Sounds of the Citizens

Anne M. Galvin

Description

Dancehall: it's simultaneously a source of raucous energy in the streets of Kingston, Jamaica; a way of life for a group of professional artists and music professionals; and a force of stability and tension within the community. Electronically influenced, relevant to urban Jamaicans, and highly danceable, dancehall music and culture forms a core of popular entertainment in the nation. As Anne Galvin reveals in Sounds of the Citizens, the rhythms of dancehall music reverberate in complicated ways throughout the lives of countless Jamaicans.

Galvin highlights the unique alliance between the dancehall industry and community development efforts. As the central role of the state in supporting communities has diminished, the rise of private efforts such as dancehall becomes all the more crucial. The tension, however, between those involved in the industry and those within the neighborhoods is palpable and often dangerous. Amidst all this, individual Jamaicans interact with the dancehall industry and its culture to find their own paths of employment, social identity, and sexual mores.

As Sounds of the Citizens illustrates, the world of entertainment in Jamaica is serious business and uniquely positioned as a powerful force within the community.

Sujets

• Musique
• Culture musicale
• Caribbean Studies
• West Indies
• Popular Culture
• Histoire
• Economics
• Caribbean
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826519801
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sounds of the Citizens
Sounds of the Citizens
Dancehall and Community in Jamaica
Anne M. Galvin
Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville
© 2014 by Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville, Tennessee 37235
All rights reserved
First printing 2014
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cover design by Cheryl Carrington
Text design and compostion by E.T. Lowe, Nashville, TN
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file
LC control number 2013039759
LC classification number ML3532.G35 2014
Dewey class number 781.646097292—dc23
ISBN 978-0-8265-1978-8 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-8265-1980-1 (ebook)
For Ellen and Brendan Galvin, my parents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. “Money Move”: The Sociality of Circulation, Violence, and Respect
2. “Give thanks for that man deh fi di place”: Patronage, Power, and Shifting Burdens of Care
3. Dancehall Dilemmas: Sounds from the Disquieted Margins
4. “Got to mek a living”: Dancehall as Industry
5. The Contradictions of Neoliberal Nation Building in Jamaica: Community Development through Dancehall
6. The Long View
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
This project has been the result of the generosity of so many people that it is hard to know where to begin saying thank you. First I need to express my deep gratitude to the residents of the communities where I lived and worked, and to the employees of Wicked Times, who opened their lives, homes, and offices to me. I wish I could call you all out by name, but I am most certain that you know who you are anyway! Beyond this group, without which none of what followed would have been possible, I need to thank so many members of my shifting and expanding academic community, who provided encouragement and feedback from the very beginning. While I attended the New School for Social Research, Deborah Poole of the Graduate Faculty was a fabulous advisor, who pored over innumerable project proposals and early drafts with her keen eye for detail. Don Robotham, at the City University of New York, Graduate Center, grounded my research in a deep understanding of Jamaican culture and politics while also facilitating many personal introductions that proved invaluable to the completion of the research and, of course, which were always offered with an exceptional warmth and sense of humor. Gage Averill, then at New York University, allowed me, an unknown student from an alien university, to register with him for an independent study in ethnomusicology in the African diaspora that expanded my focus beyond the anthropological training I had received, and then he continued to serve as an advisor as I completed my fieldwork and wrote up my research. Steve Caton was encouraging and supportive of the direction my work was taking as an early proposal advisor and as an always positive and constructively critical voice, and Norman Stolzoff was kind in his willingness to accept a phone call from a neophyte graduate student seeking advice on conducting fieldwork on dancehall in Kingston. Donna Kerner, my undergraduate advisor at Wheaton College, has been a wonderful guide through the world of academic anthropology; I was fortunate to have received my earliest education in the discipline from such a warm person and thoughtful scholar. Jaime Bradstreet, anthropologist, sometime research assistant, and longtime friend, also provided both emotional and academic support to me as I worked at this project.
During my fieldwork in Jamaica, beyond the residents of Guy Town, Patricia Anderson of the University of the West Indies, graciously shared space in her home with me as I settled into the life of a researcher in Kingston. She was welcoming and encouraging and even took the time to remind me to take care of myself because of the stress I might be under. She also facilitated my affiliation with the university, which allowed me access to the excellent libraries and archives and the helpful staff. When it became clear I would need a research assistant to help with my fieldwork as I adjusted to Jamaican English and navigating unfamiliar spaces, she introduced me to two graduate students who would work with me during the first half of my stay. Patrick Peterkin, who I now consider a lifelong friend, is one of those people, and Richard Pasley is the other. Even beyond those great gifts, Pat’s niece Camille Daley was the first person I met upon my arrival in Kingston. She picked me up at the airport and took me on a trip through the KFC drive-through before dropping me off at her aunt’s house. Camille is also someone who was a wonderful interlocutor about Jamaican culture and someone who exposed me to the joys of “uptown” life, as someone who was spending most of her time below Halfway Tree. She also included me in her own research activities, inviting me to documentary film shoots and lectures throughout my stay. Clinton Hutton opened the doors of his office to me on several occasions to discuss my observations and is a great asset to the students at UWI. The late Barry Chevannes welcomed me to sit in on his lectures on Caribbean culture, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that seems even more significant now that he is gone. Ifetayo Fleary, my friend, a Canadian Exchange Student at UWI during the time of my study, was also a wonderful sounding board as we navigated our year in Kingston from very different perspectives, hers as a member of the diaspora and mine as a Euro-American newcomer. The time I spent with her and our dear friend Paul Johnson, gone much too soon because of an act of gun violence, was notably time well spent. Lygia Navarro, Beth Fladung, and Themis Chronopoulos are each important friends who joined me during various parts of my fieldwork, and who, in their own ways, shaped my experience as a researcher. For that I am thankful.
When I returned to New York, Lauren Leve helped me reorient myself as her teaching assistant and provided much good advice as I looked to the next phases of my research and of my career. She also introduced me to David Graeber, who sat with me in a Greenwich Village diner and discussed how I might develop my chapter on community economics. My cohort at the New School also provided continued encouragement through the writing process. Erin Koch, one of the best friends a person could ever hope to have, read more drafts than I care to count and fielded more panicked phone calls and text messages than I care to admit. Other interlocutors and friends from the New School who require my gratitude are Karolina Follis, Simanti Dasgupta, Lois Woestman, Laura Roush, and Sarah Orndorff. Robert Kostrzewa was also always an encouraging voice as I applied for research funding at the New School. It is, in part, because of him that I was awarded the dissertation fellowship that allowed me to embark on my field research. Just one step beyond my life at the New School, Caroline Yezer has been, in turn, both a wonderful intellectual and social coconspirator who always allows me to bend her ear.
In the final phase of the project, Barrett P. Brenton and my other colleagues at St. John’s University provided motivation, support, and friendship. I also need to commend the Center for Teaching and Learning at St. John’s and the Writing Center for creating faculty writing retreats that provided quiet space and productive company as I worked on revisions. St. John’s University also awarded me a summer support of research grant that funded one of my follow-up trips to Kingston and granted me course reductions that facilitated my having the time to finish this book, the completion of which was also crucially aided by the wonderful, constructive comments of the two anonymous reviewers who provided feedback and by Eli Bortz who has been a terrific steward of this process.
I also need to thank the numerous friends who drew me out of my, at times narrow, academic world and into the real world when I needed it. In particular, Joe Keilch, an excellent DJ, and a better friend, enabled me to enjoy cheap and much-needed nights out at the Rub when I was living as the cliché broke graduate student. His friendship and encouragement have been a very important part of my life since the time we met back in 1992.
My parents, Ellen and Brendan Galvin, have been exceptionally patient and generous during this entire process. Beyond the typical support parents provide, they also paid close attention to the issues related to my project and frequently sent e-mail and newspaper clippings alerting me to popular coverage of my topic. Their sustenance and advice has helped me immeasurably as I completed this project and in life.
Thanks also to Bill, Diane, and Molly Galvin, who welcomed me to join them on my first trip to their favorite place. I must especially acknowledge the efforts of my uncle Bill Galvin, who accompanied me on my initial journey to Kingston so that I might discuss the possibilities of this project with faculty at UWI. I am so appreciative that he took that trip with me.
Lastly, I need to express gratitude to Harold Butler, my always-optimistic husband, who insists on showing me the bright side of every situation, and who popped his head into my office as I was writing this, handed me a cool glass of water, and asked, “What can I do to help?” He has patiently encouraged me through the times I have been away on extended research trips and during the times when I didn’t know where my job search would take me, as well as when I needed to close the door to my office behind me in order to concentrate. He even humors my obsession with pit bull rescue. I have, indeed, been very, very lucky.
I am afraid that there must be omissions to these acknowledgments. If you feel you have been left out in error, please contact me directly so I can issue you a personal apology! While this project could not have come to completion without this broad community of support, any errors or om