Carolyn Cooper | West Indian no, Caribbean yes!

“Jamaica yes, Federation no!” That was the slogan of the Jamaica Labour Party for its 1961 campaign against regional integration. For the People’s National Party, the issue wasn’t either/or. Their rallying cry was “Jamaica yes, Federation Yes!” Short-sighted Jamaicans were not persuaded that the West Indian Federation was in the best interests of the nation. They voted against it.

Established in 1958, the Federation collapsed by 1962. What start bad a morning can’t done good a evening. Britain created the Federation on its own terms. The governor-general, appointed by the UK, had the authority to veto any laws passed by the Federation. This was nothing but white-washed colonialism.

The new political arrangement was supposed to produce a united, independent West Indian state. But power struggles precipitated its disintegration. Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica were in constant conflict. Jamaica, with a prosperous economy, did not want to subsidise the “small islands.” How times have changed! In 2020, the monetary value of goods and services produced in Trinidad and Tobago was US$21.5 billion. In Jamaica, it was only US$13.81 billion. Haiti, with all its troubles, produced value amounting to US$13.42 billion.

BEATING ENGLAND

The British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956 was the legal basis for the new political system. But the Federation ended up with the name ‘West Indian,’ not ‘Caribbean.’ The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), which superseded the aborted West Indian Federation, claimed a name that represented the broader region, not just the old colonial relations with Britain.

‘West Indian’ does persist in institutions like regional cricket. Last Friday’s Gleaner editorial noted that, “Many West Indians, in common with this newspaper, have deep-rooted, social and political connections with cricket and the region’s socio-politico evolution in tandem with the ebbs and flows of the game.” West Indies cricket was once largely about beating England at its own game. It was a political issue. Nowadays, for many cricketers the sport is just ‘a work.’

Mindful of the disappointment of hardcore fans, The Gleaner editorial questioned the decision of the Jamaican government to not bid to host matches for the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup. Acknowledging the high cost of the enterprise and the apparent lack of support for cricket locally, the editorial, nevertheless, made this recommendation: “begin to plan now how to maximise returns from sports and the creative industries.”

INNOVATIVE DEGREES AT UWI

The University of the West Indies (UWI) also retains the historic name of the British colonies. Founded in 1948, even before the Federation, UWI has long fostered regional integration. In addition, the institution offers innovative degrees that can contribute to maximising returns from the creative and cultural industries. In 2017, the Faculty of Sport was launched, comprising four core areas: Academic Programmes and Activities; Athletic Development and Training, Sports and Exercise Medicine and Sport Outreach and Marketing.

The Institute of Caribbean Studies at UWI, Mona, established three decades ago, offers a wide range of courses in the creative and cultural industries. The Faculty of Arts, now expanded to Humanities and Education, was launched in 1950. One of the premier literary events hosted by UWI, and which rotates across the campuses and affiliated institutions, is the annual West Indian Literature Conference, first convened in 1981. This week, the conference will be held at Mona from October 12-14.

The conference website announces: “We honor the life and brilliant cultural criticism of the late Professor Emeritus Gordon Rohlehr (UWI, St. Augustine), and we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Noises in the Blood by Professor Emerita Carolyn Cooper (UWI, Mona); and Woman Version by Professor Emeritus Evelyn O’Callaghan (UWI, Cave Hill), two texts that continue to inspire scholars to make new critical connections among gender, music, orality, and literature.” I must acknowledge my sister, Donnette, whose biting words forced me to step it up: “Dog and all have book. Where is yours?”

“CONNECTIONS”

On the opening day, Louis Chude-Sokei, Professor of English and Director of the African American & Black Diaspora Studies Program at Boston University, will deliver the keynote lecture, “Bodies and Space, Noises and Blood: Carolyn Cooper and the Politics of Betrayal.” On the second day, there will be a plenary panel on Woman Version: Theoretical Approaches to West Indian Fiction by Women.

This will be followed by a panel on Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the ‘Vulgar’ Body of Jamaican Popular Culture. For the month of October, Duke University Press is offering a 50 per cent discount on the book, using the code NOISEBLD: https://www.dukeupress.edu/noises-in-the-blood. The full conference programme can be viewed at: https://www.mona.uwi.edu/liteng/conferences/41st-west-indian-literature-...

A distinguished guest will be Dr Stewart Brown who retired as Reader in African and Caribbean Literature from the University of Birmingham where he taught at the Centre of West African Studies for 29 years. I was most fortunate that he agreed to be my advisor when I was awarded a British Council Academic Staff Fellowship in 1988 to work on Noises in the Blood. As a visiting lecturer at UWI, Cave Hill in 1990, Stewart encouraged Evelyn to complete Woman Version, which she dedicated to him.

Stewart embodies the conference theme, “Connections.” Sponsored by Voluntary Service Overseas, he taught at the St Ann’s Bay Secondary School from 1972-1974. In 1973, he founded the literary magazine, NOW, and published Kamau Brathwaite, Mutabaruka, Mervyn Morris and many others. Stewart himself is a fine poet.

Ian McDonald and Stewart co-edited 'The Bowling was Superfine': West Indian Writing on West Indian Cricket. With Gordon Rohlehr and Mervyn Morris, Stewart co-edited Voiceprint: An Anthology of Oral and Related Poetry from the Caribbean. Not the West Indies! What’s in a name? A whole history of exploitative ‘discovery’ that must be contested!

Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com