Global Voices Online

Jamaica: Patwa Power

Monday, August 25th, 2008 @ 14:09 UTC

by Janine Mendes-Franco

Countries:: Jamaica
Topics:: Ideas, Cyber-Activism, Economics, Ethnicity, Media, Sport, Politics
Languages:: English
Special:: Olympics

This post is also available in:

বাংলা:

জামাইকা: ভাষার জোর...

This post is from our coverage of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China, curated by John Kennedy and sponsored by Reuters. · All posts

Annie Paul gives a rundown of Jamaica's outstanding Olympic achievements, making the point that “the phenomenal performance of the Jamaican athletes is also due to the cultural self-confidence they feel…this is not a confidence manufactured by the abjectly self-conscious, respectability-seeking, hymn-singing English-speaking middle classes but one bred out of the flamboyant, boisterous, in-your-face Patwa-speaking population.”

1 comment

Pingback: The Day After the Olympic Close « the east coast bias

[...] + Folks are trying to explain the Jamaican success in sprint competitions. From Global Voices: [...]

# 2008-08-25 at 17:12 pm

Join the Conversation

Recent Links also in Americas

A group of Bolivian bloggers have put together a site called Elecciones 2.0 Bolivia [es] which will provide citizen coverage of the upcoming general elections to be held on December 6.

In Ecuador, Eduardo Varas reviews the most recent book written by Carlos Vera [es] and its place in the current conflict between the government and the press.

Guatezona [es] provides information about the tourist destination of Jumaytepeque Volcano in Santa Rosa department in Guatemala, including the time needed to climb and the routes to take.