Prom, in Jamaica?

We’ve been talking about celebrating the 50th year of Jamaica’s political independence.

But how confident are we in ourselves as a people and in our culture? Or have we just shifted from one point of colonial mind control to another; from Britain to the United States?

I was moved to raise this issue by an experience I had recently. A local online shopping and advertising service sent an email to me advertising prom dresses and it gives a local address to which Jamaican school leavers are being invited to come and select their styles and “fabulous accessories”.

The prom is an American tradition. It is an annual rite of passage for American students graduating from high schools. That’s fine for the Americans; it’s part of their traditions and should be respected. But what does that have to do with Jamaica and Jamaica’s culture?

It is only the latest in a growing wave of American cultural adaptations here in Jamaica. Every year we see certain stores stocked from floor to ceiling with Halloween costumes and we’re even hearing Thanksgiving advertisements on the radio in Jamaica, largely targeted at Jamaicans.

What of our own Jamaican cultural forms and traditions? Are we so lacking in self confidence in this our 50th year of political independence that some of us have to seek affirmation in the American culture?

I do not accept that Jamaica, by virtue of its relatively small size and proximity to the American mainland, should content itself with being a satellite of the United States. We enjoy an iconic place in global affairs that far outweighs our size. Let’s us therefore affirm our status, not shrouded in the shadows cast by a giant neighbor but as a microcosm of our diverse world.

the americanization of jamaica?