Inna di Dancehall: An Overview
“Inna di Dancehall: Popular Culture and the Politics of Identity in Jamaica,” is undeniably a notably informative piece of literature which examines the socioeconomic and political factors that have been influential on Jamaica’s cultural identity. Donna P. Hope, author of ISBN 976-640-168-3, exploits the “dancehall” as a channel to define and categorize elements such as race, gender, sexuality and violence practiced in Jamaican culture. The novel was published in Jamaica in the year 2006 by the University of the West Indies Press.
“Donna P. Hope is presently a lecturer in Reggae Studies in the Institute of Caribbean Studies, at the University of the West Indies, Mona. Dr. Hope continues to engage in ongoing teaching and research on Jamaican music and popular music culture. Her areas of research interest include: Jamaican music and dancehall culture, youth development, black masculinities, black popular culture, gender, identity, and power.”
On writing “Inna di Dancehall,” Hope aimed to “ease the scarcity of accessible academic work on Jamaican popular culture generally and dancehall culture specifically” (Hope xviii). To assist her in accomplishing this, Hope divided her findings into five chapters, each of which explored a distinctive theme of Jamaica’s dancehall culture- “Setting the Dancehall Stage: The Historical Moment”, “Defining the Dancehall, “Love Punaany Bad: Sexuality and Gender”, “Bigging up Dons and Shottas: Violence in the Dancehall” and “Identity Politics inna the Belly of the Dancehall.”
Since the book is based on anthropological research, the approach upon reading the text was one with a methodical state of mind. The book takes a holistic approach in describing all aspects of Jamaican society, describing the class structure, gender roles, and values of the society.
Dancehall culture in modern-day Jamaican society is the focus of a constant dispute in the public sphere. It argues that throughout the culture, the symbols- race, gender,
“Donna P. Hope is presently a lecturer in Reggae Studies in the Institute of Caribbean Studies, at the University of the West Indies, Mona. Dr. Hope continues to engage in ongoing teaching and research on Jamaican music and popular music culture. Her areas of research interest include: Jamaican music and dancehall culture, youth development, black masculinities, black popular culture, gender, identity, and power.”
On writing “Inna di Dancehall,” Hope aimed to “ease the scarcity of accessible academic work on Jamaican popular culture generally and dancehall culture specifically” (Hope xviii). To assist her in accomplishing this, Hope divided her findings into five chapters, each of which explored a distinctive theme of Jamaica’s dancehall culture- “Setting the Dancehall Stage: The Historical Moment”, “Defining the Dancehall, “Love Punaany Bad: Sexuality and Gender”, “Bigging up Dons and Shottas: Violence in the Dancehall” and “Identity Politics inna the Belly of the Dancehall.”
Since the book is based on anthropological research, the approach upon reading the text was one with a methodical state of mind. The book takes a holistic approach in describing all aspects of Jamaican society, describing the class structure, gender roles, and values of the society.
Dancehall culture in modern-day Jamaican society is the focus of a constant dispute in the public sphere. It argues that throughout the culture, the symbols- race, gender,