Journal articles on the topic 'Folklore, jamaica'

Plants have had historical significance in medicine since the beginning of civilization. The oldest medical pharmacopeias of the African, Arabian, and Asian countries solely utilize plants and herbs to treat pain, oral diseases, skin diseases, microbial infections, multiple types of cancers, reproductive disorders among a myriad of other ailments. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 65% of the world population solely utilize botanical preparations as medicine. Due to the abundance of plants, plant-derived medicines are more readily accessible, affordable, convenient, and have safer side-effect profiles than synthetic drugs. Plant-based decoctions have been a significant part of Jamaican traditional folklore medicine. Jamaica is of particular interest because it has approximately 52% of the established medicinal plants that exist on earth. This makes the island particularly welcoming for rigorous scientific research on the medicinal value of plants and the development of phytomedicine thereof. Viral infections caused by the human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2), hepatitis virus B and C, influenza A virus, and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) present a significant global burden. This is a review of some important Jamaican medicinal plants, with particular reference to their antiviral activity.

The National Library of Jamaica, created in 1979 from the West India Reference Library (WIRL), had to define its role and functions in the light of the existence of a well developed public library system which served the entire island, as well as a university library system and a fair number of small special libraries. Staff first had to be made aware of how the newly designated library differed from the old WIRL, which although well known for its outstanding collection of ‘Westindiana’ was primarily an urban-based library. The media were used to present information on the role and functions of the new library, which would perform all the accepted fundamental functions of national libraries in developed countries, except that relating to the coverage of foreign literature; in addition it would also be involved in interlending and document supply. Jamaica is a small developing country in which the European/North American-based culture and the African-influenced folk culture coexist. The library therefore recognizes the importance of developing collections of ephemera, oral history and folklore. There is a small preservation and conservation facility. In serving as the national bibliographic centre, it produces the national bibliography and creates various other bibliographic tools of national use. As the focal point of the national information system, it has developed a national referral service to aid interlending. Current awareness services are offered to library and information professionals, there is a programme of mounting exhibitions, and strong international links are maintained. Growth and development have been severely hampered by dwindling financial resources, which have resulted in some cutbacks to services. Nevertheless, the library has firmly established itself as an important cultural institution and as a leader in Caribbean library and information work.

Abstract This article examines two female slaveholders, one real and one fictional, to explore the relationship between gender and slave management in both history and popular culture. Annie Palmer, the “White Witch of Rose Hall” plantation in Jamaica, although the creation of folklore and journalistic exaggeration, has functioned for a century and a half as a symbol not only of the evils of slavery but of the idea that female slaveholders’ cruelty threatened the system of slavery in a way in which that practiced by males did not. In New Orleans, Delphine Lalaurie, an elite woman renowned for her elegance and piety, became a figure of monstrosity after a house fire of 1834 revealed that her French Quarter mansion held a chamber of horrors for the enslaved, and offered a similar example of the dangers of female power in slave societies. Examining these women’s continuing presence both as historical figures and as characters in novels, television shows, and other creative productions, this article illuminates the strange career of the slaveholding woman, a figure execrated in her own era and misunderstood or ignored in contemporary historiography, yet simultaneously the subject over centuries of prurient cultural fascination.

-Jay B. Haviser, Jerald T. Milanich ,First encounters: Spanish explorations in the Caribbean and the United States, 1492-1570. Gainesville FL: Florida Museum of Natural History & University Presses of Florida, 1989. 221 pp., Susan Milbrath (eds)-Marvin Lunenfeld, The Libro de las profecías of Christopher Columbus: an en face edition. Delano C. West & August Kling, translation and commentary. Gainesville FL: University of Florida Press, 1991. x + 274 pp.-Suzannah England, Charles R. Ewen, From Spaniard to Creole: the archaeology of cultural formation at Puerto Real, Haiti. Tuscaloosa AL; University of Alabama Press, 1991. xvi + 155 pp.-Piero Gleijeses, Bruce Palmer Jr., Intervention in the Caribbean: the Dominican crisis of 1965. Lexington KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1989.-Piero Gleijeses, Herbert G. Schoonmaker, Military crisis management: U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1965. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1990. 152 pp.-Jacqueline A. Braveboy-Wagner, Fitzroy André Baptiste, War, cooperation, and conflict: the European possessions in the Caribbean, 1939-1945. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1988. xiv + 351 pp.-Peter Meel, Paul Sutton, Europe and the Caribbean. London: Macmillan Caribbean, 1991. xii + 260 pp.-Peter Meel, Betty Secoc-Dahlberg, The Dutch Caribbean: prospects for democracy. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1990. xix + 333 pp.-Michiel Baud, Rosario Espinal, Autoritarismo y democracía en la política dominicana. San José, Costa Rica: Ediciones CAPEL, 1987. 208 pp.-A.J.G. Reinders, J.M.R. Schrils, Een democratie in gevaar: een verslag van de situatie op Curacao tot 1987. Assen, Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 1990. xii + 292 pp.-Andrés Serbin, David W. Dent, Handbook of political science research on Latin America: trends from the 1960s to the 1990s. Westport CT: Greenwood, 1990.-D. Gail Saunders, Dean W. Collinwood, The Bahamas between worlds. Decatur IL: White Sound Press, 1989. vii + 119 pp.-D. Gail Saunders, Dean W. Collinwood ,Modern Bahamian society. Parkersburg IA: Caribbean Books, 1989. 278 pp., Steve Dodge (eds)-Peter Hulme, Pierrette Frickey, Critical perspectives on Jean Rhys. Washington DC: Three Continents Press, 1990. 235 pp.-Alvina Ruprecht, Lloyd W. Brown, El Dorado and Paradise: Canada and the Caribbean in Austin Clarke's fiction. Parkersburg IA: Caribbean Books, 1989. xv + 207 pp.-Ineke Phaf, Michiel van Kempen, De Surinaamse literatuur 1970-1985: een documentatie. Paramaribo: Uitgeverij de Volksboekwinkel, 1987. 406 pp.-Genevieve Escure, Barbara Lalla ,Language in exile: three hundred years of Jamaican Creole. Tuscaloosa AL: University of Alabama Press, 1990. xvii + 253 pp., Jean D'Costa (eds)-Charles V. Carnegie, G. Llewellyn Watson, Jamaican sayings: with notes on folklore, aesthetics, and social control.Tallahassee FL: Florida A & M University Press, 1991. xvi + 292 pp.-Donald R. Hill, Kaiso, calypso music. David Rudder in conversation with John La Rose. London: New Beacon Books, 1990. 33 pp.-Mark Sebba, John Victor Singler, Pidgin and creole tense-mood-aspect systems. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1990. xvi + 240 pp.-Dale Tomich, Pedro San Miguel, El mundo que creó el azúcar: las haciendas en Vega Baja, 1800-873. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Huracán, 1989. 224 pp.-César J. Ayala, Juan José Baldrich, Sembraron la no siembra: los cosecheros de tabaco puertorriqueños frente a las corporaciones tabacaleras, 1920-1934. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Huracán, 1988.-Robert Forster, Jean-Michel Deveau, La traite rochelaise. Paris: Kathala, 1990. 334 pp.-Ernst van den Boogaart, Johannes Menne Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic slave trade, 1600-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. xiv + 428 pp.-W.E. Renkema, T. van der Lee, Plantages op Curacao en hun eigenaren (1708-1845): namen en data voornamelijk ontleend aan transportakten. Leiden, the Netherlands: Grafaria, 1989. xii + 87 pp.-Mavis C. Campbell, Wim Hoogbergen, The Boni Maroon wars in Suriname. Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1990. xvii + 254 pp.-Rafael Duharte Jiménez, Carlos Esteban Dieve, Los guerrilleros negros: esclavos fugitivos y cimarrones en Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1989. 307 pp.-Rosemarijn Hoefte, Hans Ramsoedh, Suriname 1933-1944: koloniale politiek en beleid onder Gouverneur Kielstra. Delft, the Netherlands: Eburon, 1990. 255 pp.-Gert Oostindie, Kees Lagerberg, Onvoltooid verleden: de dekolonisatie van Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen. Tilburg, the Netherlands: Instituut voor Ontwikkelingsvraagstukken, Katholieke Universiteit Brabant, 1989. ii + 265 pp.-Aisha Khan, Anthony de Verteuil, Eight East Indian immigrants. Port of Spain: Paria, 1989. xiv + 318 pp.-John Stiles, Willie L. Baber, The economizing strategy: an application and critique. New York: Peter Lang, 1988. xiii + 232 pp.-Faye V. Harrison, M.G. Smith, Poverty in Jamaica. Kingston: Institute of social and economic research, 1989. xxii + 167 pp.-Sidney W. Mintz, Dorian Powell ,Street foods of Kingston. Mona, Jamaica: Institute of social and economic research, 1990. xii + 125 pp., Erna Brodber, Eleanor Wint (eds)-Yona Jérome, Michel S. Laguerre, Urban poverty in the Caribbean: French Martinique as a social laboratory. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990. xiv + 181 pp.

-Sandra L. Richards, Judy S.J. Stone, Theatre. London: Macmillan Caribbean, 1994. xii + 268 pp.-Lowell Fiet, Errol Hill, The Jamaican stage, 1655-1900: profile of a colonial theatre. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992. xiv + 346 pp.-Supriya Nair, Bruce King, V.S. Naipaul. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. viii + 170 pp.-Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, Donald E. Rice, The rhetorical uses of the authorizing figure: Fidel Castro and José Martí. Westport CT: Praeger, 1992. xviii + 163 pp.-Graciella Cruz-Taura, Juan A. Martínez, Cuban art and national identity: The Vanguardia painters, 1927-1950. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994. xiv + 189 pp.-Graciella Cruz-Taura, Luis Camnitzer, New art of Cuba. Austin; University of Texas Press, 1994. xxx + 400 pp.-Gary Brana-Shute, Richard Price ,On the mall: Presenting Maroon tradition-bearers at the 1992 festival of American folklife. Bloomington: Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1994. xi + 123 pp., Sally Price (eds)-Erika Bourguignon, Stephan Palmié, Das Exil der Götter: Geschichte und Vorstellungswelt einer afrokubanischen Religion. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1991. vii + 520 pp.-Carla Freeman, Daniel Miller, Modernity, an ethnographic approach: Dualism and mass consumption in Trinidad. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1994. 340 pp.-Daniel A. Segal, Kelvin Singh, Race and class: Struggles in a colonial state: Trinidad 1917-1945. Kingston; The Press - University of the West Indies, 1994. xxii + 284 pp.-Evelyne Huber, Patsy Lewis, Jamaica: Preparing for the twenty-first century. Kingston: Ian Randle, 1994. xvi + 272 pp.-Diane Vernon, Elisa Janine Sobo, One blood: The Jamaican body. Albany NY: State University of New York Press, 1993. vii + 329 pp.-Robert Myers, Patrick L. Baker, Centring the periphery: Chaos. order and the ethnohistory of Dominica. Kingston: The Press - University of the West Indies, 1994. xxviii + 251 pp.-Riva Berleant-Schiller, Debra Evenson, Revolution in the balance: Law and society in contemporary Cuba. Boulder CO: Westview, 1994. xiii + 235 pp.-Riva Berleant-Schiller, Mindie Lazarus-Black, Legitimate acts and illegal encounters: Law and society in Antigua and Barbuda. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. xxv + 357 pp.-Michiel Baud, Luis Martínez-Fernández, Torn between empires: Economy, society, and patterns of political thought in the Hispanic Caribbean, 1840-1878. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994. ix + 333 pp.-Stanley L. Engerman, Jorge F. Pérez-López, The economics of Cuban sugar. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991, xviii + 313 pp.-Rosario Espinal, Michiel Baud, Historia de un sueño: Los ferrocarriles públicos en la República Dominicana, 1880-1930. Santo Domingo: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1993. 145 pp.-Birgit Sonesson, Carlos Esteban Dieve, Las emigraciones canarias a Santo Domingo: Siglos XVII y XVIII. Santo Domingo: Fundación Cultural Dominicana, 1991. iii + 185 pp.-Erna Kerkhof, Juan Flores, Divided borders: Essays on Puerto Rican identity. Houston: Arte Público Press, 1993. 252 pp.-Cruz M. Nazario, Joan Koss-Chioino, Women as healers, women as patients: Mental health care and traditional healing in Puerto Rico. Boulder CO: Westview, 1992. xx + 237 pp.-Forrest D. Colburn, Andrés Serbin ,El Caribe y Cuba en la posguerra fría. Caracas: Editorial Nueva Sociedad, 1994. 272 pp., Joseph Tulchin (eds)-Winthrop R. Wright, Nina S. de Friedemann, La saga del negro: Presencia africana en Colombia. Santa Fe de Bogotá: Centro Editorial Javeriano, 1993. 117 pp.-Rita Giacalone, Francois Taglioni, Géopolitique des Petites Antilles: Influences européenne et nordaméricaine. Paris: Karthala, 1994. vii + 321 pp.-Daniel J. Crowley, Salikoko S. Mufwene, Africanisms in Afro-American language varieties. With the assistance of Nancy Condon. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1993. vii + 512 pp.-Peter Bakker, Joan D. Hall ,Old English and new: Studies in language and linguistics in honor of Frederic G. Cassidy. New York: Garland, 1992. xxxiii + 460 pp., Nick Doane, Dick Ringler (eds)-Peter Bakker, Francis Byrne ,Atlantic meets Pacific: A global view of Pidginization and Creolization. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1993. ix + 465 pp., John Holm (eds)-Jacques Arends, George L. Huttar ,Ndyuka. London: Routledge, 1994. 631 pp., Mary L. Huttar (eds)-P.C. Emmer, Henk den Heyer, De geschiedenis van de WIC. Zutphen, Netherlands: De Walburg Pers, 1994. 208 pp.-Wim Hoogbergen, A.F. Paula, 'Vrije' slaven: Een sociaal-historische studie over de dualistische slavenemancipatie op Nederlands Sint Maarten, 1816-1863. Zutphen, Netherlands: De Walburg Pers, 1993. 191 pp.-Wim Hoogbergen, Bea Brommer, Ik ben eigendom van ...: Slavenhandel en plantageleven. Wijk en Aalburg, Netherlands: Pictures Publishers, 1993. 144 pp.-Gert Oostindie, Ben Scholtens, Bosnegers en overheid in Suriname: De ontwikkeling van de politieke verhouding 1651-1992. Paramaribo: Afdeling Cultuurstudies/Minov, 1994. 237 pp.-Edward M. Dew, Marten Schalkwijk, Suriname: Het steentje in de Nederlandse schoen: Van onafhankelijkheid tot raamverdrag. Paramaribo: Firgos Suriname, 1994. 356 pp.

This article outlines the story of the mythical “Lion of Judah’s tribe”, from the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis, Kings, Chronicles) up to the Gospels and St. John’s Book of Revelation, from St. Jerome’s Latin version of the Bible up to St. Anthony’s formula of exorcism. Particular attention is paid to the personage of Ras Tafari (1892-1975) and to his projections in Mussolini’s speeches, in Ian Fleming’s spy-stories, in Ethiopian culture and in Jamaican folklore: he was deemed to be the descendent of King Solomon’s and Queen Sheba’s love; Rasta movement considered him the new Messiah.

This study examines how the particular performance practices associated with reggae music have contributed to the localization of dancehall culture in Finland. At the core of this culture lies the concept of the sound system, which, in addition to a DJ, includes a master of ceremonies, or MC, who during a performance, in various ways, interacts with the audience. This article is especially concerned with how Finnish sound systems localize through their performances a particular understanding of reggae as a genre in Finland, and promote reggae as what I define as the dancehall continuum. Theoretically, this study draws on the study of folklore as performance and sociological genre theory. The empirical material consists of interviews with sound system operators and discussions on an Internet message board. Additionally, a close reading of the written history of reggae is conducted. The study shows that Finnish sound systems do not only act as intermediaries of Jamaican music, but engage the local audience in the creation of a particular adaptation of dancehall culture in Finland.

During her fieldwork in Jamaica in the 1920s, the American anthropologist Martha Warren Beckwith was told by an interviewee that he had seen a river mumma sitting by a pool near St Ann’s Bay, combing her long hair. The river mumma, a form of duppy or spirit, was said to inhabit ponds, lakes and rivers. Not only was she believed to be guardian of such bodies of water, but she was also accredited with the ability to cause and end droughts, bestow the power to heal and to wreak revenge. In this article I examine the folklore and spiritual beliefs surrounding the river mumma in 19th and 20th Century Jamaica and look at where her origins may lie. There is a particular emphasis on material from the late post-emancipation era as this was a time of an awakening interest in Jamaican folk cultures and a number of influential ethnographic accounts, such as Thomas Bainbury’s Jamaica Superstitions (1894) and Martha Warren Beckwith’s Black Roadways (1929), were published.

The purpose of the work. The article is devoted to the analysis of three winning songs of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, 2016, and 2022 (“Wild Dances”, “1944”, and “Stefania”), performed by singers Ruslana, Jamala, and the “Kalush Orchestra” band. To carry out the study, a list of the characteristic features and peculiarities features of modern Ukrainian and world pop hits identified by domestic scientists has been systematised. The research methodology consists in using the principles of analysis of musical compositions and general scientific methods of systematisation and generalisation of the obtained results. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the “Stefania” song was thoroughly researched, which appeared relatively recently and received the highest scores during the international “Eurovision 2022” contest. Conclusions. Ukrainian scholars investigating the problems of pop song creativity (in particular, V. Tormakhova, M. Mozgovyi, T. Riabukha) have sufficiently developed conceptual approaches that allow in-depth analysis of samples of modern world and domestic “hits”. In fact, the author has found in the analysed works all of the characteristic features and peculiarities of modern Ukrainian pop songs identified by researchers. The clearly expressed national basis of all the researched Eurovision winning works (Ukrainian in the songs “Wild Dances” and “Stephania” and Crimean Tatar in the song “1944”) draws attention, which indicates the growing interest in the cultures of the indigenous peoples of our country in the world and their inclusion in global artistic processes. Confident victories of Ukrainian performers at the international Eurovision contest in 2004, 2016 and 2022 are certainly an indicator of the successful development of Ukrainian pop and song art. Key words: Eurovision, Ukrainian pop artists, hit aesthetics, stylistic synthesis, folklore authenticity, “Wild Dances”, “1944”, “Stephania”.