Sylvia Wynter's Dream

By Natalia Downer

“Create and Celebrate or be Cast Aside?” – Crazy Contradictions

In the Caribbean, we celebrate when Jamaicans are published by foreign publishers; we revel in the fact that we are recognized by people who once colonized and enslaved us. Take Cyril Lionel Robert James (CLR James) for instance, a Trinidadian historian, journalist and writer.

His novel Minty Alley, published in 1936, was the first book by a black Caribbean writer to be published in Britain, and this specific event in Caribbean history is still being spoken about today. It is not to say that this feat is not one worthy of being acknowledged, because it certainly is. The issue is that, while Jamaicans, the Caribbean, and Black people all over the world laud the acknowledgement of Black voices by the White community, they seemingly fail to appreciate the actual voices of these Black writers.

← Photo by Penguin Random House: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320875/minty-alley-by-james-clr/9780241482667

This issue is very prevalent in Jamaica where voices that do not sound ‘Jamaican’ are not considered Jamaican and are therefore not published or spoken about in the country at large. Furthermore, it is important to note that this does not only take place in the broader Jamaican society but also in our professional industries – our publishing houses.

One of the main issues surrounds the fact that our Jamaican publishing houses want us to write about our Jamaican lives and experiences, and that if we choose to write about foreign places, we should add a ‘Caribbean feel’ to it. However, not everyone in Jamaica wants to write about Jamaica or wants to write with any association to the Caribbean. Some use writing as a means of escape or exploration, and it is writers like these who suffer and are drowned out by the contemporary Jamaican publishing industry.

Some Jamaican publishing houses will only publish Caribbean works, which only adds to the issue. Our own publishers, the people who are supposed to represent us and our individuality as writers, are trying their best to restrict and confine us. One such publishing house is Ian Randle Publishers who prides themselves on “publishing fine quality books on and about the Caribbean since 1991”. It is quite sad really.

It is about time that we break the mold! We are Jamaican creatives in our own right, with our own unique voices, and with our right to tell the stories that we want to tell. We deserve to have the support of our country and our people. It is so slack that some of us feel the need – or rather – feel they have no choice but to look to foreign publishers to represent us and our work. The time to act is now!

Read my post “Godforsaken Globalization” next!