Life and Debt discusses the major themes of cultural identity, an influence of homeland, and a desperate desire for independence. Jamaica, on the outside to tourists, is a beautiful island to escape from the “boredom” or stress of their own lives, a place they can relax and party without a worry. Tourists also believe that the natives of Jamaica share the same simplistic lifestyle, when in reality the natives of Jamaica actually want to escape their own country, but unfortunately are too poor to go anywhere. Tourists are almost blind to the harsh realities that are taking place in Jamaica, the economic crisis that is causing most of the population to live in poverty and yet they do their best to satisfy the needs of the tourists. Jamaica is largely an agricultural economy over run by multinational corporations that are more like vultures that Jamaica can’t escape. The involvement of the United States of America and European countries are continually hurting Jamaica’s economy. The long term development that Jamaica …show more content…
But through the growing debt it eventually causes the economy to collapse. As a result of the collapsing economy they are in desperate need for a labor and the labor needed is in factories that are comparable to sweat shops and will only pay thirty dollars a week which is the legal minimum wage. American manufactures are bringing in material tax free that are essentially exploiting the workers. The United States of America and European countries exploited and used the Jamaican people for their own good of making a profit. Making it extremely hard for the natives of Jamaica such as farmers or businessmen to challenge or even come close to the United States of America and European
Fluorescent turquoise waters, a vibrant city culture, as well as an unending supply of mimosas and sunburns within a resort, benefits the common wealthy couple looking for a swell time. When people imagine the Caribbean, they probably visualize the soft sands of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Many people see the Caribbean as relaxing paradise. What people don’t understand, are the years of history hidden behind the mask of many resorts. In the book entitled “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day”, Author Carrie Gibson differentiates how people view the Caribbean nowadays, by altering their visualization with four-hundred pages of rich history and culture, that argues the ideology about the Caribbean
“Jamaica’s a country of great dichotomy. On the one hand you have a tourist industry with great beaches and resorts, but on the other you have such great poverty and the violence that goes along with that.”(Michael Franti) In this paper, I will talk about the geography, the history of Jamaica, the people that live there now and that lived there in the past, the lifestyle of the society, and the society, like the government and economy.
In document 10, it tells how the British traded a little for a lot, this means the British traded finished goods that the African people didn't have, like powder, bullets, iron bars, copper bars, brass pans, british malt spirits etc… for slaves “but in the main, with very little that is not of our own growth or manufacture”. In document 9, it shows Jamaica's (British colony)time span of the years 1703-1789 and how the slave population was at 45,000 at 1703 and now it's at 250,000 at 1789. Threw all of these slaves
The Caribbean is comprised of a group of island. Jamaica is one of the greatest Antilles. It has a tropical climate. Each country has its own culture, Jamaicans is not an exemption, and they have an assorted and distinctive one. “Their culture is a complex mixture of African, Arabic, European, East Indian, and Chinese roots combining together to create a rich, dynamic heritage” (Gall, 2009).
The majority of the nearly 500,000 slaves on the island, at the end of the eighteenth century endured some of the worst slave conditions in the Caribbean. These people were seen as disposable economic inputs in a colony driven by greed. Thus, they receive...
Living in two different places is an experience that opens people’s mind to a new way of thinking. The diversities of each country has its own appeal and often times, we find ourselves comparing and contrasting these nations based a variety of aspects. Despite bearing some minor similarities, the differences in geography, climate, tradition, and economy between the two countries, Jamaica and the United States of America are extensive.
In her essay, “Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean”, journalist Polly Pattullo presents an inside view of the resort industry in the Caribbean Islands, and how it truly operates. Tourism is the main industry of the Caribbean, formerly referred to as the West Indies, and it is the major part of the economy there. Pattullo’s essay mirrors the ideas of Trevor M.A. Farrell’s perspective “Decolonization in the English-Speaking Caribbean” in which he writes about the implicit meaning of the colonial condition. Pattollo’s essay illustrates that colonialism is present in the Caribbean tourism industry by comparing the meaning of it presented in Farrell’s perspective. In this essay I will explain how these two essays explain how decolonization hardly exists in the Caribbean.
The political and economic history of Jamaica is based upon its foundation as a slave colony. From the beginning, the colony was under Spanish rule that relied upon native slave laboring in the sugar fields. The first law to be implemented upon the island under Spanish rule was the Repartimiento, introduced by Governor Esquivel, the first governor of Jamaica. The law enabled colonists to apply for and receive special permission to use the natives for a period of time; forcing them into labors such as planting and logging (Bennett 70). Francisco de Garay, who became governor in 1514, enacted an other set of regulations called the Requermiento (The Requirement) (Bennett 70). This system was implemented with the basis that the colonists had to convert the natives to Christianity; Garay was hopeful that in doing so, the natives would “be tractable, properly maintained and live and greatly multiply” (Sherlock 70).
Situated just south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is well known as a popular tourist spot and the birthplace of reggae music. Populated initially by native Arawak Indians, who gave the island its name, “land of wood and water (Jamaica).” However, this beautiful land’s almost pristine beauty was shattered by outbursts of violence surrounding the 1980 political elections. This fighting was sparked by the people’s mistrust of the ruling socialist party at the time. The reasons for this fighting and this mistrust are not simple, they are intrinsically tied to the island nation’s history from the beginning of its colonial period five hundred years before.
Jamaica has been a land exploited and oppressed by white nations for much of its history. First colonized by the Spanish and then the British, it seems hard to imagine a time when it was just the native people living in peace and harmony with the land. Many years after the white man first jammed himself onto the beaches of Jamaica, reggae music was born. A continuing tradition, this easy-to-groove-to music style originated as a voice against this oppression; it was the peaceful islanders way of finally communicating their plighted history to all who would listen, or all who could appreciate a good beat. Much of this oppression came in the time of slavery; a period of nearly two hundred years where those of a dark skin were considered property of the light skinned ones, inferior in all ways. Most of their labor was on sugar plantations, an export that Jamaica was supplying much of the world with. Later in their history, it would be bananas that the British would learn to exploit.
...xtent will this essay bring about a change in Antigua? The Antiguan scene can only be modified by the government choosing to run the country in a more manner that will benefit everyone associated with Antigua, especially its natives. The native’s behaviours are related to their jealousy of tourists, and of the tourist’s ability to escape their own hometown to take a vacation. While a tourist can relate to the idea that the exhaustion felt after a vacation comes from dealing with the invisible animosity in the air between the natives and themselves, having this knowledge is almost as good as not having it, because there is nothing that the tourist, or the reader, can really DO about it! If Kincaid’s purpose is solely to make tourists aware of their actions, she has succeeded. If Kincaid’s purpose is to help Antigua, she may not have succeeded to the same magnitude.
The Caribbean countries are not taking this lightly. Fortunately they are bringing together intelligence and police forces as well as customs experts in order to combat the problem. However, the article goes on to mention that these are impoverished countries battling against wealthy crime organizations. Who has more power? Along those same lines, an additional cause for concern is the possibility that these same crime organizations may seek political positions or strong-arm Caribbean country governments so that they can effectively operation without much interference. Many members of these crime organizations have been educated in crime in the north and have been deported back to their homelands. This makes for far more sophisticated criminals than their local counterparts. Jamaican authorities say that a great deal of their criminal activity and high per capita murder rate is solely attributed to the problem of deportees.
The British had quite an impact on the economic, political and social development of Jamaica. One important factor here was the slave trade, which took place not only in Africa, but Jamaica as well. England’s government was also a big factor in influencing the political ways of Jamaica. Before Jamaica was conquered by England, it had a military government, but England installed a civil government based on the principle of the right of the governed to have a voice in the making of laws. At this time King Windsor ended martial law and appointed a twelve-member council of Jamaica.
In the 1970s, the country’s former prime minister signed a loan agreement which ultimately led Jamaica to over four billion dollars in debt to the World Bank and IMF. This ultimately caused a sinking economy of low valued imports and sweatshops are destroying local businesses and agriculture. In the video, we see workers who are working gruesome six-day-a-week work schedules to receive the legal minimum wage of only $30 in US money for the entire week. Many women have protested against the poor compensation, and have been fired from their jobs; being placed on a blacklist preventing them from ever getting work again. The country’s ports are lined with the factories of high profile companies, ...
According to the ‘World Tourism Organization’ (UNWTO), the tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, as it is estimated that by the year 2020, 7.8 billion people (roughly a quarter of the world’s population) will embark on a foreign trip (Bennett & Gebhardt 15). The Caribbean is said to be the most economically dependent on this industry, as the ‘Caribbean Tourism Organisation’ states that the industry forms the “economic backbone of most countries in the Region”(“Caribbean Tourism Industry” 1), implications for what tourism’s affect on the region have arisen and have prompted further research into matter. Since the 1970’s research regarding tourism in the Caribbean has attempted to determine the social, cultural, environmental, and economic impacts of tourism. Much of the research has found that there are in fact many negative adverse affects, and Jackson’s article asserts that, “Governments often commit money and other resources to support the growth and development of tourism and often turn a blind eye to its negative impacts” (574). The reason why tourism looks attractive (and thus turn a blind eye) to these Caribbean countries is because of “its potential to foster GDP growth, to create employment, to increase foreign exchange earnings, and attract capital investment” (Daye, Chambers, and Roberts 2). This paper will overview such impacts by first discussing a case study conducted in Jamaican resort town, Ocho Rios, with Sheere Brooks discussing the observed social, cultural and economical consequences of Jamaica’s reliance on the tourism industry and will finally look at tourism in relation to capitalism, with Robert Fletcher suggesting in his article that the tourism industry (and more specifically...