In 2008, a new style in Jamaican dancehall music and dance culture known as "Daggering" emerged. Daggering music and dancing, which included lyrics that graphically referred to sexual activities and a dance which has been described as "dry sex" on the dance floor, took Jamaica by storm. The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica was forced to crack down on broadcasting and cable stations preventing them from playing any Daggering content. This article focuses on the subsequent clash between the government and the dancehall, and seeks to identify an appropriate method for monitoring and enforcing these new standards.
Studies of political change on Grenada have invariably centred on the activities of T. Albert Marryshow in the period immediately after World War I. Drawing on the rich data available from contemporary newspapers, this paper argues that Donovan's efforts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provided the impetus and framework for Marryshow's later struggles. In fact, Marryshow himself admits Donovan's contributions to his political growth. The "first of the Federalists", Donovan preached federation long before the concept was fashionable. Embracing a broad approach to the island's situation, both activists linked local demands for change to the plight of Africans worldwide. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT];
An essay is presented on the relationship between black U.S. feminist literature celebrating author Zora Neale Hurston and U.S.-Caribbean cultural linkages, and the U.S. invasion of the Caribbean during the 1980s. According to the author, black feminists' attempts to reclaim the Caribbean through Hurston contributed to a neoliberal vision of the Caribbean which excluded Grenadian revolutionaries. Grenadian government debt and depictions of the Caribbean in popular culture are discussed.
"Haiti's New Bad Boy President," "Carnival King is New Leader of Haiti" are just two of the headlines in local and national news. Many Haitians here in the U.S. feel that the newspapers are making a spectacle of the election of Michael "Sweet Mickey" [Michael Martelly] to the highest political office in Haiti, the Presidency. Martelly beat his opponent Lady Mirlande Manigat, 67.57 percent to 31.74 percent but in accordance with the electoral process complaints can be filed up until April 16 when the votes will be closed. His flamboyant attire and sometimes raucous performances endeared him to some but distanced him from others. At first, his notoriety as an entertainer made it almost impossible for him to be accepted into a party to declare his political aspirations and to be thought of as a viable candidate.
State Rep. Marie St. Fleur, lauded by Haitians across the U.S. for her pioneering role as the nation's first Haitian-American lawmaker, gained further strides in the Massachusetts Legislature in 2003. A key lieutenant to powerful House Speaker Tom Finneran, St. Fleur was once again elevated to a leadership position, this time as chairwoman of the Legislature's Committee on Education.
Probes the anticipated implementation challenges of the freedom-of-information (FOI) law in Jamaica, and the lessons Ghana stands to learn to improve on its FOI bill, currently at a deliberative stage. The lack of transparency in government or the public sector as a result of lack of access to governmental or public information will be tackled in this study.
Unpacks a politics of life at the heart of community-based disaster management to advance a new understanding of resilience politics. Through an institutional ethnography of participatory resilience programming in Kingston, Jamaica, explores how staff in Jamaica's national disaster management agency engaged with a qualitatively distinct form of collective life in Kingston's garrison districts.
Cohen,Marc J. (Author) and Gauthier,Amelie (Author)
Format:
Pamphlet
Publication Date:
Mar 2011
Published:
Real Instituto Elcano de Estudios Internacionales y Estrategicos
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
7 p., Following the 20 March 2011 elections, Haiti faces a potential political stalemate whilst confronting the massive reconstruction needs created by last year's earthquake. Many organizations have criticized the government for its lack of leadership in addressing pressing issues of relief, relocation and reconstruction. This paper analyses the effects of the political situation on aid effectiveness, good governance and the strategies of the international community.
An excerpt from by Winston James' book Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century America (London: Verso, 1998) is presented
Argues that geography and geology sparked the Haitian earthquake, but the extent of the destruction was due to the massive failure of Haitian institutions, in particular the state, and international policy, which predated the earthquake.
With stark income inequalities rooted in its dual currency economy, Cuba is taxing down high and unearned incomes, while trying to raise national productivity and official salaries through performance-related pay and labor restructuring. Such measures are portrayed as an abandonment of socialism, but in Cuba are discussed in terms of historic socialist debates about distribution and the balance of moral and material incentives at work, in a society still characterized by common ownership, social protection, and collective debate.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
396 p., In 1804 French Saint-Domingue became the independent nation of Haiti after the only successful slave uprising in world history. Before Haiti explains the origins of this free colored class, exposes the ways its members both supported and challenged slavery, and examines how they created their own New World identity from 1760 to 1804.
Benedita da Silva, the first black vice-governor of Rio de Janeiro, is profiled. Through her efforts to keep hope alive for impoverished Brazilians, laws were recently enacted to protect the rights of Rio's street children and domestic employees.
Examines the impact of the Universal Negro Improvement League (UNIA) on the British colony of Bermuda where the majority black population was segregated and disenfranchised while white elites enjoyed total political and economic power. The efforts of UNIA leaders like Marcus Garvey made UNIA a global organization and strongly influenced Caribbean regional politics. Attention is given to the impact of tourism which became Bermuda's primary industry in the 1920s when blacks were evicted from their homes to make room for white resorts.
This article elaborates on some important concepts in the matter of abortion, the issue of revelant legislation, and ends with pertinent recommendations. Adopting a bioethical perspective, the paper addresses the relevant issues and perspectives on abortion and argues for clarity of concepts and understanding of the context in which a woman is pregnant and considers abortion.
Grasmuck,Sherri (Author) and Pessar,Patricia R. (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
1991
Published:
Berkeley: University of California Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
247 p, The material success achieved by individual migrant households contrasts starkly with increasedsocio-economic inequality in the Dominican Republic and polarized class relations.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
547 p, "Variations in preference convergence and issue evolution explain the impact blacks had on U.S. policy more so than variations in organizational power. An analysis to other ethnic groups is also examined."
Recalls the revolution which occurs in Haiti in August 1791. It recounts that the liberation of the African Haitian people, establishment of the Haiti Republic and the end of the dreams of Napoleon for a French-American Empire in the West are the effects of the revolution. It tells that Haitians accomplish independence in Latin America, become the second independent nation in the Western hemisphere, and the first African American republic in the modern world due to their liberation.
Congressman Gregory Meeks who represents the Sixth Congressional District of South East Queens, home to a large Haitian migrant population, also expressed his concern about [Jean-Bertrand Aristide]'s removal from office and the role the United States, might have had in the affair. "I'm one who thinks that Aristide had some problems in the country. However, I believe in the institution of democracy and that we needed both sides to sit down pursuant to the CARICOM agreement," he told the Gleaner. Other members of the delegation who called on Secretary General [Kofi Annan] were Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California; Kendrick Meek from Florida; Donald Payne - New Jersey; Major Owen - New York; John Conyers - Michigan and actor and human rights activist, Danny Glover.
-, Do they know that the "democratically elected" president they are defending didn't abide by the rules of democracy? Do they know that he condoned violence and assassination, including that of journalists? Do they know that kidnapping for ransom were ordered by the chief to fill up his coffers? Do they know that Haiti became a haven for drug dealers under the watch of their "democratically elected" friend? It won't be long before the truth comes out concerning the crimes that have been committed in the name or at the command of [Jean-Bertrand Aristide]. The defenders of the "humble priest of the shanty-towns" will have much explaining to do about the new multimillionaire status of their man. Anyway one cuts it, it's a major scandal of corruption and embezzlement for a president whose monthly salary was $10,000.
"This is just the first step. We need to put Haiti on our agenda," said Fred Logon, a member of Black Voices. "In terms of the policy, we need a movement that will force the Obama administration to take a progressive approach to Haiti. I hope we can increase the importance of Haiti to the world at large. " "Haitians are very conscious for the need of education," [Leon Pamphile, Ph.D.] said. "The country is pretty much divided between city dwellers and countryside. If parents don't have money to pay for their children's school, there is no public school for them." "Americans have looked at Haiti as an example of what happens when Black men lead government," Pamphile said. "Haiti is always under the burden of having foreign loans, but now this is being forgiven."
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
213 p., Examines the need for international solidarity with grassroots movements in Brazil and throughout the African diaspora. Intertwined with the everyday happenings of a social movement currently underway in Brazil, the author conveys an in-depth sense of the women who drive the community movement in the neighborhood of Gamboa de Baixo in Salvador (Brazil).
Bermuda's Progressive Labor Party, supported by the island's black population, won a second term in general elections on Jul 24, 2003, but Jennifer Smith, who led the party to victory, has been ousted by a rebel Cabinet faction that claimed she was too autocratic and aloof.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
250 p, Drawing from a wide spectrum of disciplines, the essays in this collection examine in different national contexts the consequences of the "Latin American multicultural turn" in Afro Latino social movements of the past two decades.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
221 p., Chronicling the period from the abolition of slavery in 1888 to the start of Brazil's military regime in 1964, Romo uncovers how the state's nonwhite majority moved from being a source of embarrassment to being a critical component of Bahia's identity.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
179 p., This report supports the development of a Haitian state-building strategy by identifying the main challenges to more capable governance, evaluating existing plans for strengthening government institutions and improving the delivery of public services, and proposing a realistic and carefully limited set of critical actions. The recommended priorities, in the areas of public administration, justice, security, economic policy, infrastructure, education, and health care, merit the greatest degree of Haiti's and international donors' policy attention and financial commitment.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
48 p., Examines black history from 1968 until 2008, discussing race relations around the world, apartheid in South Africa, genocide in Rwanda, the assassination of Martin Luther King, affirmative action programs, Hurricane Katrina, artists and important figures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Includes sections on "Black and British" and "Caribbean independence."
Hall,Kenneth O. (Author) and Chuck-A-Sang,Myrtle (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
2011
Published:
Georgetown, Guyana: Commonwealth Secretariat
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
503 p, pt. 1. Globalization and CARICOM external policy options -- pt. 2. South-South cooperation -- pt. 3. External trade negotiations: concerns and convergence -- pt. 4. Caribbean imperatives and concluding reflections.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
315 P., A historical and ethnographic case study of the politics of cultural struggle between two traditionally subordinate ancestral groups in Trinidad, those claiming African and Indian descent. Viranjini Munasinghe argues that East Indians in Trinidad seek to become a legitimate part of the nation by redefining what it means to be Trinidadian, not by changing what it means to be Indian.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
The Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL) is an independent, non-partisan think-tank dedicated to strengthening Canadian relations with Latin America and the Caribbean through policy dialogue and analysis. It seeks to create new partnerships and policy options throughout the Western Hemisphere through its promotion of good governance, economic prosperity and social justice.