Mars Redmon L&S Social Sciences
Jamaica 1968: The Student-Worker Unity Behind the Rodney ‘Riots’
Theory on development has its roots in organization among the Caribbean Left, especially in Jamaica. Kingston developed into an intellectual center with UWI Mona and a center of worker’s activity in the city. This development saw the emergence of a unique, Caribbean, Jamaican specific, political system in response to a theorized global system of centers and peripheries, which was crystallized by radical black activists. Despite Walter Rodney’s brief tenure in the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, from January to October of 1968, his time and the ban by the JLP government ignited uprising in Kingston and a legacy of organized antiracist and anti-imperialist student and worker organization. These contribute to a nuanced understanding of the 1968 student and worker uprisings across the world, typically associated with Europe. 1968 in Jamaica saw a mass uprising of students and workers against a government which had for years collaborated with the power of foreign capital over national development.
Message To Sponsor
Dear Donor, Thank you for your donation, I am extremely grateful to be able to use this funding; I hope that further research into Jamaica's 1968 uprising can help to uncover the contributions of the Anglophone Caribbean in shaping anti-racist organization across the world. The modern portrayal of the Caribbean ranges from deeply negative, as the portrayal of Haiti, to idyllic sites for vacation; in light of this, I hope that further research can help to change this narrative. Thank you!