Stories about Jamaica from January, 2006
The Caribbean Single Market
It's rare to find Caribbean bloggers across different islands talking about the same issue at the same time, but one would have thought that yesterday's historic signing in Jamaica of the document ratifying the Caribbean Single Market (CSM), might have created a little buzz. That, however, is exactly what it...
Caribbean: BlogHer's site launches
BlogHer's new “internationalized” site is now online, with Karen Walrond covering Latin America and the Caribbean.
Caribbean: The Taíno & Catholicism
Indigenous issues blog Voice of the Taino people links to an article entitled “Christianity, Capitalism, Corporations, and the Myth of Dominion”, noting that the “Roman” Catholic Church still has not properly addressed the call by the Taíno and other Indigenous Peoples world wide for the revocation of the 1493 Inter-Ceatera...
Jamaica: We're not the only homophobes
MadBull takes issue with the notion that Jamaicans are more homophobic than the citizens of other Caribbean islands, noting the uproar in Grand Cayman over the government's decision to allow passengers from an all-gay cruise ship to land in the island.
Caribbean: McWatt wins literary prizes
The Caribbean Beat Blog announces that Guyanese writer Mark McWatt has taken both the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best first book in the Canada/Caribbean region, and the prestigious Casa de las Americas prize for Caribbean literature in English or Creole.
Caribbean: Does “pre-Columbian” also mean Chinese?
JT at the Caribbean Beat Blog writes about the “ancient-looking map” which turned up last month, suggesting that a Chinese admiral may have visited the Caribbean before Columbus.
Caribbean: Musical collaborations
The Dancehall Blog notes some of the collaborations happening between artists from different Caribbean islands. Among those involved in inter-island projects are Kevin Lyttle of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Spragga Benz, Macka Diamond, Mr. Vegas and Elephant Man from Jamaica, Machel Montano and Denise Belfon from Trinidad & Tobago,...
Jamaica: Art show in Beijing
Simone Champagnie links to an article about an exhibition of Jamaican art and sculpture which opened last week at the Jamaican Embassy in Beijing, China.
Jamaica: Dog-sled team
The Caribbean Beat Blog reports that Jamaica now has a national dog-sled team which competed in a meet in Scotland this past weekend.
Caribbean: Introducing Indigo Leaf magazine
Karen Walrond unveils her ambitious new venture, a Salon.com type web site called Indigo Leaf magazine featuring work by writers and artists previously unpublished in the US.
Jamaica: Homosexuality & politics
Stunner attempts to set the record straight on Jamaica's attitude toward homosexuality. “Yes homosexuality is illegal in Jamaica,” he says “and it ought to remain like that! Like me most Jamaicans believe that it is wrong, immoral and nasty!” And Scratchie offers an overview of the political scene.
Jamaica: Church hypocrisy & prime ministerial hopefuls
CoolDestiny is put off by the hypocrisy shown by her former church in its refusal to handle the funeral of a woman on the grounds that she was an “informal commercial importer” (also known in Jamaica as a “higgler”). The church claimed the funeral would attract “patrons [who] would smoke,...
Jamaica: Restorative Justice
Jamaica Express announces a lecture on Restorative Justice in Jamaica taking place on Thursday 19 January at the Ames Courtroom, Harvard Law School at 7:30pm. The event is sponsored by the Berkman Center and the featured speakers are Kevin Wallen, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and Courtney Kazembe, who, according to the...
Jamaica: Arrests in Steve Harvey murder
Andrés Duque links to a Jamaica Gleaner report which states that arrests have been made in connection with the murder of AIDS outreach worker Lenford “Steve” Harvey. Harvey was abducted from his home by gunmen and shot last November.
Jamaica: Robotics team wins
Jamaican robotics instructor and pioneer Marvin Hall reports on the Jamaican robotics team's experiences at the Northern California FIRST LEGO League, where they were the recipients yesterday of a Judges’ Award. The Jamaica team was the Caribbean's sole representative at the event.
Jamaica, Cayman: Damien Marley concert
Grand Cayman-based Jamaican blogger Mad Bull reviews a concert by budding superstar Damien Marley, the youngest son of Bob Marley.
Jamaica: Calabash Literary Festival
The Caribbean Beat Blog links to an article on the 2005 edition of Jamaica's Calabash Literary Festival, describing it as “a detailed and entertaining look at what sounds like the most successful Calabash yet”.
Caribbean: A blogger's book awards
For the fourth year in a row, Trinidadian Nicholas Laughlin publishes the “Nicholas Laughlin Book Awards” for Caribbean books — “i.e. books written by Caribbean authors, set in the Caribbean, or otherwise of particular Caribbean interest”. As interesting as the selections is Laughlin's analysis of his own reading patterns over...
Caribbean: Caribbeing
“In this CSME time. In this time of dancehall self-righteousness versus soca wutlessness. In this time when Trinis don't want to hear about “small islanders” reaching to the Billboard charts with soca music. In this time when Haitians still call out for our help and we still studiously ignore them....
11 key moments in [Anglo-]Caribbean blog history
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE IS preserving copies of many early blog pages, but most bloggers are too busy posting to think about otherwise documenting what they're doing. The history of the blogosphere goes back barely a decade, but evolution has been rapid, and bloggers who were around just three or four...
Trinidad/Jamaica: Creole into Chinese?
Caribbean-born sci-fi writer Nalo Hopkinson announces on her blog that two of her novels are to be translated into Chinese. “I wonder how they will deal with the creoles,” she says, “including the one that's a mashup of Trinidadian and Jamaican?”
