The Confounding Island: Jamaica and the Postcolonial Predicament

基本信息

Format：Hardback | 432 pages

Dimensions：140 x 210 x 38.1mm | 635.03g

Publication date：12 Nov 2019

Publisher：HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Publication City/Country：Cambridge, Mass, United States

Language：English

ISBN10：0674988051

ISBN13：9780674988057

书籍简介

这位杰出的社会学家和美国国家图书奖得主，著有《西方文化的形成中的自由》一书，他与自己祖国的矛盾作斗争:自独立以来，在持续的斗争中取得了非凡的成就。

没有什么地方比牙买加更令人费解了。牙买加人声称他们的国家每平方英里拥有的教堂比其他任何国家都多，然而它却是世界上杀人最凶的国家之一。它的雷鬼音乐巨星和名人短跑运动员比那些规模是它几百倍的国家的音乐家和运动员更胜一筹。牙买加经济疲软，很多人贫困，但根据国际调查，他们是世界上最幸福的人之一。在《混乱之岛》中，奥兰多·帕特森回到了他出生的地方去思考它的历史和文化。

帕特森调查了牙买加后殖民时期民主制度的失败，探究了为什么这个国家无法实现广泛的经济增长，以及为什么它的自由选举和稳定的政府无法解决暴力和贫困问题。他带我们深入了解这个岛国对板球的热情，以及当地音乐传统在国际上无与伦比的成功。他为困扰体育迷的一个问题提供了一个新的答案:为什么牙买加跑步者跑得这么快?

牙买加的成功和挣扎揭示了我们所生活的这个世界的一些基本特征。如果我们仔细看看牙买加的例子，我们会发现全球化、经济发展、缓解贫困和后殖民政治等核心困境变得十分明显。

The preeminent sociologist and National Book Award-winning author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture grapples with the paradox of his homeland: its remarkable achievements amid continuing struggles since independence.

There are few places more puzzling than Jamaica. Jamaicans claim their home has more churches per square mile than any other country, yet it is one of the most murderous nations in the world. Its reggae superstars and celebrity sprinters outshine musicians and athletes in countries hundreds of times its size. Jamaica's economy is anemic and too many of its people impoverished, yet they are, according to international surveys, some of the happiest on earth. In The Confounding Island, Orlando Patterson returns to the place of his birth to reckon with its history and culture.

Patterson investigates the failures of Jamaica's postcolonial democracy, exploring why the country has been unable to achieve broad economic growth and why its free elections and stable government have been unable to address violence and poverty. He takes us inside the island's passion for cricket and the unparalleled international success of its local musical traditions. He offers a fresh answer to a question that has bedeviled sports fans: Why are Jamaican runners so fast?

Jamaica's successes and struggles expose something fundamental about the world we live in. If we look closely at the Jamaican example, we see the central dilemmas of globalization, economic development, poverty reduction, and postcolonial politics thrown into stark relief.

作者简介

奥兰多·帕特森是哈佛大学约翰·考尔斯社会学教授；曾获美国国家图书奖(非小说类)的《西方文化形成中的自由》和《奴隶制与社会死亡》的作者;他也是《文化矩阵：了解黑人青年》的编辑，并因此获得阿斯菲尔德-沃尔夫终身成就奖。他的工作获得了美国社会学协会和美国政治科学协会等机构的表彰，他也是美国艺术与科学学院的成员。他曾担任牙买加总理迈克尔·曼利的社会政策和发展特别顾问，并获得牙买加政府颁发的荣誉勋章。

Orlando Patterson is John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University; the author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and Slavery and Social Death (Harvard); and the editor of The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth (Harvard), for which he was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. His work has been honored by the American Sociological Association and the American Political Science Association, among others, and he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as Special Advisor for Social Policy and Development to Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Government of Jamaica.

目录

Part 1: Explaining Post-Colonial Failure: Structures of Misdevelopment

Chapter 1: Why Has Jamaica Trailed Barbados on the Path to Sustained Growth?

Institutions, colonialism and counter-hegemonic cultural appropriation

Chapter 2: Why is Democratic Jamaica so Violent?

And Whatever Happened to the 'Democratic Peace' thesis?

Chapter 2: Addendum. Reducing Crime in Jamaica

Chapter 3: Were Female Workers Preferred in Jamaica's Early Economic Development?

Employment, Urbanization and Gender among the Post-Colonial Proletariat, 1950-1973

Part 2: Three Cultural Puzzles

Chapter 4: Why Are Jamaicans the Fastest Runners in the World?

The Institutionalization of Athletic Prowess

Chapter 5: Why Did Post-Colonial Jamaicans Riot at a Cricket Match against Britain?

The Ritual of Cricket in West Indian Societies

Chapter 6: Why Does Globalization Not Produce Cultural Homogenization?

Jamaican Reggae Music Shows Why

Part 3: The Failures of Policy & Politicians

Chapter 7: Why do Policies to Help the Urban Poor So Often Fail?

A Jamaican Case Study

Chapter 8: Sad About Manley: Portrait of a Flawed Charisma

Notes

Index