Jamaica Research Paper

Haiti shares their territory with Dominican Republic unlike Jamaica who has their own territory just to the left. Jamaica has a very mixture culture with a diverse ethnicity. The island of Jamaica was colonized by the Taino tribes prior to the arrival of Columbus. They gained their independence from the United Kingdom. They speak two languages as well; Patois

There are a lot of different countries in the world. Some have many similarities and some have few similarities. English is the international language and everyone should try and learn this language if they want to communicate with the rest of the world. Most people think of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, as the english speaking countries. This is not the only English-speaking countries, with English as the national language. In this text I will take a closer look at a country that has english as the national language. I will look at the differences and similarities that this country has with The United Kingdom. The country is surprisingly small and has a population of approximately 3 million people. It is a small island and the largest English-speaking country in the Caribbean. It was a British colony from 1665 to 1962 and that is probably one of the reasons why most of the people there speak english. The country i am talking about is obviously Jamaica.

With that said, Jamaica’s core cultural values include: Family, Religion, Respect, and Education. Respecting your elders is nothing to play with and it is expected of you. Religion includes church service, celebrating Christmas and Easter. Jamaicans in general loves dancing, especially to reggae music. One of my favorite Reggae Artist is Mr. Robert Nesta Marley aka (Bob Marley). Entertainment, Fun, Laughter, Sports, and Partying are also a part of our culture. Usain Bolt sums it all up. People who are not of the Jamaican culture, will think that he is a show-off because of his personality. But, that is who we are as a people, happy and fun loving. Baking traditional fruit cakes, and making holiday sorrel drink is intoxicating to say the least. Fruit cakes, also known as black cake is an all occasion cake. It’s used for weddings, birthday, Christmas and whatever. It not only smells good but it is so delicious. Made of fruits such as raisin, currants, prunes, cherries, mix-peel, spices, rum and wine. Most people blend all these ingredients together and have it marinating from January until December. Traditionally, during the Christmas holidays when someone visits family or friends, they are offered a slice of fruit cake with a glass of sorrel. So

The island of Jamaica is very rich in culture and has many historic turnabouts throughout the years. The country has a rich and complex history including being the first country to have Arawak and Taino Indians settle there.

According to the Jamaica Information service, there are more than one hundred Christian religions practiced in the country. For many Jamaicans, church attendance strengthen extended family and kinship bonds. The church provides them with information, emotional and sometimes financial support in times of crisis. Among the religious practices in Jamaica, there are also a number of African-origin religions that are practiced such as Revivalism and Rastafarianism.

One main push factor is that the jewish community in jamaica was never big. This is good and bad for a lot of reasons: Having a small jewish community meant that everyone would be generally close with one another similar to a small, closely knit town. A small Jewish community also meant that if you were looking to marry jewish that you wouldn’t have as many options as you would in a bigger jewish community. Another push factor is that when the jews first arrived in jamaica they had to conceal their identity and refer to themselves as "Portuguese" or "Spanish" and had to practice their religion secretly before the british conquest of the island in 1655 but after that were allowed to practice

“The imposition of structural adjustment programs in the Third World since the 1970s has been characterized as a war against the poor, a process of [neo] recolonization” (Turner, 1994: 37). This statement is particularly applicable to the country of Jamaica. The island has been susceptible to a variety of neocolonial acts including the presence of multinational corporations, structural adjustment programs, and loan organizations that have sucked Jamaica’s economy dry. This neocolonial presence has devastated the population in more ways than one. It is apparent that neocolonialism has had and continues to have a large impact on society as a whole in Jamaica. This

One of the most challenging things that Jamaicans have had to cope with is the physical and psychological isolation. On the island, the country is so small that it is easy to visit extended family members on a daily basis. Here, in the United States, however,

“Life and Debt” is an eye opener film directed by Stephany Black in 2001. Her objective in producing this documentary is to inform people and illustrate that the comfortable hotels, the beautiful beaches and the sun are only the tourist version of the country but not the true Jamaica. This film focuses on the failed economy of Jamaica and demonstrates from different points of view how the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have taken advantage of the weak economy of this country making it increasingly vulnerable and dependent on the most powerful and wealthier countries.

     The land of Jamaica is very small. The total land mass area of the island is 4,243 square miles. Stretching 146 miles from east to west and at its furthest points north to south, approximately 51 miles (Encyclopedia Americana, 2001, P 670). Within this area, the land is

Today Spanish names still exist in the form of rivers, family names, and towns(JNHT 2). The Spanish implemented a new form of economy on the island based on shipbuilding and repairs in order to maintain the trading post in the Caribbean. Jamaica relied heavily on the trade of fruits and animal skins in order to produce revenues for the Spanish Empire. Jamaica proved to be an unworthy colony for the Spanish because of the lack of prosperity of agriculture.

The country that I chose to conduct a culture analysis on is Jamaica. Jamaica is a third world country located in North America and the 3rd largest island in the Caribbean Sea. There is a 2.5 million population, which equally divided between urban and rural areas. The country runs approximately 146 miles long and varies between 21- 52 miles wide. The climate is tropical and its main tourist attraction is their beautiful beaches. The capital of Jamaica is Kingston, which has a population of more than 645,000. Kingston is the chief port of Jamaica and is along the southeastern coast of the island. It is covered by the “Blue Mountains”, which is thickly covered which tree ferns. The Blue Mountains experiences an average of 200 inches of rain annually, resulting in topsoil erosion and an abundance of streams. Peasants nurture coffee, usually grown on large plantations, in the valleys of the mountains. It is amongst the most expensive coffees in the world and is exported mainly to Japan.

The Jamaican economy in 1970 was 800 million dollars in debt and by the time of the year 2000 the debt had reached an alarming 7 billion dollars. In order to service its accumulated debts Jamaica set up Exporting Processing Zones or EPZ’s. The free zones created lots of employment to jump-start the economy. The free zones themselves were separate entities to Jamaica, similar to the US-owned cemetery for the WW2 soldiers in Normandy. In this way, the supplies needed for manufacturing never really enter Jamaica, thus allowing for cheap imports. The factories had their downsides though. Workers were only paid in Jamaican dollars about 30USD per week while some were paid that for two weeks. Every two weeks, money was taken out as taxes which angered the Jamaicans

     The people of Jamaica have no influence on the daily economic decisions that affect their lives. For almost 25 years, Jamaica has been able to keep a very small percentage of its national revenue because of agencies like the World Bank and IMF. While other big name countries continue to grow economically, these

Another potential problem and a potential for gain is a cultural one. One thing that many of the Jamaicans are accustomed to is that many of them live in the dark or without electricity amongst other utilities for periods of time. Quotes from http://www.expatexchange.com/ctryguide/4111/60/Jamaica/Expat-Jamaica-10-Tips-for-Living-in-Jamaica, include: when asked what to bring when you move there “More solar things, like lights and phone charger.” Others include “A Generator (seriously), power cuts are rife and expect to be without power, internet or water for 2-3 days at a time.”, “get used to everything being at a much slower pace, and going without electricity and water”, and “We even have a dishwasher which we never used, since electricity here is extremely expensive.” http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2014/12/18/satellite-view-cuba-night-reveals-impact-embargo-centrally-planned-communist-economy/ shows a satellite image of Jamaica at night.