A r a w a k publications – förlag

These translations, Between Two Silences, brought to us by two very competent and careful translators, Ann-Maria Bankay and Paulette Ramsay, will allow non-Spanish speakers to experience other dimensions of Caribbean life as well as other issues which preoccupy Caribbean women writers, from the perspective of a female writer from the Dominican Republic. Hilma Contreras Entre des silencious is an exciting new collection from an interesting author. Indeed, the issues which Contreras presents, as well as the liberty and stylistic devices which she employs, mark her as a writer of the first rank, not only in her own country but in the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America. There is an elusive, surreal quality to many of the pieces in the collection which is sure to fascinate readers, especially those unfamiliar Spanish Caribbean writing. Contreras favours ironic twists, surprise endings; there is often no closure. The stories and characters linger with you, to intrigue, to challenge, to disturb. Betty Wilson, Forward

Black Stalin: Kaisonian examines the career of the veteran calypso composer/ performer of Trinidad and Tobago. Stalin entered the calypso gayelle in 1959 and has been active there since then. The book traces in the socio-economic circumstances of his upbringing, the genesis of the abiding themes of his career-long Calypso. Being born into poverty in San Fernando, the town South Trinidad which boasts itself the industrial capital of the Trinidad, Stalin's youthful inward hunger generated that permanent interest in Trinidad¹s underclass who among whom one finds disproportionate numbers of Afro-Trinidadians. His abiding love for the expressive culture of the urban Afro-Trinidadian underclass is also rooted in this experience of growing up in the milieu of Black working class San Fernando where Calypso, the Steelband and mas¹ were the dominant artistic cultural practices. Although Stalin¹s Calypso has been shaped by national and international affairs and movements, it remains informed by and centred upon the issues deriving from the circumstances of his childhood and upbringing. Given this and his own deeply-ingrained for tradition, is it no wonder that Stalin chose the vocation of calypsonian even though the status of calypsonians enjoyed at best ambivalent status even among Trinidad and Tobago¹s proletariat. He embarked upon this career enthusiastically and slowly achieved national and international success and acclaim. Black Stalin: Kaisonian traces Stalin¹s development from apprenticeship at the South tent, his entry into Port of Spain and his encounter with Sparrow, his withdrawal, his tutelage under Tiger and Unknown, his subsequent reentry and acknowledging of Kitchener as mentor, his interaction with other emerging singers and finally his own emergence as patron and inspiration to a younger generation of singer. Along the way the book examines the issue of smut¹ in Calypso and the soca controversy of the late 70s and early 80s. In this way it provides insider insights into calypso practice, the operations of the industry, and the tangle of personal and professional relationships in the volatile community of calypso singers. Black Stalin: Kaisonian thus aims to be first calypso book to profile a calypsonian, discuss his work as expressions of his world view, and locate his work within the currents of the ever-shifting entertainment industry in general and of the calypso industry in particular. Of particular significance in this regard is the interview of 1985 which is presented as an appendix. This interview illumines the workings of Stalin¹s mind with respect to the Steelband and it allows readers to glimpse the creative process by which long-meditated thoughts are transformed into calypso. Interviews with Stalin conducted over several years constitute the major source of information for this book but this source of information is corroborated by personal observation, information gleaned from discussions with others and by information freely available in the public domain. Newspaper articles fill in the lacuna in Stalin¹s memory, especially where the forgotten material subverts the image he has invented for himself. Adding to the particular appeal of the book are the large collection of song lyrics.

In many parts of the world, blaming the media for any and all expressions of violent behaviour has become almost reflexive partly, because, the media have tended to exploit violence for their commercial advantage. Banning "explicitly sexual and violent content" (Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica) from the airways appears to many an obvious strategy to correct the perceived harm to audiences and society. For such a strategy to have any chance of working requires disentangling the complex matrix of factors which together produce what we call violent societies. This book is required reading for those who wish to go beneath the surface of the public noise about violence and media. It takes the reader into the motives behind media productions; it shows how audiences interpret what they watch and how meanings and the truth may be distorted in the process. The authors, by means of extensive and rigourous research, have been able to assemble a coherent view of this complicated topic.

CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgement and Dedication Map of Kingston & St Andrew Communities Introduction Chapter 1 Relevance of Community A theoretical framework Inner-city community as traditional Community gangs When is a crime truly crime Chapter 2 Social Exclusion and the Garrison Disrespect The garrison its emergence The garrison function and typology Chapter 3 Onslaught on the Community Criminalization and community disintegration But how come? The economic factor Criminalization by law and example A politics not of vision for nation but of power for party Parents, schools, state neglect of youth Approaching culture of violence, community collapse Chapter 4 The Community Approach to Homicide Three different approaches The PMI and its methods Outcomes Civil society, leadership and governance Conclusion References

The articles in this issue had their origins in 1998 with the Rastafari in Global Context Seminar of the Academy of American Religion (AAR). The seminar met annually for three years, with a dozen or so active participants who discussed issues and presented papers relating to the global context of Rastafari. We were an eclectic and interdisciplinary group, coming from fields as far ranging as religious studies, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, theology and literature. We were also an inclusive group, inviting onlookers and other interested parties to our meetings, and doing our best (but in the end failing) to also include Rastafari voices in our discussions. The Rastafari elder, Mortimo Planno, for example, agreed to attend, and was even offered a stipend by the AAR to offset costs, but was continually denied a visa by the US government. Over the course of time some participants in the seminar dropped out, and others, who had planned to publish papers with us, published elsewhere because they were working with especially time-sensitive data. Our hope is that these articles might serve as groundwork for additional research on Rastafari s global context, including specifically additional ethnographic work on the forms Rastafari takes in various communities worldwide, an increased emphasis on the dynamics and change within Rastafari as it continues to grow, and an increased self-awareness by scholars of Rastafari of how Rastafari s global context might reshape methodology.

Connecting the Dots: Anatomy of Verbal Interaction in Jamaican English Language Classrooms combines extensive ethnographic work on verbal interaction inside the Jamaican English language classroom with the contexts in which teachers of English receive their professional training in Jamaica. The text will not only enrich our understanding of the forces that help to shape teachers of English, but will also enrich our understanding of English language pedagogy by showing how patterns of talk in the classroom intersect with the philosophies of language teaching and learning emanating from teacher training institutions and the extent to which what emerges is mediated by other contextual factors. No other book has featured the comprehensive ecology of verbal interaction that Connecting the Dots provides. It should be an important addition to the body of educational literature in the Caribbean. Undergraduate and postgraduate students of applied linguistics, teacher educators, teachers of the English language arts, as well as anyone else with an interest in the dynamics of classroom interaction will find this book to be a useful and vital resource.

Richard Harts book is the study of the means by which the British Government and the mainly white planters and merchants in Jamaica maintained their control for centuries over the mainly black working class and peasant masses and the emerging coloured middles classes in Jamaica. It gives a detailed history of the colonial militia, the regular armed forces, the law courts and enforcement legislation, the constitution and constitutional developments, and the process of indoctrination designed to, as far as possible, cement imperial loyalties and facilitate government by consent. The author has drawn on public records available in the National Library and the National Archives in Jamaica and in the Public Office in London and the Library of Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and has made use of contemporary writings and recollections of persons responsible for exercising these controls. This is the only existing comprehensive study of the machinery of control of this former colony, and will be of use to teachers and students of the history of the English-speaking Caribbean region and of British imperial policies.

The title Children in the Line of Fire emerged from a series of annual lectures given by the author entitled Violence and the Jamaican Child prepared for an undergraduate course on Caribbean Social Problems at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, between 2002 and 2005. The title underlines the fact that children in Jamaica are not just caught up in the literal cross hairs of guns and other forms of violence, but are figuratively in the line of fire from all of the major systems that make up the fabric of the society, namely from the macro (societal) perspective, the mezzo (community) perspective, as well as the micro (individual and family) perspective. The book argues that children, who are often described as soft targets in the ongoing crossfire involving various warring factions and systems, are some of the most serious casualties of the ongoing violence, and opines that, as a developing country aspiring to move into the twenty-first century, the entire Jamaican society and, by extension, Caribbean society, must be made to understand its role (in the short-term) in the protection of our children. At the same time, it suggests that in the medium and long term there must be a concerted and committed effort to understand the nature of the violence against children in all its dimensions so that its effects on children can be reduced and eventually eliminated in order to protect and safeguard our society s future. (For the case studies mentioned in the book, all names have been changed to protect the individuals, and place names are referred to as regions only.) This book sets out in a detailed and systematic yet non-sensational manner the effects of violence and trauma in all its forms on children, adolescents and their families. It also sets out a blueprint for what the different sectors of the society must do in order to stem the scourge of violence sweeping across the islands of the Caribbean, consuming the most vulnerable sectors of our societies and the region s future, our children. The arguments put forward in the book suggest that Jamaican society and by extension the Caribbean has been inattentive to the impact of violence and other social problems on the mental health of its children. If one assumes that an important criterion for measuring a country s development is its ability to protect its most vulnerable, the author opines that the country and the region are in danger of being in a state of persistent underdevelopment a condition which the region can avoid with sound prevention and intervention policies. A nation that cannot protect its children is a nation that is in trouble, and one that can never truly be said to have developed, regardless of the economic indicators that may say otherwise. The purpose of this book therefore is not just to examine why there is so much violence against children but also to examine the factors that create obstacles to the children s protection. The uniqueness of this book stems from the fact that it provides the reader with basic, easily readable information. This information ranges from the anatomy of violence that is, the types of violence affecting children and families, the number of children and families affected to the causes of the violence, how it develops, and how children become violent adults. Other issues discussed include the motives behind the violent acts and the issues surrounding the violence that make the Jamaican situation unique. The book also addresses the most frequently asked questions about violence affecting children, such as what are the underlying community and societal issues fuelling violence against children and their families.

A Sense of Belonging is a personal account of a British born woman of Jamaican descent who migrated from England to Jamaica, her parents homeland, and found it to be a place which she can truly call home. She tells of her Jamaican childhood in England, her discontent with the subtle forms of racism in the British education system, the search for her identity, her wrestles with the decision to move from England to Jamaica, and of the challenges she faced to begin her new life in Jamaica with its traditions and culture that she was raised to honour and respect. It gives some insight into why one British born Jamaican identifies with the island of Jamaica and questions whether the British born person of Jamaican or other West Indian descent will ever be truly accepted as Black and British in the UK.

From a volcanic landscape and a colonial confine, these poems celebrate icons, beginning with Barak Obama, in elegant tone and muscular rhythm.

This book, 'Competitiveness of Small Nations: What Matters?' helps us to better understand the question Why do some small economies enjoy a higher level of national competitiveness and economic growth while other similar small economies lag far behind in their national competitiveness and growth performance? The book reports on a benchmarking study which looked at the level of competitiveness of selected economies with the aim of better understanding the factors that led to the wide disparity in the levels of competitiveness of economies which have similar economic structure but disparate levels of economic performance. The novelty of the book lies in its approach to the benchmarking method. It follows the MASI methodology of grouping countries based on their similarity and then identifying the most competitive country in that group a better basis for comparison when doing a benchmarking study. Unlike other studies which for the most part merely argue for a replication of competitiveness policies from other jurisdictions, this approach takes into consideration the countrys resource constraints and the limit to which it can implement competitiveness policies in order to improve its level of national competitiveness. Competitiveness of Small Nations provides a new perspective on how we should actually benchmark a nations level of competitiveness.

The Cycle of Life is an effort at analyzing the thoughts and actions that make up the personhood of the individual as she or he lives out the interval of time from the womb to the tomb - the tomb being symbolic of the various forms of exit from the scene of life. The author's reflections of life's cycle affirm that existence can have meaning for individuals from the moment they become uniquely identifiable through the names they are given at birth. What our names mean for us continues to be shaped by upbringing and by our own thoughts - to which we give expression in various ways. These reflections on the cycle of life present life as a unified whole.

How is identity claimed, contested and sustained? This book looks at retentions, reconstructions and reverberations of identity in a colonial Caribbean setting. It is uncomfortable and impressionistic ethnography of life on the island of Montserrat leading up to and including the present day volcanic eruptions. It explores Montserrats existing colonial identity and emerging postcolonial identity drawing upon examples from local poets. Calypsonians and historians; controversial development and trade union struggles; and the impact of tourism and colonialism on the island Black Irish identity claims and the celebration and/or commemoration of St Patricks Day in particular. This book will appeal to Anthropologists, Sociologists, and Cultural Studies and Caribbean Studies scholars, as well as those involved in and concerned for the reconstruction of Montserrat the place and Monsrat the people.

The book offers description and assessment of the Jamaican language situation. It is aimed at providing basic information for interested laypersons as well as students of language and also at counteracting traditional social and linguistic prejudices, which are seen as affecting the usual assessments of the situation. Proficiency is essential for Jamaicans in view of its important role both within the island and internationally, but mastery of Standard English often falls short of the ideal. Some reasons for this failure are explored in the book. Its simple style is designed to enhance its appeal to the average reader. Topics specifically discussed include the functions of English and Creole (Patois) in the society and attitudes to these varieties, the origins, development and present state of English in Jamaica, the role of language in education and various proposals for taking Creole into account in classroom teaching. Although the main focus is on the Jamaican situation, this is also set within the framework of English worldwide and of developments outside of Jamaica involving the use of Creole.