our little global village!

I apologize for not updating recently, but things have been very busy and I haven't really gotten a chance to sit down and wrote specific entries. I have a few posts that I've been working on and I'll post in the next couple of days.

First of all, I want start by saying that I love JA culture. I was passing a club and they were playing romping shop! I don't think there are many things that could have made me happier last night. The global influence our culture has had on the rest of the world is absolutely amazing. Earlier this year in the Botswana airport and a man was asked me if I knew Brother Desmond. I was a little confused at first, but then remembered that Ninjaman also goes by that name. Apparently, he had gone to a Ninjaman show at one point in the past and was a big fan. Go figure! It was the middle of the night, I'm on my first trip to Africa and this guy is asking me about Ninjaman! I haven't even listened to a ninjaman---or should I say Brother Desmond---song in the longest while
Unfortunately, the reverse side of globalization and pervasive cultures, primarily US pop and hip hop cultures, means that many other traditions are under siege. Some describe it as cultural genocide or cultural darwanism. The South African Arts festival started yesterday (more on that later) and I am pretty excited about it. So we have been speaking about SA culture in our last few lectures. It is amazing how cultures interact. I'm only recently understanding the influence of people like Marcus Garvey and Franz Fanon. Either way, we spoke about how some traditional SA music and dance are becoming less popular and replaced by hip hop and other mainstream media.

During this whole talk I thought to myself how interesting it is that to a large extent we in JA don't necessarily have that problem. That American pop culture and hip hop has found a place alongside our dancehall and reggae. Certainly older genres, like ska, have become less popular, but there is definitely a strong and specific Jamaican cultural identity. Even more so, it is interesting that we have been able to maintain and even promote this identity despite our close proximity to the US and the size of our country. While on the other hand an exponentially larger country like SA has problems maintaing various aspects of its cultural identity.

The dynamics of culture are very interesting and it is probably worth a more in-depth look(I'll add it to my list). Besides Trinidad it would a look at how the cultural influences have affecter other smaller Caribbean, particularly the French, with their Zouk and other types of music. This is all food for thought. In the mean time, I'll talk to you all later. I have a few more updates coming in quick succession.

Peace.