Dancehall is space, it’s culture, it’s attitude, fashion, dance, lifestyle, economic tool, institution, stage, social mirror, language, ritual, social movement, profile, profession, brand name, community, a tool of articulation for inner city dwellers.

— Sonjah Stanley-Niaah

THE once often expressed view that Jamaicans need to start writing about their own history and culture and stop leaving it to foreigners, is no longer relevant. That kind of criticism is becoming more and more redundant.

With Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto, the name Sonjah Stanley-Niaah has been added to an emerging raft of scholars and writers inclusive of her colleagues in academia such as Professor Carolyn Cooper, Dr Donna Hope, Dr Clinton Hutton, the late Professor Barry Chevannes, as well as other off campus authors Barbara Blake Hannah, Java Immanuel-I, Yasus Afari, Dennis Forsythe, Imani Tafari-Ama, Milton Wray, Joan Williams et al, who are documenting the culture, music, fashion, language, and whatever else that makes up the fabric of the Jamaican people.

At its unveiling a week ago, Dr Stanley-Niaah’s book was hailed by prominent academics, one music observer, a well-known entertainer and officialdom, as a significant source of knowledge which suggest that social studies on the Caribbean are alive and well. As Dr Stanley-Niaah said in response to the many greetings and salutations, “The ladder on which we grow is the path of telling our own story on our own terms.”

Dr Stanley-Niaah then went on to describe herself as “A bridge from the ancestral world to this one”.

In his endorsement of Dr Stanley-Niaah’s book, Professor Brian Meeks, director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies said “I welcome the arrival of an important work of popular Jamaican cultural analysis and with it the arrival of a powerful voice in that process.”

Minister of Culture Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange commented, “This work on Jamaican dancehall provides us with another opportunity for individual and collective introspection and national dialogue even as we embark on a year that the United Nations dubbed The International Year for People of African Descent… and our nation’s independence.

“In Dancehall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto, Dr Stanley-Niaah expresses, very powerfully, her desire to give due respect to the life work and life blood of a people.”

Managing director of Headline Entertainment, Jerome Hamilton, seized the opportunity to highlight the potential of the industry which needs a more enabling environment for it to be fully realised.

“We are woefully short on venues in Jamaica,” observed the knowledgeable industry player while adding, “In fact the last major venue we have in Kingston which is Mas Camp, will be closed in another two months. This will once again remove another outlet from us.”

Stressing the point that entreatment can be a major source of revenue, Hamilton provided some useful information to support his position. “It’s interesting that in 2002 there were 4,000 applications to the KSAC for amusement permits. In 2007, there were 15,000 applications. So that is almost four times for us, which shows that entertainment is much in demand. Although a friend of mine said that it may show that a lot of people are willing to try, it doesn’t necessarily tell you how many are successful. But, nonetheless, it shows that there is a vast majority of Jamaicans that utilise entertainment as a possible source of income. And from where I stand with no major growth taking place in traditional industries, and no major growth in new industries, I do think we should spend some time trying to help this one to grow.”

In her double role as performer and speaker, singer Nadine Sutherland confessed, “The book revealed to me a new concept. A new way in which my brain works. Which is I can be informed and enjoy myself at the same time by a book… the book is indeed is informative… I now better understand my role and contribution as a performer and a cultural ambassador at a deeper level in representing my craft and culture at the highest level.”