the 1920s through the first decade of the twenty-first century (p. 4). Garnice is upfront about the subjective nature of the book, declaring in the first few sentences of the introduction, "This book will write about the great songs amidst the tremendous amount of reggae that has been released, and won't waste time on anything less" (p. 1). The first chapter provides a minihistory of reggae and all its variants, including mento, calypso (not strictly Jamaican but still important in the development of reggae), Jamaican R & B, ska, rocksteady, reggae proper, dub, instrumentals, Nyabinghi (a sort of Rastafarian religiously themed folk music), DJ style, and dancehall, among others. Other chapters examine specific performers and producers, such as Bob Marley, whose work consumes seven of the fifty-plus chapters in this book. The chapters are arranged in roughly chronological order. Although the book focuses on certain songs, performers, producers, labels, and studios, taken together it serves as a highly informative history of Jamaican music in the twentieth century and the first few years of the twenty-first. Very apparent throughout the book are the author's deep love for and knowledge of this music, though the level of detail can be slightly overwhelming at times. Among the notable features of the book are the early chapters on mento and calypso. Mento, an indigenous Jamaican folk style, was particularly influential on the development of Jamaican R & B and, later, ska and reggae. Garnice accurately points out that reggae histories have tended to give short shrift to this crucial period, though this situation has changed somewhat in recent years with the reissue of a number of mento recordings, usually with informative liner notes and vintage photos. The author performs a valuable service by highlighting this sometimes-overlooked genre. While there is a broad discussion of the history of Jamaican music (specifically in the first chapter, "Jamaica's History of Great Records"), the heart of the book is the extremely detailed discussion of individual songs and artists. It lacks specific information on obtaining recordings, but between online retailers and digital music services, the vast majority of the songs included in the text should be easy to find (though there may be a few instances in which an original vinyl copy of the record is the only version available). Within the text of the individual song entries, the author provides many key details about...

Have the Algae-Grazing Fish in the Back Reefs of Jamaica and Grand Cayman Changed in Size? A View across 36 Years

The island of Jamaica is often cited as an example of how overfishing has dramatically reduced the sizes of coral reef fishes. To examine the change in fish sizes over a 36-year period, we analyzed data from systematic surveys conducted in 1977 and 2013/14 of the sizes and relative abundances of four common algae-grazing fishes in the shallow backreef habitats of Jamaica and Grand Cayman. The four species are: striped parrotfish (Scarus iseri), stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride), ocean surgeon (Acanthurus tractus) and the blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus). We predicted that all four species would be larger in Grand Cayman than in Jamaica in 1977 as well as in 2013/14, because Grand Cayman has been cited as having less fishing pressure than Jamaica. For the same reason, we expected all four species would have declined in size over the 36 years in Jamaica but not in Grand Cayman. Furthermore, we predicted that the compressed body shape of the ocean surgeon and the blue tang would have made them especially vulnerable to net and trap fishing compared to the two parrotfishes, and that accordingly the effects of overfishing would be greater in these two species. We rejected this hypothesis. The size distributions of the laterally compressed species changed significantly on both islands over the 36-year time span, although not as predicted. At both islands, the blue tangs shifted toward smaller sizes and the ocean surgeons shifted toward larger sizes. There were no size distribution changes detected in the two fusiform species. There was also no support for the prediction that the sizes of these four species were larger in Grand Cayman than in Jamaica during either time period.

JAMAICAN LEGISLATION AND THE TRANSATLANTIC CONSTITUTION, 1664–1839

AbstractBetween its first meeting in January 1664 and the final session held under unfree labour in December 1838, the volume of legislation passed by the house of assembly in Jamaica increased exponentially. As in Britain and Ireland, this reflected the growing administrative capacity and political power of the legislature and also the enormous demand for laws and law-making among local interest groups. The rise and fall of slavery and the slave society in the island was therefore underpinned in a large part by the power of its colonial legislature, which also operated within the broader transatlantic constitution structured by imperial politics and law. There was very little though to distinguish the house of assembly from others in British North America, at least in legislative terms, and even after the traumatic imperial disjuncture of 1783 the reformed transatlantic constitution continued to provide a supportive environment for the expansion of legislation within the island of Jamaica.

Island Modernity: Jamaican Urbanism and Architecture, Kingston, 1960-1980

This paper explores peripheral modernity in the island of Jamaica. Jamaica’s self-perception of being an island, as evidenced in texts and imagery, is not one that is peripheral, bounded, limited, small, or isolated. The trope of islandness, of interest to travellers and tourists, has been expressed both visually and textually, but it centers on being a tropical location as opposed to islandness per se. Although there has been a practical, literary and visual connection with the sea, the sea has not been portrayed as a separator but rather as a conduit and connector, no different from a continental coast. The process of modernization of Kingston, the island’s capital and main port city, strongly reflects this ‘un-islanded’ or ‘continental’ self-perception, challenging the notion of peripheral modernity. Kingston was not imagined as a periphery at all by those who embraced and implemented the modernization project. This was so even while Kingston’s hinterland, during the period under study (1960-1980), was largely rural, under-developed and poor. Kingston’s geographical position, as a mainland port on a relatively large island, by Caribbean standards, facilitated the imagining and implementing of modernity following continental models. These arguments are built on an examination of the separate but interconnected ideas and practices of architect Wilson Chong, and the architectural firm Shankland Cox, using technical reports and periodical articles as primary sources.

Organizational Culture Requirements for High Levels of Knowledge Usage From Learning Activities Among Hotel Managers

ABSTRACTThe goal of the present study was to determine the learning culture factors important to high levels of knowledge usage at work among hotel managers. Hence, 121 managers from 41 hotels on the island of Jamaica were surveyed and the data analyzed using correlational analysis. The researchers found that as learning culture at work strengthened, so did the extent to which the hotel managers used knowledge acquired from their education, training, experience, and networking to solve problems and innovate on the job. The researchers also found six learning culture characteristics important to high levels of knowledge usage among the managers, with the most noteworthy being interdepartmental collaborations.

‘By her unnatural and despicable conduct’: motherhood and concubinage in the Watchman and Jamaica Free Press, 1830–1833

ABSTRACTFrom the spring of 1830, the Kingston-based newspaper, Watchman and Jamaica Free Press, published a series of articles discussing the prevalence of interracial concubinage throughout the island of Jamaica. While many discussed concubines as the victims of white men’s lust, equally discussed was the role that mothers had in the continuation of this practice and the degradation of their children. Amid the movement for the abolition of slavery, respectable members of the free community of colour discussed concubines who engaged in interracial sex as unfit mothers and a hindrance to the social progress of the larger community of colour.

Greenhouse governmentality: Protected agriculture and the changing biopolitical management of agrarian life in Jamaica

This paper draws upon Foucauldian theories of governmentality and biopower to examine the recent growth of greenhouse cultivation on the island of Jamaica. Greenhouse farming has been widely promoted as a means to enhance the efficiency, technological sophistication, and profitability of the island’s traditional small-scale farmers. Following Foucault, and drawing on a series of interviews with greenhouse growers, we read this intervention as form of governmentality acting on the conduct and attitudes of Jamaican farmers. As a form of governmentality, greenhouse farming also represents a new and distinctive regime of biopower, one that intervenes with greater precision into the metabolism between the natural processes of the rural population and the vital properties of growing plants. Viewed as a form of biopower, the greenhouse calls particular attention to the ways in which assemblages of materials and technologies enable new forms of control and surveillance over the life processes associated with crop cultivation, thereby generating new kinds of affective relations and agrarian subjectivities. This capital- and chemical-intensive biopolitics, we argue, threatens to re-engineer Jamaica’s agrarian milieu in ways that favor elite agricultural interests at the expense of long-standing traditional farming practices and the forms of socio-ecological metabolism upon which they are based.