Sounds of the Citizens: Dancehall and Community in Jamaica

Acknowledgments

  ix Acknowledgments This project has been the result of the generosity of so many people that it is hard to know where to begin saying thank you. First I need to express my deep gratitude for the residents of Craig Town and Perry Town and to the employees of Wicked Times, who opened their lives, homes, and offices to me. I wish I could call you all out by name, but I am most certain that you know who you are anyway! Beyond this group, without which none of what followed would have been possible, I need to thank so many members of my shifting and expanding academic community, who provided encouragement and feedback from the very beginning. While I attended the New School for Social Research, Deborah Poole of the Graduate Faculty was a fabulous advisor, who pored over innumerable project proposals and early drafts with her keen eye for detail. Don Robotham, at the City University of New York, Graduate Center, grounded my research in a deep understanding of Jamaican culture and politics while also facilitating many personal introductions that proved invaluable to the completion of the research and, of course, which were always offered with an exceptional warmth and sense of humor. Gage Averill, then at New York University, allowed me, an unknown student from an alien university, to register with him for an independent study in ethnomusicology in the African diaspora that expanded my focus beyond the anthropological training I had received, and then he continued to serve as an advisor as I completed my fieldwork and wrote up my research. Steve Caton was encouraging and supportive of the direction my work was taking as an early proposal advisor and as an always positive and constructively critical voice, and Norman Stolzoff was kind in his willingness to accept a phone call from a neophyte graduate student seeking advice on conducting fieldwork on dancehall in Kingston. Donna Kerner, my undergraduate advisor at Wheaton College, has been a wonderful guide through the world of academic anthropology; I was fortunate to have received my earliest education in the discipline from such a warm person and thoughtful scholar. Jaime Bradstreet, anthropologist, x SOUNDS OF THE CITIZENS sometime research assistant, and longtime friend, also provided both emotional and academic support to me as I worked at this project. During my fieldwork in Jamaica, beyond the residents of Guy Town, Patricia Anderson of the University of the West Indies, graciously shared space in her home with me as I settled into the life of a researcher in Kingston . She was welcoming and encouraging and even took the time to remind me to take care of myself because of the stress I might be under. She also facilitated my affiliation with the university, which allowed me access to the excellent libraries and archives and the helpful staff. When it became clear I would need a research assistant to help with my fieldwork as I adjusted to Jamaican English and navigating unfamiliar spaces, she introduced me to two graduate students who would work with me during the first half of my stay. Patrick Peterkin, who I now consider a lifelong friend, is one of those people, and Richard Pasley is the other. Even beyond those great gifts, Pat’s niece Camille Daley was the first person I met upon my arrival in Kingston. She picked me up at the airport and took me on a trip through the KFC drive-through before dropping me off at her aunt’s house. Camille is also someone who was a wonderful interlocutor about Jamaican culture and someone who exposed me to the joys of “uptown” life, as someone who was spending most of her time below Halfway Tree. She also included me in her own research activities, inviting me to documentary film shoots and lectures throughout my stay. Clinton Hutton opened the doors of his office to me on several occasions to discuss my observations and is a great asset to the students at UWI. The late Barry Chevannes welcomed me to sit in on his lectures on Caribbean culture, a once-in-alifetime experience that seems even more significant now that he is gone. Ifetayo Fleary, my friend, a Canadian Exchange Student at UWI during the time of my study, was also a wonderful sounding board as we navigated our year in Kingston from very different perspectives, hers as a member of the diaspora and mine as a Euro-American newcomer. The time I spent with...