Bocas Lit Fest - 100 Books That Made the Caribbean

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BBC - 100 Books That Shaped Our World

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Ateacher of English said recently to a CSEC class, "Almost every politicalworld leader for the past seventy years has read the book Animal Farm, that iswhy it will be studied in this class. You will thank me later."

If webelieve this experienced teacher, then by its reputation alone, that 144 pagenovella will continue to be one of the most influential books in the world forgenerations to come. It will continue to make persons aware and wary of groupsthat seem to want to be positioned to control and exploit them. 

At the conclusionof my examination of the most influential books published in Jamaica or writtenby Jamaicans after the year of independence in 1962, I have identified 28 booksthat changed the course of society. These books have been a clear mirror revealing something that is important to the society and, if not for the book, wouldhave remained obscured. The reaction of the society to a book tells us what is important to its people.

The Examination

Bynecessity, publications that influence Jamaica include those that are publishedoutside of the country and those that were published centuries ago,nevertheless, I created an artificial bubble from 1962 to 2022, a period thatcovers three generations and examined whether those books directly influencedlife in the country, and also considered what they are divining for the year 2052,thirty years from now.

Each bookthat was examined had to be published after 1962, thereafter another test wasapplied and books placed in one of two categories. Test 30, published 30 years ago, before 1992 and Test 20, published 20 years ago after 2002.

Children'sBooks

VicReid, C Everard Palmer and Jean D'Costa's children's chapter books have been apart of the primary and secondary school reading lists since the 1970s. LongmanCaribbean published VicReid's Young Warriors in 1968 and Jean D'Costa's Escape to Last Man Peak in1975. Palmer's A Cow Called Boy and was published in 1973 by Bobbs Merrill andMy Father Son Son Johnson in 1974 by Deutsch. The Ministry of Educationpublished Sprat Morrison in 1972 The outlook of these books is children beinguseful heroes within families and communities, respecting and paying heed to wisdomof elders. Although these books are well known by anyone educated in the publicsystem, none of the characters or situations in these books has made it intosong or stage play or statue. By virtue of this, none stand out as having madea very strong mark on the culture, but collectively, they would have done so asthey reinforce themes that are in the schoolrooms. These books are within Test 30.

I havenot, as yet, found a children's book that was published after 1992 that hasshown up in another art form, but many are used as textbooks, following the wisdomthat children must see themselves in books. Some of these are: No Boy LikeAmanda (2013 Becky T Books);  Inner City Girl by Colleen Smith Dennis(2009 LMH Publishing). Both are critically acclaimed, but have not spawnedother aspects of the culture. This would therefore qualify them under Test 20.

AnanseBooks

I amseparating this category from children's books because these titles are alsoresource materials for adults who work in education and the arts. The earliestcollection of Jamaican Ananse stories was Annancy Stories in 1899 by PamelaColeman Smith published by R R Russell New York, and with a little effort I believethat I can identify a publication of Ananse stories published in every decadebetween that time and 2022! Leading authors such as American historian andnovelist Zora Neal Hurston, former Chancellor of the University of the WestIndies Phillip M Sherlock, journalist and writer Andrew Salkey and of course folkloristand writer Louise Bennett all published Ananse story collections. For a periodin 1973, Salkey's book Anancy's Score published by the revered AfroCaribbean publisher Bogle-:L'Ouverture,UK, was among the top books requested by the Jamaica Library Service.

Thereare many recent references to Ananse, and here are a few.

January2023, Lecturer in Professional Studies and General Education at Church TeachersCollege Nadine Newman's short story Brer Anancy and di COVID Chrismus dance waspublished in the Gleaner with illustration by Dudley McLean.

In 2022,Communication Strategist Basil Jarrett's column “Anancy and corruption” put thefolk hero into the near future when he ended his column, "If for example,we are to accept that Anancy is to be blamed for so much of our corruptionills, then the fact that our kids are being raised with no idea of who he is,or what on earth is a Tacoomah, means a reduction in our high corruption indexmay be coming soon. Don't be so quick to break out the champagne yet, though. Idon't know what is the bigger existential threat. Anancy the spider? Or theseinfernal TikTok videos."

February2023, Anancy and Pinocchio is staged at the Courtleigh Auditorium.

Letterto the Editor, August 2023 compares Anancy to a trickster in business andcybercrimes.

Newspaperpublisher Lloyd B Smith writes in January 2023, “Welcome to the land of Anancy”and says, “It remains to be seen or determined how much these tales of"jinalship" and "bandoolooism" have infiltrated ournational psyche to the extent that in today's Jamaica Anancyism has become anational pastime, even while Anancy himself is one of our unofficial nationalheroes.”

TheNtukuma Storytelling Foundation founded by theatre practitioner Dr AminaBlackwood Meeks, with the Jamaica Library Service has staged the weeklong AnanseSoundsplash storytelling conference and festival every November since 2012. Theaim of this festival is exactly opposite to other interpretations of Ananse.The figure is seen as an inspiration for imagination and to connect withAfrican heritage in the most positive ways.

The folkfigure remains a recognisable figure throughout the decades, but that the preferredspelling by users is Anancy rather than the preferred spelling in academia, Ananse,tells us that the earlier books describing the trickster element of the folkhero is the major interpretation.

Novels

Under Test 30, There is one novel that has beenread across the generations, The Children of Sisyphus by Orlando Pattersonpublished by Bolivar Press, Kingston, in 1964. The book has had an impact as itis a core text at the university and Sixth Form levels for readers to gain an understanding ofpoverty and survival in a poor urban situation. It details the challenges of awoman who occupies the lowest rung in society and the men who surround her. 

The book is used as a metaphor or allegory for the struggle and hardships suffered by the poor who have no support.

Itwas used in many surprising ways, including as text for JCDC speech finals. 

In July 2022, architect and conservationistPatricia Green made reference to the book while talking about the plight of thepoor who are still being left behind in development initiatives. She said,"In West Kingston, the very poor squatted in"Back-o-Wall/Dungle," the rubbish heap portrayed so poignantly byOrlando Patterson in his book The children of Sisyphus."

In 2012 Rev Devon Dick’s newspaper column chidedsociety for policing expletives as, "There appears to be double standardsbecause in Orlando Patterson's novel Children of Sisyphus, there are wordswhich could be called indecent and students had to study the novel." In2019 after those words were used by the valedictorian of the Edna ManleyCollege, he returned to the discussion citing the book again but concluding,"expletives are not for valedictory speeches".

In July 1994, the Stella Maris Dance Ensemblecreated a full length dance based on the book. It was choreographed by MonicaLawrence, Nicoleen DeGrasse-Johnson and Patsy Ricketts. This was at a time when therewas still national outrage and sadness on deaths of young persons caused by or whilein the custody of government agencies. About ten years afterwards, Jamaica establishedadditional laws to protect the public including the Police Civilian OversightAuthority (2006), the Childcare and Protection Act (2004); Programme ofAdvancement Through Health and Education (PATH) (2002). Independent Commissionof Investigations (2010). Aside from this dance, overall, the book is frequentlyreferenced but not quoted.

The other novel I suggest under Test 20 is TheLunatic by Anthony Winkler, published by Kingston Publishers in 1987. The storyis remembered for the relationship between a lunatic and a woman from acompletely different culture, it plays on the theme of the uneducated Jamaicanman who enthrals a foreign woman and who gets caught up in situations. A moviewas spun off this book in 1990 by Island Pictures.

Other Artistic Books

This book is on the border line of being accepted.Smile Orange by Trevor Rhone was published as a play in 1974, and 13 years afterwards,1987 Longman Caribbean Writers published it as a book, so it was famous as aplay before it was parlayed into a book. The history of the play started with aJCDC gold medal in 1974 and then the play ran at the Barn theatre inKingston into 1975 then was made into a movie that played on local televisionand then went to video, so publishing is the last step. The reason it is hereis that it is successful as a book as it is on the textbook list. 

Jamaica Labrish by Louise Bennett was published bySangster's Press in Kingston in 1966. This book of poems written in JamaicanCreole is a staple of the dialect genre for performances and competitions forchildren and adults. Characters and situations have travelled through time suchas Uriah in the poem Uriah Preach, Love Letter, Colonization in Reverse, MissMary Turkey. The photo of Miss Lou on the cover of the book was recreated forthe statue installed in 2018 in her home town, Gordon Town. Her face from thecover is also in a mural on the PBCJ building in Half-Way-Tree. The fashion ofher costume has been recreated for collectable dolls. This book qualifies as asolid Test 30.

Jamaican popular music is heavily influenced byfolk music and a part of this is because over the years, folk music fromJamaica has been recorded and scores published. The great name in folk musicpreservation is Olive Lewin. In the 1970s she published three collections offolk songs for use in schools. They are: Alle Alle Alle, 12 Jamaican FolkSongs; Brown Gal In De Ring; and Dandy Shandy 12 Jamaican Folk Songs forSchool. The publisher was the Oxford University Press. The books provided thematerial for schools and performing groups and this spun off new musicalarrangements and other publications. Popular songs from her books that havetravelled through time are the brukins favourite, Jubilee, Adam in the Garden;the revival song Keyman; Dandy Shandy; and the ring game Thread O. Today, ringgames are a staple in Jamaican early childhood learning and socialisationactivities.

Now, it may be argued that Dandy Shandy is animmensely popular ball game on the grounds of primary schools and that the bookby Olive Lewin had no role in perpetuating its presence in the culture. Thatsaid, I cannot ignore that there is an annual 1990s themed dancehall stage showcalled Dandy Shandy staged by Renaisance Disco DJ Jazzy T and held in Jamaicaand the USA. 

I also cannot ignore that in 1978, the German discogroup Boney M recorded the hit Brown Girl in the Ring.  Time Magazine's100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time has Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ringpublished in 1998 by Warner Books. This gives the book Brown Gal in Di Ring aTest 30 pass as due to the prevalence of the song in the culture, and the songwas kept alive by Lewin's book. 

Starting in 1985, photojournalist Ray Chen's bookJamaica was published by Firefly Books. By 1995, this became a photo essay bookJamaica: The Beauty and the Soul of the Land We Love published by Ian RandlePublishers. His captures were done lovingly and without nostalgia of Jamaicarural and urban, powerful and powerless, nature and urban.

Memoirs

The books by Michael Manley which started with ThePolitics of Change, A Jamaican Testament in 1974 published by Andre Deutsch, UKpresented a world view of a powerless nation determined to strike out on itsown and making a success on all fronts. Mr Manley was the Prime Minister andthe book was directed to anyone within the sound of his voice and it energizednot only the political class but the electorate with a sense of pride and globalpurpose.

Of popular music he said, “Urban poverty has atlast asserted its own reality and troubadours of ghetto misery, frustration andhope have emerged. The search for self-confidence demands the organisation of training,economic opportunity and constant mass exposure for all these artists so that atotal dialogue with the society can be assured.”

Speaking of Education, his words seem to foreshadowschool-based assessments. “Simultaneously, the syllabus should provide forgroup tasks which need to be tackled together and which call for co-operationfor their successful implementation. With a little thought it is not difficultto evolve a whole series of activities beginning at the earliest age which involvechildren co-operatively.”

In the closing chapter Mr Manley says, “There arethousands of young people who need to feel part of a larger national adventure.Today’s younger generation realizes that international relations represent thenew arena of opportunity and that our external dialogue dos not condition ourinternal polity.”

In addition to the writings, the book wasaccompanied by the fashion sense of Mr Manley. In his article on the Karibasuit of Ivy Ralph, JT Davy notes that in the book, Manley said that wearing ajacket and tie was “the first act of psychological surrender in the colonialtrauma”

There was an update to the world view with the 1987Up The Down Escalator, Howard University Press, when Mr Manley was out of power,and this was also published by the same press. The books stand as brave,outspoken ideas which Jamaica feels it has the right to hold in the face of thetimes. Aside from the writings of Marcus Garvey, there is probably no other politicalleader whose publications are known and used in public discussions.

It is undeniable that within the pages of thesebooks is the urgings of building an independent society with a central placefor the young and the dispossessed. This would have been internalised by thefollowing generations of elected representatives and social scientists.

Looking back on a privileged childhood, RachaelManley's Drumblair series spells out a breathtaking era of family life behindthe scenes of Jamaica's most influential family. Published between 1998 and2008 by Vintage Canada, Key Porter Books, the series is Drumblair: Memories ofa Jamaican Childhood, Slipstream: A Daughter Remembers; Horses in her Hair, AGrandaughter's Story.

 Wilmot Perkins, journalist, was a reader ofpolitical books and articles and his commentary, written and broadcast, helpedto shape the public discourse for decades. One of the books that he referenced,constantly, was Detained: 283 Days in Jamaica's Detention Camp, Struggling forFreedom, Justice and Human Rights published in 1977 by Kingston Publishers. Thecover of the book of the former Senator looking out from behind prison bars isthe most poignant takeout from the book in discussion. It is a symbol of theexcess of state power over seemingly privileged persons. It is referenced inarticles about states of emergency when journalist Erica Vitue interviewed MrCharles in 2021, columnist Gordon Robinson and Frank Phipps remembered theperiod in 2019 and others. This places it for me in Test 30.

Born Fi Dead was published in 1996 by CanongateBooks. I have snuck it into my discussion although the author, LaurieGunst, is not a Jamaican person, but her memories of 10 years being associatedwith the Jamaican underworld refreshed the poverty and crime genre from thetime of Orlando Patterson in the 1960s and the movies the Harder they Come in 1972s,Countryman in 1982, The Lunatic in 1991, all by Island Pictures. The book transformedthe view of the urban poor of a simple sufferer into a malevolent being who wasdamaging to society, Third World Cop in 1999 was a maw though which theunderworld was seen with new eyes and the production company followed this withShottas in 2002. Books which were inspired by Born Fi Dead include A BriefHistory of Seven Killings by Marlon James which won the Man Booker Prize in2015.

Academic

Any book recommended for a curriculum will becomean influential book, and there will be books that are specific to subject areasand I stand back on being able to give any realistic view on their impact. Thatsaid, I will touch on a few that I believe would have influenced legislationand policy.

My Mother who Fathered Me: A Study of the Familiesin Three Selected Communities of Jamaica by Edith Clarke published in 1957 byAllen & Unwin can be said to have had unintended consequences. The Gleanerheadline of 1958 called it "A guide to aiding the masses".  Ithas become synonymous with romanticizing the single mother of Jamaica and thatmost children in Jamaica do not know their father. Sociologists such as DrOrville Taylor and Dr Herbert Gayle have tried to explain that Clark's studyshowed that 30% of homes with children did not have fathers, and that thefamily structure was being affected by migration for work. Nevertheless, themyth meets the culture of deifying motherhood, so it persists. This book is asolid Test 30.

Essays on Power and Change in Jamaica edited byCarl Stone and Aggrey Brown and published by the Jamaica Publishing House in1977 is famous for the line in the essay by Stanley Reid, "the concentration of powerand control of the corporate economy lies in the hands of minority ethnicelites and is mainly dispersed through 21 families and their interest groups.”Thirty six years later, In March 2013, Everton Pryce in a column revisited thestir that the essay caused with the summary that despite populism and access toeducation and advancement of rights and social security supports, the oligarchyis still in place today. The research application that led to the conclusionsin that essay was and still is a firm plank on which discussions about race,class and the legacy of slavery and colonialism are examined and extended. AnotherTest 30 by its ongoing referencing in commentary,

It isfitting that I follow on with the 1998 publication of the book In MiserableSlavery, Thomas Thistlewood in Jamaica 1750-1786 by Douglas Hall and publishedby the University Press. This book provides 30 years of the direct voice of aslave plantation owner from his own memoirs. It details the horrors of slaveryalongside the complexity of human emotions. So detailed were his writings overa generation that the book is a wealth of information about the society andeven the weather, so much so that climatologists have used it as a source tounderstand climate change in Jamaica. The book has helped to support calls forreparations making it a Test 20.

ThePeople Who Came series of three textbooks for junior secondary years of schoolwas first published in 1968 and is still available and still used. Thetreatment of the material for the young will be towards holding and respectingthe societies and its systems, not at that age, to take a strike for justiceand roll towards change. Written by Alma Norman and Kamau (Edward) Braithwaite.

Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, was published in 2012 by The Bible Societyof the West Indies. Over the past twelve years it has become integrated intoChristian festivals across denominations, such as Christmas services, but notused in regular study of scripture. The book utilises the academic spelling andgrammar set out in the Dictionary of Jamaican English, and this use is notwidespread although the dictionary has been around for 60 years.

So let us go to the Dictionary of Jamaican English published in 1962 bythe Cambridge University Press and compiled by Cassidy and LePage. Linguistshave not yet successfully convinced the education system to adopt its use inteaching. A part of the reason is that people are writing the Jamaican languagewith chaka chaka spelling, according to Professor Carolyn Cooper. Duringthe COVID-19 pandemic, some health materials were prepared by the governmentusing spelling prescribed by the dictionary, but this has not persisted. Mostmaterials use English or a mix of patois and English.  So after 60 years,the dictionary is still being used and it is the standard.

I am not sure if The Jamaican Driver's Guide, first printed in 1966by Cliff Hylton at his printery, Rex Printing and Stationery Co, is a truepublication but it has served the cycling and motoring public for nearly 60years. A second book is Automotive Technology Questions and Answers. In2006, the publishers said that there were about 40,000 copies of this book soldper year. It is the reliable road code book and following the new road actcoming into effect in 2022, it is due another update.

Policymakersshould use data to suggest policies and legislation for the future. TheStatistical Institute of Jamaica has published the Population and Housing Census, 1960, 1970, 1982, 1991, 2001 and 2011.The country is already at a disadvantage that one was not published in 2021.

The Economic and Social Survey Jamaica first published in 1958 and theJamaica Survey of Living Conditions first published in 1989 are annualpublications of the Planning Institute of Jamaica using data collected acrossministries departments and agencies and some from the other reliable sources.The longevity of the publications provide a sense of stability in the countryand reliable benchmarks for engagements with international developmentpartners.

Conclusion - (Work in Progress)

These books have helped to shape a society that still is traditional in values as evidenced by the children's books used in schools. From a political perspective, the idea that the government must be paternalistic and look out for you is seen in the writings of Michael Manley and also reinforced by the children's books and academic writing. 

The beloved acceptance of the Drumblair series in how the family lived is quite a distance from the populist writing of its leading member and central spirit, Michael Manley. I think that this demonstrates that the elite is an accepted social form in modern Jamaica, and that it has its worth somewhere, just as the rural culture and urban sub-cultures have their worth and proud permanence.

The thread of anti colonialism is strengthened by In Miserable Slavery and the other academic books that place the West Indies as a new world place that is made up of creative and proud people who are not afraid to confront their history.

The folk songs are within every strand of popular music created by Jamaicans, and it traces back to the popularity of  - but not exclusively I am sure - the books of Bennett and Lewin.

Then there is Ananse/Anancy very much a part of the tapestry of Jamaican society and interpreted mostly in a negative way, but perhaps the folk figure has really been powering the spirit of ingenuity and individualism, of persistence and self preservation. He is derided and shunned, but still he rises, and if we believe he is here, then he is here by grace and nothing else.

While writing this, I became disturbed at the films that have been created from novels and popular films overall. To take a piece of what Mr Manley said in Politics of Change, "Urban poverty has at last asserted its own reality". They put in front of us the desperation of persons living on the edge.

PostScript

Not counted in this listare the speeches that had an impact such as Michael Manley's casual 1976reference to "Five Flights A Day" which ran through the country likewildfire, incensing citizens to emigrate.

 Another speech made inFebruary 1994 at a national consultation on values and attitudes was madepopular by the oft reporting of it on radio. "The fight for scarcebenefits and political spoils, has contributed to a polarised society operatingas hostile tribes perpetually at war."

By far, I think that thebook that has made the single greatest impact on society is the 1929 novel. TheWhite Witch of Rose Hall by HG Delisser. The book spawned a revival of Georgianstyle architecture with the refurbishing of Rose Hall between 1966 and 1971.

Barry Reckord staged a 1975play, White Witch of Rose Hall

 Tony Wilson's TheCompany Dance Theatre staged the ballet Rose Hall in September 1998.

Johnny Cash the countrysinger recorded a song, the Ballad of Annie Palmer.

In 2019 Jamaica's nationalcostume at the Miss Universe competition was Annie Palmer

White Witch is an eau deparfum made by Parfums Jamaica with a spell-binding bouquet of flowers and atouch of mandarin.

Test 30 published before 1992

Test 20 published after 2002