Sylvia Wynter's Dream

By Kandice Thompson

How Do We Reconstruct Blackness?

Afrofuturism’s fluid ideology is a space where the cultural can meet digital as our imaginings of the future are inherently tied to the development of technology. Maybe we imagine a societal collapse heralded by such technology and “progression”. Will we be going back – Sankofa anyone?

We must examine the past and present in determining our goals for the future. Could we go all the way back to our mostly African roots but still remain centered, stationed in our “Jamaicaness” which has been shaped by the African, the Anglo, and the American New World.

What will our future be guided by if our current notions of culture seem to be caught in the ebb and flow of the dominant global forces (which are steeped in white supremacist ideology)? Will we continue to follow in the world’s wake with just a smidge of resistance, a dash of cognitive dissonance and a ‘tups’ of retention of the old ways, in homage to our enslaved ancestors? Can we take the reins, come together and shed the colonial remnants, be autonomous? What does a truly non-colonial (not post-post) Jamaica look like?

Looking Forward

Do we dare to imagine our own New World?

A relevant but complex entry into this imagination would be Language. When do we abandon the neutral stance of “we love wi culture (patois) but on the global scale it is not viable”

I’ve seen many takes that espouse the idea that our language (if they deign to categorize it as such) is only viable as a cultural export, relegated to the realm of entertainment.

This video essay done by Langfocus on Youtube was well received by Jamaicans in the comments section. He explored Jamaican patois from an educational lens and argued for why it is not English and is thus its own language.

Many Jamaicans themselves have argued that patois is broken English spoken by the uneducated even though it is the language most widely used to effectively communicate amongst Jamaicans. Even government officials will “drop een” some patois to relate to the masses and be understood. Yet, it is not until a white American man argues for the validity of our language that some Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora, become receptive to the idea. Never mind that we have the Jumiekan Languij Yuunit at the University of the West Indies, our pre-eminent tertiary institution existing as an educational resource where Jamaican linguists and academics have long since researched, documented, and recorded similar if not exact findings.

Patois isn’t accepted by the masses until it is venerated by outsiders or those in positions of power. There hasn’t been a social shift since the likes of The Most Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley that encourages and validates the use of patois. The pride and value are lost on its own people. Could our language then be lost in our future and suffer the fate of many Indigenous and Aboriginal ethnic groups whose language has been absorbed and obscured in the acculturation process and is now a relic for niche linguists, anthropologists and historians to study? Maybe that is the fate of all language to become obsolete or something new entirely? Hello – or Goodbye Latin!

If Jamaican patois took on another shape, would it be ours? Holding on to the pidgin-like quality and sounding distinctly Afro-Caribbean or will it echo the voice of oppressive forces?

Aside from the more obvious and easily accessible artistic expression of Afrofuturism in a Jamaican context, what are the more lasting socio-political implications of steering our collective consciousness in 2022 into of a Black Future and shaping the culture from within?