These are just a few reflections on some thoughts that I have had for a very long time now. Over the years, several little events have helped to keep these ideas alive in my mind. The main thread is that Jamaica has so much potential with regards to its culture, but we still have not realised it yet and are still even further away from learning to harness that cultural capital. One of the most memorable took place right here in Germany. I was in Berlin last Easter with my girlfriend and her family. We went out to one of the popular street markets they had, and there I found and purchased a very cheap copy of The Gold Collection by Peter Tosh. When I rejoined the group and showed them my prized possession, two German boys (around 14 years old) looked over my shoulder and said in German: "Peter Tosh! Cool! Where did yo find that?" You should have seen the fire in their eyes. I had expected them like the whole world to know Bob Marley, but that they knew Peter Tosh suggested another level of intimacy with the musical culture. We are great!! Last year when I stood in Rotterdam staring at posters announcing performances by T.O.K. and Buju Banton, the same thoughts invaded my consciousness. As more evidence, the number of on-line discussion boards or fora which focus on Dancehall music and Jamaican culture probably outnumber those on topics such as the war on Iraq.
Fortunately, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Culture has recognised this and their latest policy seeks to outline ways in which we can capitalise on this greatness. The policy document is no longer available on the website of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Culture, but can be read here (Towards Jamaica the Cultural Superstate) at the Portal de la Cultura de América Latina y el Caribe. Some people totally misunderstood the Ministry's proposal and objected to the superstate idea. This objection is no doubt influenced by the very bad examples we have had in the last and current centuries of political superstates.
There are millions of people around the world cashing in on Jamaican culture by reproducing and selling Jamaican related products, and Jamaica benefits in no way. I have always believed that if any money should be made from our culture we should be the ones to package, sell and benefit from it, but most Jamaicans have obviously not caught on. What we need is some way of communicating to the ordinary Jamaican, the huge demand for Jamaican culture, even for those things which we think have no value. On that point, I will have to mention Jamaican (Creole), a language with which many Jamaicans have a funny sort of relationship. It's a language they are very intimate with but which they are ashamed to present to the world. But while many Jamaicans continue to question whether Jamaican is a language thousands of people around the world are trying to learn the language from internet fora and websites and dancehall songs. There is definitely a demand!
This reminds me of something which struck me at one of th Fifa concerts which was held in Leipzig, Germany last year during the World Cup. The emcee was using some form of Jamaican Creole and Caribbean English even though he was talking to a multilingual/multinational crowd. The truth is that Jamaica has set the pace for such things as emceeing and people are scrambling to experience every piece of our culture that they can come in contact with.
When will we wake up and smell the coffee?
Joseph
De Walk-Bout Jamaican Bwoy
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
There and back again
I know I haven't written anything on my blog for so long, but it's not as if there are a whole lot of people out there dying to read what I write.
I am now back in Leipzig. Have been back from my US summer school trip for over a week now and trying to do the world of work. My sleeping pattern is not back on track yet. I have been waking up about 10 o' clock every morning and I feel as if I have lost so much of the day. The rest of the day is spent leafing through dictionaries and grammars (as usual) trying to work out a conference paper which will hopefully develop into a chapter of the dissertation.
The time in the US was hectic, but great!!. I got to travel to some places outside of Boston (Plymouth where the pilgrims landed; Maine, etc). The courses were okay too despite many of the boring teachers. But some of them were good presenters. I had a big problem though with the food - Hardly anything which could be called American tasted good, but that could just be my Jamaican tastebuds talking. I was saved by the Asians whose taste and quality could be depended on. I had no utensils to cook with, so for almost all my meals for the six weeks, I had to purchase from restaurants, supermarkets, etc. Good to be back 'home' and in my own kitchen.
The weather here isn't bad at all but it is getting a bit colder, still bearable though.
While in America I took the opportunity to buy numerous second hand books and even found time to read Tolkien's "The Hobbit". I also bought a copy of Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote de la Mancha" so I can read it again, this time in English.
For the good time I had thanks to:
Audene, Christine, Daidrah, Nicole - the ladies in my academic life
Michele - my academic sister
Victor - who opened up his home, library and brain to me to further my research
Christopher - who facilitated all those trips out of Boston, and made sure to check up on me from time to time (Danke schoen!!!)
Jo-Anne - the Trini who pulled the Caribbean posse together.
Ivor - who helped to solve one of my etymological riddles
Michel DeGraff - who offered a wonderful course and good friendship
Noam Chomsky (in his lectures) - who helped to clarify some things and confuse others.
AND ALL OTHERS
More time!
I am now back in Leipzig. Have been back from my US summer school trip for over a week now and trying to do the world of work. My sleeping pattern is not back on track yet. I have been waking up about 10 o' clock every morning and I feel as if I have lost so much of the day. The rest of the day is spent leafing through dictionaries and grammars (as usual) trying to work out a conference paper which will hopefully develop into a chapter of the dissertation.
The time in the US was hectic, but great!!. I got to travel to some places outside of Boston (Plymouth where the pilgrims landed; Maine, etc). The courses were okay too despite many of the boring teachers. But some of them were good presenters. I had a big problem though with the food - Hardly anything which could be called American tasted good, but that could just be my Jamaican tastebuds talking. I was saved by the Asians whose taste and quality could be depended on. I had no utensils to cook with, so for almost all my meals for the six weeks, I had to purchase from restaurants, supermarkets, etc. Good to be back 'home' and in my own kitchen.
The weather here isn't bad at all but it is getting a bit colder, still bearable though.
While in America I took the opportunity to buy numerous second hand books and even found time to read Tolkien's "The Hobbit". I also bought a copy of Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote de la Mancha" so I can read it again, this time in English.
For the good time I had thanks to:
Audene, Christine, Daidrah, Nicole - the ladies in my academic life
Michele - my academic sister
Victor - who opened up his home, library and brain to me to further my research
Christopher - who facilitated all those trips out of Boston, and made sure to check up on me from time to time (Danke schoen!!!)
Jo-Anne - the Trini who pulled the Caribbean posse together.
Ivor - who helped to solve one of my etymological riddles
Michel DeGraff - who offered a wonderful course and good friendship
Noam Chomsky (in his lectures) - who helped to clarify some things and confuse others.
AND ALL OTHERS
More time!
Friday, June 24, 2005
Philosophical ramblings...the story continues
'I guess we all have stories to tell and Asafa is doing his bit. In short, we all can tell the story of Jamaica and ourselves ... if we have the will!'
- Janneth Mornan Green
Of course, even over here in Germany, away from the native earth which I have trod for over two decades, I could not help joining in the excitement of Asafa's outstanding, record-breaking performance. It tells the story of a people who are definitely world-class. I celebrated by spreading the news with a broad smile. My Jamaican flag had been pinned to the wall in my apartment weeks before the world-changing run.
For a very long time now I have been concerned with stories. I normally pride myself on being from an age where story books without pictures can turn out to be even more exciting that those in which someone helps out (or probably limits) your imagination. Now I watch television to give my brain a rest from all the work I do.
There is this old man who I pass most mornings and evenings as I go to and from the Institute. He is always sitting there looking around but always says hello when I pass. It seems as if he is a bit senile, but I am sure he has a story to tell, and an interesting one too. But since my German is not at that level yet, I cannot hear his story.
In academia there is a common trend for researchers to theorise about people's culture, trying to fit it into their own frameworks without trying to understand it from the native (there is that troublesome word) perspective. Ask the people! You might be surprised at how much they know/or don't know and how they view the thing.
I see my story as inextricably wrapped up with the story of my country. My story can't be going all that well if my country's isn't. There is a need for more of the positive stories to be written to swamp and counteract the sea of negatives which is threatening to engulf us. The question for everyone at this time must be "what is my story and how does it fit into the bigger picture?"
Philosophising over, I have had a very busy week (that is a cliche now). Plus I am getting ready to fly to Boston (U.S.A.) to attend a linguistics summer school. The work never ends.
The story will no doubt continue there....
PS: I am now understanding the value of Advent Fellowship, Youth Class, Shamrock, etc. - you are all missed!
More time
De Walk-bout Jamaican Bwoy
- Janneth Mornan Green
Of course, even over here in Germany, away from the native earth which I have trod for over two decades, I could not help joining in the excitement of Asafa's outstanding, record-breaking performance. It tells the story of a people who are definitely world-class. I celebrated by spreading the news with a broad smile. My Jamaican flag had been pinned to the wall in my apartment weeks before the world-changing run.
For a very long time now I have been concerned with stories. I normally pride myself on being from an age where story books without pictures can turn out to be even more exciting that those in which someone helps out (or probably limits) your imagination. Now I watch television to give my brain a rest from all the work I do.
There is this old man who I pass most mornings and evenings as I go to and from the Institute. He is always sitting there looking around but always says hello when I pass. It seems as if he is a bit senile, but I am sure he has a story to tell, and an interesting one too. But since my German is not at that level yet, I cannot hear his story.
In academia there is a common trend for researchers to theorise about people's culture, trying to fit it into their own frameworks without trying to understand it from the native (there is that troublesome word) perspective. Ask the people! You might be surprised at how much they know/or don't know and how they view the thing.
I see my story as inextricably wrapped up with the story of my country. My story can't be going all that well if my country's isn't. There is a need for more of the positive stories to be written to swamp and counteract the sea of negatives which is threatening to engulf us. The question for everyone at this time must be "what is my story and how does it fit into the bigger picture?"
Philosophising over, I have had a very busy week (that is a cliche now). Plus I am getting ready to fly to Boston (U.S.A.) to attend a linguistics summer school. The work never ends.
The story will no doubt continue there....
PS: I am now understanding the value of Advent Fellowship, Youth Class, Shamrock, etc. - you are all missed!
More time
De Walk-bout Jamaican Bwoy
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Travelling is a bitch!!
Not two weeks ago, I went across the country to Freiburg to do a presentation on the language situation in Jamaica. I had to take the train which cost me something in the region of 140 euro. If the cost wasn't bad enough, someone got sick on the first leg of the journey and the train was delayed for about fifteen minutes so that the medical team could come for her. This of course threw off my schedule since I only had four minutes to connect to the next train. I ended up having to wait about half an hour or more for the next one.
When I got on and we started to move the conductor came around checking tickets and when I presented mine, he said something to me in German. "Ich spreche kein Deutsch", (I speak no German) I tried to say in my best best German which is worse I guess than hog a nyam coco to the native German ears.
Thank God there was a woman who was sitting right in front of me who offered to help; she spoke English. They carried on their conversation and she explained that I had taken the express train and had to pay extra - whole a 30 odd euro (even though the train's delay caused me to miss my connection). I unwillingly forked out the money. Minutes after the conductor returned and gave me back my money. Then I knew I was not in Jamaica. He said the station people could have informed him that there was a delay. He even went further to tell me what train to take in Frankfurt, etc.
Coming back two days later was no less eventful, since I went in and took my seat and had people staring at me. I found out eventually that seats had been reserved and I was supposed to look for an unreserved one. But, no, this lickle walk-bout bwoy neva git up. all I do was to close me yeye every time de train stop and pray dat nobody wudn come for the seat. Prayer does work!!
But then the whole experience made me think about the scores of people who leave Jamaica everyday, tek plane and don't have the slightest clue about travelling. But they seem to get by. It is a case of "Consider the birds of the air, they neither sow nor spin, yet our heavenly Father takes care of them' In fact, when I was coming over to Germany there were two females who were obviously coming over for the first time. They latched on to me. One of them I assume could not read and write at all since I had helped her at the immigration section to fill out her departure form (every last detail).
The three of us walked into the plane together. When I reached my seat and turned back round there was the other one complaining that she could not find her seat. I took her ticket and showed her that her seat number was 25K at which point Miss Mum tell me "No, the K is for kilogram". Gentle persuasion finally won her over in the end.
So why do I worry about travelling? Massa God will continue to tek care of what me don't know bout.
By the way, those of you are used to my usually comical "first-time-I-tried-to-find-the-SDA-church-I-got-lost story" will be glad to know that that was not the case yesterday. I found the street okay. It was just a problem of deciding whether the church was at the east end or the west end of the street. It amounted to over half an hour of walking.
More time!!
De Walk-bout Jamaican Bwoy
When I got on and we started to move the conductor came around checking tickets and when I presented mine, he said something to me in German. "Ich spreche kein Deutsch", (I speak no German) I tried to say in my best best German which is worse I guess than hog a nyam coco to the native German ears.
Thank God there was a woman who was sitting right in front of me who offered to help; she spoke English. They carried on their conversation and she explained that I had taken the express train and had to pay extra - whole a 30 odd euro (even though the train's delay caused me to miss my connection). I unwillingly forked out the money. Minutes after the conductor returned and gave me back my money. Then I knew I was not in Jamaica. He said the station people could have informed him that there was a delay. He even went further to tell me what train to take in Frankfurt, etc.
Coming back two days later was no less eventful, since I went in and took my seat and had people staring at me. I found out eventually that seats had been reserved and I was supposed to look for an unreserved one. But, no, this lickle walk-bout bwoy neva git up. all I do was to close me yeye every time de train stop and pray dat nobody wudn come for the seat. Prayer does work!!
But then the whole experience made me think about the scores of people who leave Jamaica everyday, tek plane and don't have the slightest clue about travelling. But they seem to get by. It is a case of "Consider the birds of the air, they neither sow nor spin, yet our heavenly Father takes care of them' In fact, when I was coming over to Germany there were two females who were obviously coming over for the first time. They latched on to me. One of them I assume could not read and write at all since I had helped her at the immigration section to fill out her departure form (every last detail).
The three of us walked into the plane together. When I reached my seat and turned back round there was the other one complaining that she could not find her seat. I took her ticket and showed her that her seat number was 25K at which point Miss Mum tell me "No, the K is for kilogram". Gentle persuasion finally won her over in the end.
So why do I worry about travelling? Massa God will continue to tek care of what me don't know bout.
By the way, those of you are used to my usually comical "first-time-I-tried-to-find-the-SDA-church-I-got-lost story" will be glad to know that that was not the case yesterday. I found the street okay. It was just a problem of deciding whether the church was at the east end or the west end of the street. It amounted to over half an hour of walking.
More time!!
De Walk-bout Jamaican Bwoy
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
I am finally in Leipzig
I am finally in Germany and the reception has been wonderful. My temporary apartment is lovely and I am trying to get through all the relevant paper work so they won't deport me. Knowing my luck, of course, my arrival could not have been uneventful.
Last night when I was unpacking my stuff, I realised that I did not have my (old and new) passports. I thought that probably Susanne, my supervisor had taken it out of the cart at the airport when she came to pick me up. She might have taken it up just before we went on the train to go and catch the taxi to take me to my apartment.
This morning I found out that she had not taken it up and we had to call the airport. Luckily they had found everything. We had to go all the way back to the airport to pick them up.
I am now writing to you from my own desk in an office shared with two other people. The Institute is absolutely wonderful. They really take care of you. I am happy - as is my supervisor - that I am finally here. The weather is bearable, and I hope it will either stay this way or get better.
More time!
Last night when I was unpacking my stuff, I realised that I did not have my (old and new) passports. I thought that probably Susanne, my supervisor had taken it out of the cart at the airport when she came to pick me up. She might have taken it up just before we went on the train to go and catch the taxi to take me to my apartment.
This morning I found out that she had not taken it up and we had to call the airport. Luckily they had found everything. We had to go all the way back to the airport to pick them up.
I am now writing to you from my own desk in an office shared with two other people. The Institute is absolutely wonderful. They really take care of you. I am happy - as is my supervisor - that I am finally here. The weather is bearable, and I hope it will either stay this way or get better.
More time!
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