Stephen Vasciannie

Last Thursday, the University of the West Indies (UWI) served as the venue for another in the series of presentations offered in connection with the publication entitled The Jamaica Human Development Report 2005. This report, subtitled 'Global Challenges: A World of Opportunities', is concerned mainly with the concept of globalisation and the impact of globalisation on Jamaica.

Although globalisation is largely an economic phenomenon, it has implications in various other areas of life, and so, it was fitting that Barry Chevannes, Professor of Anthropology at the UWI, should offer his reflections on 'Globali-sation and Culture' at last week's public lecture. At the event, Ms. Dianne McIntosh of the United Nations Development Programme (the UNDP) and Dr. Wesley Hughes, director-general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, also offered carefully considered remarks on the nature of globalisation and its role in contemporary affairs.

Global Connection

Professor Chevannes, in his outstanding presentation, acknowledged the economic foundation of globalisation, but noted that we should be careful not to conflate globalisation with the economic forces that drive it. For Chevannes, the economic forces driving globalisation include free movement of capital, free trade as the new orthodoxy, and the philosophical support for these developments coming from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation.

These features, Chevannes notes, are different from globalisation; again, for Chevannes, the key feature of globalisation is really the interconnectedness of states and peoples, driven by developments in technology. He also emphasises that one significant implication of the philosophy of globalisation now in vogue is that poor countries are placed at a disadvantage in international economic relations; clearly, this manifestation of globalisation has prompted scepticism in what Chevannes, quoting Nettleford, describes as "the two-thirds world". The combined personal wealth of the two richest men in the First World exceeds the combined national wealth of the poorest 40 countries in the world Chevannes points out.

Rural Heartland

The main strength of Professor Chevannes' presentation was his perceptive and comprehensive analysis of Jamaican culture today. I can hardly begin to do justice to this aspect of the presentation in a brief overview, but some of the features of Jamaican culture highlighted by Professor Chevannes include the following:

The national cultural identity of Jamaica is built mainly on the lives of the so-called lower classes in society, and this cultural identity has at its foundation the rural communities throughout the island.

Some of the main developments essential to Jamaica's sense of identity, especially with respect to race and music, are innovations of rural Jamaicans who have migrated to Kingston. In this regard, Chevannes refers, for example, to Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, but there are many other examples.

On the solid foundation of his analysis of Jamaican culture, which should be required reading for all persons interested in understanding our society, Chevannes then considers some of the opportunities and challenges posed by globalisation. In brief, we should not adopt "a defensive, garrison-type posture towards heritage and culture"; rather, we should seek to nurture local culture through financing and careful attention.

In the process of nurturing our culture in response to globalisation, we should pay particular attention to the role of musicians and those in the performing arts. The schools should also play a prominent role, not least because students constitute the next generation that will carry the cultural influences forward. In light of globalisation as well, we should press for the continued development of the local film and television industry; cable power has its place, but there is a demand for locally produced shows that should be met.