DanceHall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

DanceHall: From Slave SHip to GHetto SonjaH Stanley niaaH University of Ottawa Press Ottawa © University of Ottawa Press, 2010 All rights reserved. The University of Ottawa Press acknowledges with gratitude the support extended to its publishing list by Heritage Canada through its Book Publishing Industry Development Program, by the Canada Council for the Arts, by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through its Aid toScholarly PublicationsProgram,by theSocialSciences andHumanities Research Council, and by the University of Ottawa. library and archives canada cataloguing in publication Stanley Niaah, Sonjah, 1970– Dancehall : from slave ship to ghetto / Sonjah Stanley Niaah. (African and diasporic studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7766-3041-0 (bound).–isbn 978-0-7766-0736-8 (pbk.) 1. Dancehall (Music)–Social aspects–Jamaica–Kingston. 2. Dancehall (Music)–Jamaica–Kingston. 3. Popular culture–Jamaica–Kingston. 4. Kingston (Jamaica)–Social conditions. 5. Inner cities–Jamaica– Kingston. i. Title. ii. Series: African and diasporic studies F1874.S72 2010 306.4’84246097292 C2010-903490-2 printed and bound in canada livication In subverting the hegemony of English as used in the academies of theWest,Iwishtotitlemydedicationa“livication,”inthespirit ofthe Rastafariluminarieswhohavecontinuallyshownustheneedtoquestionourhistoryandtowriteourown .Intransformingthe“ded”(dead) in dedication to its opposite, (a)live, I invoke Rastafari cosmology and linguistic protocol in my few words of praise: Every tree wants to bear fruit Every flowering plant wants to bloom Every human be beautiful and be seen to be beautiful Every created thing wants to know its beauty. Thisbookislivicatedtoallthosewhohaveeverknownbeauty,tothose who want to know beauty and to the revolutionaries who will not stop until every hu(e)man being knows his or her beauty. It is also: For my father hero, Levi George Stanley, who taught me to strive for heights beyond the sky, and Pearline Codner (née James), Naomi Blackhall, John Blackhall (father and son), and Rebecca Blackhall (dancer, Revival bands member), who was present when I entered the world. This book lives because of You. Ashe! ...