Cultural fusion,matching the puzzle By: Kemar Daswell
The below is the introduction of a three part blog series to focus on the ever changing landscape of Jamaican culture.
The land of samba, sushi ,
tolerance and electronic dance music - EDM, the place to getaway from daily troubles and walk the
pristine beaches or go snorkeling into the deep blue sea. No, I am not making reference to Europe or
Asia, I am making mention of the Caribbean’s gem the island of speed and
rhythms, the problem free island of Jamaica.
It is hard not to notice the many changes the island has gone through
both with infrastructure and governance but with the culture and norms. Jamaica
has joined the list of countries being exposed to what some describe as
cultural identity crisis, as to be Jamaican no longer has a single definition
but rather with influences from outside cultures we face a fusion of many norms
and beliefs.
In years pass, it would be the norm
for families to attend Sunday morning mass together and after sit at the table
as a family for dinner, however, with the influence of North American and
European cultures mainly we see where the questioning of God and his existence
are often made we see where the television becomes a far better comfort than a
family member and dinners have moved from a family activity to just being a
gender specific role. Gone are the days when heterosexual and homosexual men
and women could not walk the same street, be on the same bus or attend the same
party with shows like Scandal and many other North American cable TV shows. The Jamaican audience is learning acceptance and tolerance, they are learning the
value of appreciating choices, while not fully there with actors such as’
Shebbada’ and the late ‘Chu Chu’ openly portraying cross dressing roles and
homosexual undertones with general public acceptance, in 2014 we can indeed say
Jamaica is changing.
The media landscape is not to be
blamed or should it, for not preserving the strong Jamaican culture, are we
loosing our future generations, are we slowly becoming a subculture than a
strong and evolving culture? God bless our lasting legacy in reggae music and
strong Christian disciples there are a few cultural norms from the 1960’s that
remain today.