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The Confounding Island: Jamaica and the Postcolonial Predicament
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About The Confounding Island: Jamaica And The
Product Description The preeminent sociologist and National Book Award–winning author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture grapples with the paradox of his homeland: its remarkable achievements amid continuing struggles since independence.There are few places more puzzling than Jamaica. Jamaicans claim their home has more churches per square mile than any other country, yet it is one of the most murderous nations in the world. Its reggae superstars and celebrity sprinters outshine musicians and athletes in countries hundreds of times its size. Jamaica’s economy is anemic and too many of its people impoverished, yet they are, according to international surveys, some of the happiest on earth. In The Confounding Island, Orlando Patterson returns to the place of his birth to reckon with its history and culture.Patterson investigates the failures of Jamaica’s postcolonial democracy, exploring why the country has been unable to achieve broad economic growth and why its free elections and stable government have been unable to address violence and poverty. He takes us inside the island’s passion for cricket and the unparalleled international success of its local musical traditions. He offers a fresh answer to a question that has bedeviled sports fans: Why are Jamaican runners so fast?Jamaica’s successes and struggles expose something fundamental about the world we live in. If we look closely at the Jamaican example, we see the central dilemmas of globalization, economic development, poverty reduction, and postcolonial politics thrown into stark relief. Review “Fascinating…Such breadth makes this an eye-opening volume. It is also illuminating because Patterson carefully explores the complexity of the structural machinery behind Jamaica’s dazzling successes and dismal failures, rather than just chalking these up to simple causes. Although at times Patterson is critical of and disappointed by his fellow Jamaicans, his admiration for the nation’s independent spirit shines through.” ― Carrie Gibson , New York Times Book Review “An exploration of politics, economic development, and popular culture in the nearly 60 years since the island’s independence, the book seeks to understand what became of the promises of decolonization…In the ruins of postcolonial Jamaica, Patterson unearths a vibrant popular culture, centered in particular on dancehall music, that can provide new resources to address the postcolonial predicament…He uses the ‘confounding island’ as the site from which to understand the world.” ― Adom Getachew , The Nation “Excellent…One thing I like so much about this book is that it tries to answer actual questions you might have about Jamaica.” ― Tyler Cowen , Marginal Revolution “Patterson explores the paradoxes of his native Jamaica in a series of stimulating essays.” ― Richard Feinberg , Foreign Affairs “Everybody wonders what makes Jamaica so different. The prominent Harvard sociologist dares to ask. Dares to answer, too.” ― Stephen L. Carter , Bloomberg Opinion “Unlike many observers of Jamaica, Patterson is thoroughly balanced in his assessment of Jamaica’s postcolonial failures…Patterson’s masterpiece covers a wide range of topics from democracy to culture, thus making it a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the paradox of Jamaica.” ― Lipton Matthews , Jamaica Observer “Filled with piercing insights and written in Patterson’s crystalline style, The Confounding Island exemplifies the universalization of the particular that is the hallmark of great art and great social science. Patterson draws on research as well as personal experience and family history to shed light on some of the paradoxes, great failures, and outsized successes of postcolonial Jamaica.” ― George Steinmetz, author of The Devil’s Handwriting “Jamaica, the birthplace of reggae, a fiercely democratic island with staggeringly high crime rates, and a case study in the history of extractive colonialism, is an enigma that st
