Professor Donna P Hope
Donna P. Hope, PhD is tenured Professor of Culture, Gender and Society at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. She is the Founder and CEO of The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative ("DHA") set up in February 2018 to preserve and disseminate the knowledge and culture of dancehall for current and future generations globally and to innovate towards leadership and professional development of the dancehall industry. A former Deputy Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Humanities & Education and former Director of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, she was a Fulbright Scholar to the USA and was recognized as a Distinguished Alumna in Cultural Studies (2017) by George Mason University.
She holds the distinction of being the first Professor to be named in the over thirty (30) year-old Institute of Caribbean Studies at the UWI. Professor Hope’s work on identity-making and power domains in gender and popular culture has produced six academic books and over one hundred journal articles, book chapters, reviews and newspaper articles on Jamaican society, popular culture, dancehall, reggae, gender and sexuality. A renowned social commentator she has worked in media as both a talk show host and newspaper columnist and continues to share her views on culture, politics, gender and identity in the print and electronic media.
With the benefit of a Research Fellowship (2016-17) from the UWI she pursued research in Europe, Latin and South America on the global spread of Jamaican popular culture and its creation of glocal identity-spaces under the title Dancehall’s Scattered Children which forms part of her forthcoming works. Her pandemic Sabbatical (2020-2021) was used to expand her research on masculinities and to engage more broadly with her work on dancehall.
As a part of her work as a mentor and motivational speaker, and underscoring her keen sensitivity to issues affecting the working class and poor individuals from amongst whom she hails, Professor Hope's she has also published an autobiographical, motivational volume titled Chicken Back Gravy and Such Delights: Life's Lessons from my Journey (2019). Her newest work is Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica (2023), a bilingual book (English/Spanish) co-edited with Carla Lamoyi and jointly published by The Dancehall Archive and FIEBRE Ediciones.
Phone: 1876-977-1951
Address: Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit, Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica, WI
She holds the distinction of being the first Professor to be named in the over thirty (30) year-old Institute of Caribbean Studies at the UWI. Professor Hope’s work on identity-making and power domains in gender and popular culture has produced six academic books and over one hundred journal articles, book chapters, reviews and newspaper articles on Jamaican society, popular culture, dancehall, reggae, gender and sexuality. A renowned social commentator she has worked in media as both a talk show host and newspaper columnist and continues to share her views on culture, politics, gender and identity in the print and electronic media.
With the benefit of a Research Fellowship (2016-17) from the UWI she pursued research in Europe, Latin and South America on the global spread of Jamaican popular culture and its creation of glocal identity-spaces under the title Dancehall’s Scattered Children which forms part of her forthcoming works. Her pandemic Sabbatical (2020-2021) was used to expand her research on masculinities and to engage more broadly with her work on dancehall.
As a part of her work as a mentor and motivational speaker, and underscoring her keen sensitivity to issues affecting the working class and poor individuals from amongst whom she hails, Professor Hope's she has also published an autobiographical, motivational volume titled Chicken Back Gravy and Such Delights: Life's Lessons from my Journey (2019). Her newest work is Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica (2023), a bilingual book (English/Spanish) co-edited with Carla Lamoyi and jointly published by The Dancehall Archive and FIEBRE Ediciones.
Phone: 1876-977-1951
Address: Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit, Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica, WI
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Books & Collections by Professor Donna P Hope
Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica is a bilingual book (English/Spanish) edited by Donna P. Hope and Carla Lamoyi and published by FIEBRE Ediciones and The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative. This publication focuses on the Dancehall Queen phenomenon, a dance style and feminine aesthetic only performed by women, that was created in 1992, and later transformed into a contest in 1999, at a time when this musical and dance scene was dominated by heterosexual men. It explores the musical and cultural scene that set the stage for the Dancehall Queen and engages with the fashion, dance and music that connects the Dancehall Queen to Jamaican culture.
Español
Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica es un libro bilingüe (inglés/español) editado por Donna P. Hope y Carla Lamoyi y publicado por FIEBRE Ediciones y The Dancehall Archive y Research Initiative. Esta publicación se centra en el fenómeno Dancehall Queen, un estilo de baile y estética femenina únicamente realizado por mujeres, que fue creado en 1992, y posteriormente transformado en concurso en 1999, en una época en la que esta escena musical y de danza estaba dominada por hombres heterosexuales. Explora la escena musical y cultural que preparó el escenario para Dancehall Queen y se relaciona con la moda, la danza y la música que conecta a Dancehall Queen con la cultura jamaicana.
The collection makes a seminal contribution with its presentation of significant work on reggae music in the Hispanic Caribbean (Mexico), particularly for the benefit of English speakers and also introduces material on reggae music in the former Soviet Union (Belarus). It also makes a significant contribution in tackling Peter Tosh's intellectual and lyrical legacy as a reggae revolutionary in an era where he has received scant literary and academic attention. Contemporary debates on dancehall music culture's post-millennial identity posturings are explored in chapters on Tommy Lee and Vybz Kartel. ReggaeStories spans several important and connected points in the debates around adoption and adaptation of Jamaican popular music and culture in different cultural and geographical contexts while simultaneously extending the discussion on how these musical and cultural forms have been transformed or retained in differing localities.
Journal Articles, Papers & Essays by Professor Donna P Hope
Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en inglés –
Hope, Donna P. “Dancehall: Origins, History, Future” en Groundings, Issue 26, July 2011, pp. 7-28. Esta traducción es un proyecto colaborativo de The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative - info@dancehallarchive.org www.dancehallarchive.org
The work uses examples from popular cultural forms, including music, roots theatre and slang, the paper will then attempt to map a thematic structure of popular cultural output, and its construction and dissemination of normalizing cues that impact on the conceptions of gender and sexuality. The impact of these popular cultural constructions on the perception and treatment of normative and, moreso, non-normative gender performances are also explored.
The chapter will points to a perceptible shift in the construction and performance of old versus new stereotypes and thus question the range of sexualities that are now given space within these popular cultural arenas.
Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica is a bilingual book (English/Spanish) edited by Donna P. Hope and Carla Lamoyi and published by FIEBRE Ediciones and The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative. This publication focuses on the Dancehall Queen phenomenon, a dance style and feminine aesthetic only performed by women, that was created in 1992, and later transformed into a contest in 1999, at a time when this musical and dance scene was dominated by heterosexual men. It explores the musical and cultural scene that set the stage for the Dancehall Queen and engages with the fashion, dance and music that connects the Dancehall Queen to Jamaican culture.
Español
Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica es un libro bilingüe (inglés/español) editado por Donna P. Hope y Carla Lamoyi y publicado por FIEBRE Ediciones y The Dancehall Archive y Research Initiative. Esta publicación se centra en el fenómeno Dancehall Queen, un estilo de baile y estética femenina únicamente realizado por mujeres, que fue creado en 1992, y posteriormente transformado en concurso en 1999, en una época en la que esta escena musical y de danza estaba dominada por hombres heterosexuales. Explora la escena musical y cultural que preparó el escenario para Dancehall Queen y se relaciona con la moda, la danza y la música que conecta a Dancehall Queen con la cultura jamaicana.
The collection makes a seminal contribution with its presentation of significant work on reggae music in the Hispanic Caribbean (Mexico), particularly for the benefit of English speakers and also introduces material on reggae music in the former Soviet Union (Belarus). It also makes a significant contribution in tackling Peter Tosh's intellectual and lyrical legacy as a reggae revolutionary in an era where he has received scant literary and academic attention. Contemporary debates on dancehall music culture's post-millennial identity posturings are explored in chapters on Tommy Lee and Vybz Kartel. ReggaeStories spans several important and connected points in the debates around adoption and adaptation of Jamaican popular music and culture in different cultural and geographical contexts while simultaneously extending the discussion on how these musical and cultural forms have been transformed or retained in differing localities.
Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en inglés –
Hope, Donna P. “Dancehall: Origins, History, Future” en Groundings, Issue 26, July 2011, pp. 7-28. Esta traducción es un proyecto colaborativo de The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative - info@dancehallarchive.org www.dancehallarchive.org
The work uses examples from popular cultural forms, including music, roots theatre and slang, the paper will then attempt to map a thematic structure of popular cultural output, and its construction and dissemination of normalizing cues that impact on the conceptions of gender and sexuality. The impact of these popular cultural constructions on the perception and treatment of normative and, moreso, non-normative gender performances are also explored.
The chapter will points to a perceptible shift in the construction and performance of old versus new stereotypes and thus question the range of sexualities that are now given space within these popular cultural arenas.
Este escrito se enfoca en el cuerpo masculino dentro de la cultura del dancehall como un escenario para discursos impugnados de identidad de genero que emanan de y son impactadas por un terreno mas amplio de discursos sociales y de genero dentro de la sociedad Jamaiquina. Estos discursos son debatidos por las lıricas de la cultura de dancehall, en adicion a otras de sus manifestaciones culturales populares, como lo son los videos musicales, presentaciones en el escenario, moda y estilo y jerga utilizada en el dancehall, entre otros. Este ensayo utiliza liricas contemporaneas del dancehall y otros discursos para llevar la atencion de los lectores hacia la posicion selectiva de la cultura de dancehall en relacion con el cuerpo masculino y su posicion a favor y en contra de las manifestaciones de hegemonıa de la masculinidad Jamaiquina.
Pon di Borderline: Exploring Constructions of Jamaican Masculinity in Dancehall and Roots Theatre
This paper examines the 21st century construction of Anglophone Caribbean masculinities through the prism of two forms masculinity that emanate from within the realms of Jamaican popular culture – dancehall and roots theatre. As such, this work interrogates two popular depictions of transitional masculine identity that are incarnated in the performance, style and persona of popular dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel and popular roots theatre star, Keith ‘Shebada’ Ramsay. Here, the work questions the cultural, ideological and power-making constructs that provide the foundation for these and related, popular, transitional masculine constructs.
In addition, the work attempts to locate the value and significance of these masculine constructs within and beyond their popular cultural locations and, in the final analysis, utilizes these popular masculine exemplars to argue for the changing role of Jamaican masculinities in the 21st Century.
Dr. Donna P. Hope
Using contemporary examples from the burgeoning industry of dancehall dance, this paper traces the spread of dancehall’s creative industries across multiple borders, beyond language and geography. It draws on narratives from critical actors in this arena and explores the connections to Jamaican identity and Brand Jamaica that resonate in these multiple spaces. In so doing it also zeroes in on key issues of cultural authenticity and the role of non-indigenous actors in replicating, marketing and branding Jamaican culture.
Drawing on select material around the rise and fall of dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel, and reactions to the recent 10:1 guilty verdict on charges of murder for this artiste and three of his co-accuseds, this paper critically engages with the longstanding “clash of values” between dancehall and Jamaican society. Many social/media/face-to-face discussions project this clash of values through the prism of high vs. low morals and situate dancehall culture in deliberate and constant breach of traditional/good moral and ethical values in Jamaica. Yet, dancehall’s advocates, fans and supporters, and, in this instance, Kartel’s visible, vocal and vociferous fans, insist that more is at stake than just a clash of values – rather it is a clash of classes in a struggle for resources – dem a fight di ghetto youths.
My work on dancehall for nearly two decades has interrogated multiple points on this continuum, drawing on a variety of empirical and documented sources. None prove as stimulating and provide as rich data, as the very site of dancehall’s greatest challenge, its provocative and contestatory lyrics and the men and few women who create and deliver them. Vybz Kartel’s Jamaica’s most contemporary superstar, lyricist and fallen king stands, in my opinion, as one of the most controversial dancehall artistes of this time. With the ebb and flow of high emotion in the wake of Kartel’s and three of his co-accused’s guilty verdict for murder, pending sentencing and a possible appeal, my original paper, has been modified to delve into what I call the Kartellian phenomenon in dancehall as I sift through the discussion on values, ethical principles and morality that has dogged dancehall culture since its rise to prominence in the early 1980s.
Using comparative analysis based on select case studies and interwoven with lyrical text, this paper highlights similarities and differences between both post-millennial, 1st and 2nd waves of Rastafari music within the wider framework of Jamaican popular music, and evaluates the relationship of this current manifestation to select thematic strands of Rastafari philosophy.
Keywords: Reggae, Rastafari, Rastafari Renaissance, Reggae Revival, 21st Century, Jamaican Popular Music, Capitalism
Dancehall’s lyrical treatises act as alternative communication to symbolize and reinforce one variant of Afro-Jamaican masculinity, which is sustained by the existence of the male homosexual. Popular dancehall music and culture represent the most extreme and graphic manifestation of this anti-homosexual discourse, which pervades the structures of Jamaican society.
KEY WORDS: dancehall, Jamaica, homophobia, homosexual, masculinity, patriarchy, gender, popular culture, Caribbean.
In so doing, the work highlights select points on the media frenzy that coalesced around a continuum beginning with Kartel’s rise to dancehall dominance and superstardom, and his subsequent fall from grace. Here, the work analyzes the role of the Jamaican media in the promotion of a cult of celebrity around dancehall’s exemplars, and, in this instance, its fallen hero, Vybz Kartel. The work also provides an overview of dancehall culture as a contemporary popular cultural site that operates in direct contestation to the traditional social order by maintaining a transgressive nature that problematizes social and cultural discourses and provokes discomfort around accepted value systems and social structures in Jamaica.
Using relevant examples, this presentation examines the cultural implications of marketing Jamaican culture in a global context. In so doing, it explores the tensions between often intangible cultural expression and practice locally, and the transformation of these forms of knowledge and meaning into tangible products that can be globally marketed for the benefit of the society.