Jamaicans

William Wedenoja

None. See also: Rastafarians.

The name of the island of Jamaica is derived from the Arawak word xaymaca, which may have meant “land of springs,” “land of wood and water,” or “land of cotton.” Jamaica is located in the Greater Antilles group of the West Indies, 144 kilometers south of Cuba and 160 kilometers west of Haiti. It has an area of 10,831 square kilometers and is the third-largest island in the Caribbean. The interior is very hilly and mountainous, with deep valleys and 120 unnavigable rivers, and the coastal plain is flat and narrow. The climate is generally hot and humid (tropical) but cooler and more temperate in the highlands.

The population was 2,506,701 in July 1992, with an average annual growth rate of 0.09 percent and a density of 228 people per square kilometer. The ethnic composition of Jamaica at that time was 76.3 percent Black, 15.1 percent Afro-European, 3.2 percent White, 3 percent East Indian and Afro-East Indian, 1.2 percent Chinese and Afro-Chinese, and 1.2 percent other. Approximately 22,000 Jamaicans emigrated annually, and roughly a million lived in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. In 2021 the population was estimated at 2,816,602, with an ethnic composition of 92.1 percent Black, 6.1 percent mixed, and 0.8 percent East Indian, and an outmigration rate of 8 per 1000.

Jamaica is officially English-speaking, but it actually has what linguists call a post-creole linguistic continuum. An indigenous language, referred to as “patois” by Jamaicans and “Jamaican Creole” by linguists, evolved from contact between African slaves and English planters. Jamaican speech varies by class, from Creole to Standard English, with many intermediate grades of variation.

About 60,000 Arawak Indians were living in Jamaica when Columbus landed in 1494, but they were exterminated by disease and enslavement during the Spanish occupation, which lasted from 1509 to 1655, when the island was seized by Great Britain. The British tried to populate the island with convicts and indentured servants from England, Scotland, and Ireland; they also persuaded buccaneers like Henry Morgan to establish their base at Port Royal, which became the center of trade in loot captured in raids on Spanish ships. Yeoman farming, with cocoa as the principal crop, soon gave way to cattle ranching and sugar, coffee, cotton, and pimento (allspice) estates and plantations. About 750,000 Africans were brought in to work the estates, but resistance to slavery was strong, and the society was in an almost constant state of revolt; a permanent population of runaway slaves (Maroons) established communities in the mountains. Production of sugar cane, the principal crop, peaked in the mid-eighteenth century, when Jamaica was regarded as England's richest and most valuable colony, but it began to fall in 1774. The declining economy and an increasingly influential antislavery movement in England led to the abolition of the slave trade by an act of parliament in 1807. A serious slave revolt, the “Baptist War” of 1831, and shocking reprisals against missionaries for their alleged involvement in it, encouraged passage of an emancipation act in 1833, but full freedom did not come until 1838, after a period of “apprenticeship.” Many of the freed slaves left the estates, moving to towns or becoming small farmers; indentured servants from India (and later China) were brought in to replace them. After 1866, some abandoned sugar estates were converted to the production of bananas, which rapidly replaced sugar as the leading export. The process of decolonization was set in motion by serious and widespread labor disturbances in 1938 that inspired nationalistic sentiments and led to the formation of the island's first trade union and political party. Large deposits of bauxite ore (the raw material for aluminum) were discovered in the 1940s, and by 1960 Jamaica had become the world's leading producer of bauxite and aluminum. Many factories were built in the 1950s, and the value of manufacturing reached that of agriculture by 1960. The tourist industry also began to grow at a tremendous rate in the 1950s. Jamaica received its independence in 1962.

The island was a British colony for over 300 years, and many of its institutions (particularly legal, governmental, and educational) and ideals (for example, monogamy and the patriarchal nuclear family) are essentially English. Jamaican society was initially “pluralistic,” embracing the African cultures of the slave majority and the English culture of their masters, but “creolization”—the gradual reshaping of English traditions by African traditions, and vice-versa—led to the emergence of a syncretic, indigenous culture. The African influence is particularly evident in language, cuisine, folklore, folk medicine, religion, and the arts, but rarely does it survive in original form.

In the 1990s urban centers were growing rapidly as a result of migration from rural areas. About forty percent of the population was in the Kingston-Spanish Town urban area in the southeast, where most of the factories are located. Another fifteen percent lived in forty-eight small towns, and the remaining forty-five percent lived in over one thousand rural settlements. Sugar estates are located in low-lying areas, generally along the coast. Bauxite mining and alumina processing are concentrated in the center of the island. The tourist industry is situated largely along the north coast, from Negril in the west to Port Antonio in the east. Small farms are dispersed throughout the rugged interior.

Sugar was the main industry until the slaves were emancipated, whereupon a peasantry and a dual economy came into being. Small farmers produce a variety of crops for local consumption, such as yams and sweet potatoes. Bananas replaced sugar as the main export at the beginning of the twentieth century, but the peak production level attained in 1937 has never been surpassed. The economy grew rapidly in the 1960s, peaking in 1972 with a GDP per capita (in 2015 US$) of $5,590, declined just as rapidly from 1973 to 1985, when it hit $3,615 per capita. GDP recovered just as rapidly over the following decade, to $5,160 in 1995, then held relatively steady until 2019, at $5,065.

The primary cash crop is marijuana (ganja), which is largely exported to the United States and had an estimated value of U.S. $3.5 billion in 1984. Marijuana cultivation is illegal (as is its use), but the economy is very dependent on it. The most valuable sector of the formal economy is bauxite mining and alumina processing. Light manufacturing grew rapidly in the 1960s, and in 1984 there were 1,202 small factories (768 of them in the Kingston metropolitan area). The number of tourists fell sharply in the 1970s but rebounded in the 1980s; the island had over a million visitors in 1987. There was a marked decline in the number of tourists and in the rate of economic growth in 1991, as a result of the recession in the United States.

Owing to its long history of plantation monoculture, the island has developed few industrial crafts, with the notable exception of basket making. Industrialization has been hampered by a shortage of skilled workers, due in part to emigration.

There are many small shops in the countryside and a few large grocery and department stores in urban areas. Agricultural products are distributed largely through a system created by slaves; about 20,000 higgler women buy produce from small farmers and sell it at some ninety marketplaces. The economy has always been export oriented and dependent on a few basic commodities. Guided by the principles of Mercantilism, the British developed the island for sugar production and as a market for their industrial exports. Jamaica was an important part of the infamous “triangular trade” that brought firearms and manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, and sugar from the Caribbean to Europe. England was Jamaica's main trading partner until the development of the bauxite industry in the 1950s, when the focus of trade shifted to the United States.

In 1989, 22.5 percent of the labor force was employed in agriculture, 41 percent in the service sector, and 19 percent in industry. The unemployment rate was high, at 17.5 percent, and highest among 20- to 24-year-olds. The proportion of women in the labor force was about 46 percent, one of the highest in the world; women work mainly in the service sector, as higglers, domestics, teachers, and office workers.

Slave plantations were generally located in flat and fertile areas, such as valleys and the coastal plains. The hilly and less fertile interior was sparsely inhabited until Emancipation; seeking land as a symbol of freedom, former slaves settled there and became peasant farmers. These historical patterns still prevail to some extent. There are about 1,000 farms of over 40 hectares and 151,000 of under 2 hectares. Large farms occupy the best land and produce a single crop, principally for export. Small farms are generally located in hilly areas and produce a variety of crops, mostly for the domestic market. Ownership of land is greatly preferred to renting; some land is held in common by kindreds. All heirs to this “family land” have an equal right to live on and use a portion of it but cannot alienate it. Family land is an important symbol of security and family unity; it usually has little or no agricultural value, but kin are often buried on it.

There are no corporate kin groups, but kindreds are very important. Jamaicans maintain strong ties with consanguines that include regular exchanges of gifts such as produce. Descent is bilateral, although matrilateral ties are often stronger than patrilateral ones.

Jamaicans have an Eskimo system, using basically the same kin terms as the English and the Americans, but they emphasize consanguines and often ignore affinal or conjugal relationships.

Legal marriage, monogamy, and the nuclear family are cultural ideals more often attained by the middle and upper classes than by the lower classes. Sexual relations generally begins during early adolescence among the lower-class majority. Extraresidential or “visiting” relationships are usually followed by several coresidential and neolocal “common-law” or consensual unions. Legal marriage occurs relatively late, after the birth of several children and the attainment of some degree of economic security. Marriage is monogamous; divorce is rare but extramarital relationships are common.

The composition of Jamaican households varies greatly. Matrifocal units are common, particularly in urban areas. Nuclear families are the norm among the middle and upper classes. Lower-class households often include children of previous relationships, children of poorer relatives, informally adopted children, and children of daughters who have migrated to urban areas or abroad.

Children generally receive equal shares of their parents' property, which, in the case of land, may be held in common.

Men are affectionate toward children but are not usually involved in child care. Child rearing is the mother's responsibility, but it is often delegated to an older sister or, increasingly, to the maternal grandmother. Respect and obedience are very important to parents, who threaten or physically punish children when they are “rude.” Girls and, to a lesser extent, boys are given many household chores. The emotional bond between a mother and her children, particularly her sons, is very strong and enduring.

Slave society was stratified into three castes: a small number of Whites, a smaller number of “free people of color” (generally mulattoes), and a huge Black slave population. White-minority rule led to the development of a “white bias”: European phenotypic and cultural traits were more highly valued than their African or Creole counterparts. With Emancipation, the castes were transformed into classes, but the White bias persisted, resulting in a “color-class pyramid”: a White upper class, a “Brown” middle class, and a Black lower-class majority. The addition of Chinese, East Indian, and Lebanese immigrants, who did not have a clear place in the color-class pyramid, made stratification more complex. Color and ethnicity still influence social interactions, but the White bias and the color-class pyramid have become less evident since the mid-twentieth century. Nevertheless, Jamaica is still highly stratified by wealth; it has a very small, prosperous upper class, a small middle class, and a huge, impoverished lower class. In the mid-1960s Jamaica had the highest rate of income inequality in the world.

Jamaica was ruled by a governor appointed by the Crown and an elected House of Assembly until the peasant uprising at Morant Bay in 1865. This event ignited fear among the White oligarchy that democracy would lead to Black rule, so the British abolished the assembly in 1866 and imposed a Crown Colony government, run by the governor and an imperial bureaucracy. Democracy was not restored until 1944, when an elected House of Representatives was created by a new constitution, and full internal self-government was granted in 1957. Jamaica joined the short-lived Federation of the West Indies in 1959 but left it in 1961; the following year Jamaica became an independent nation in the British Commonwealth. The present system of government is a constitutional monarchy with two houses of Parliament. The ceremonial head of state is the governor-general, who is appointed by and represents the British monarch. The sixty members of the House of Representatives are elected for a term of five years; less, if an early election is called. The leader of the majority party in the House becomes prime minister and selects a cabinet. The twenty-one members of the Senate are appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. The two major political parties are the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP). The National Workers Union (NWU) is affiliated with the PNP, and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) is affiliated with the JLP, giving each party a solid core of supporters. Jamaicans are fervently partisan and strongly identify with political leaders, but the political system is remarkably stable. Party support is not clearly related to racial, ethnic, class, or regional divisions; both the PNP and the JLP have governed at various times since the 1940s. Michael Manley, the leader of the PNP, succeeded Edward Seaga, the leader of the JLP, as prime minister after the 1989 elections. Percival J. Patterson became prime minister on 30 March 1992, and his PNP won a 52-to-8 majority in the lower house of Parliament in the March 1993 election. The PNP and the JLP agree that a president should replace the British Crown as constitutional head of state but disagree as to the precise role and scope of the presidency.

Ostracism, gossip, derision, and sorcery are the main sanctions in rural communities, where crime (with the exception of theft of crops) is relatively infrequent. In urban areas, however, crime has become a very serious problem. A rapidly escalating rate of violent attacks with firearms led to the passage, in 1974, of legislation providing severe penalties for gun offenders and creating a special Gun Court. The main function of the army (the Jamaica Defense Force) has been to augment the police (the Jamaica Constabulary Force), particularly in efforts to control unrest and suppress the drug trade.

Jamaica has a history of organized violence, including many slave revolts, some peasant uprisings, and labor and urban unrest. Individual acts of violence were at one time relatively uncommon; the recent increase in urban violence can largely be attributed to the gangs that protect ghetto neighborhoods and control the drug trade. During the 1970s, gangs also supported politicians and political parties. Over 700 people died in politically-related violence during the election of 1980, but there were few fatalities in the 1989 election. The 1993 election was also marred by violence.

Jamaica is a profoundly religious society, with a wide range of cults, sects, denominations, and movements. The religion of the slaves was based on African beliefs and practices, such as ceremonial spirit possession, spiritual healing, sorcery, and drumming and dance as forms of worship. An ancestor cult called Kumina and belief in obeah (sorcery) are living survivals of the African heritage. Missionization of slaves by Moravians, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians began in 1754 and stimulated the development of syncretic, Afro-Christian cults, among them Zion Revival and Pocomania, or Pukkumina, which still exist. The Rastafarian movement, which reveres Haile Selassie as a messiah and regards marijuana as a sacrament, first appeared in 1933 but did not become widespread until the 1960s. American Pentecostalism grew rapidly after World War II becoming the most popular sect (eleven percent of the population in 2011). “Science,” or “De Laurence,” a form of magic based on a mail-order catalog from Chicago, developed during the same period. Jamaicans believe strongly in supernatural influence. Zion Revival incorporates such African notions as a supreme but distant creator who is generally uninvolved in human affairs, and a polytheistic pantheon of angels who guide and protect people. Obeah is based on the belief that obeah men capture and use ghosts (“duppies”) for malicious ends. Pentecostals seek the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost, which protects them from Satan and demons. “Fallen angels” are said to be in league with De Laurence. Rastafarians worship Jah, a god who is within them.

Ministers of Christian churches are highly respected and influential. The leaders of Zion Revival cults are known as “daddies,” “captains,” or “mothers,” and their authority is based on the “spiritual gifts” of possession, prophecy, healing, dream interpretation, and the like. Obeah men and “scientists” or “professors” are nearly always men, but many if not most traditional healers are women.

Zion Revival cults perform a circular, hyperventilative dance called “shouting” or “laboring” at feast ceremonies called “Tables” that resemble the “Altar” ceremonies of Pocomania cults. A meeting of Rastafarians is called a grounation or nyabinghi.

Music and dance are very popular. Jonkonnu (or John Canoe) is a secular festival that began in the early 1700s, when masked and costumed dancers paraded in the streets during the Christmas season and gave performances at the houses of prominent citizens. Today, however, it is performed mainly on special occasions, such as the annual national Festival. Jamaica is the home of reggae music and its foremost exponent, the late Bob Marley. Jamaican contributions to literature, dance, drama, painting, and sculpture have won international recognition.

Jamaican folk medicine is largely derived from African traditional medicine. Zion Revivalists operate healing centers called “balm yards” and often attribute illnesses to duppies and obeah. Balm practitioners are shamanic in that they use spiritual means to diagnose and treat illnesses, but they also use herbs (“bush”), candles, prayers, and tonics. Healing by the laying on of hands is very common in Pentecostal churches.

Funerals are important events in Jamaica, and ghosts of the deceased are widely feared. The slaves believed in a good soul that went to Africa after death and a bad one that lingered as a duppy, particularly around cotton trees. A festive wake was held to pacify the deceased and render the ghost harmless, and this “set-up” or “Nine-Night” is still practiced in rural areas.

This culture summary is from the article "Jamaicans" by William Wedenoja, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 8, Middle America and Caribbean, James W. Dow and Robert Van Kemper, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. 1995. Leon G. Doyon updated the population and economic statistics and made other minor revisions in February, 2022.

Central Intelligence Agency (2022). “The World Factbook: Jamaica.” https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/jamaica/. Accessed February 3, 2022.

Hurwitz, Samuel Justin, and Edith F. Hurwitz (1971). Jamaica: A Historical Portrait. New York: Praeger.

Kaplan, Irving, et al. (1976). Area Handbook for Jamaica. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Kuper, Adam (1976). Changing Jamaica. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

World Band (2022). “Data: GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2015 US$) – Jamaica.” https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?end=2020&locations=JM&start=1960. Accessed February 3, 2022.