This week we were assigned to read A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid. This book is about Jamaica’s life as a child and her life in Antigua. She writes the story in many different sections to engage the reader and give them a look into her life as Jamaica herself and as a traveler. The way many travelers view the island was a lot different from the way she viewed it after growing up there. Most tourists would view the small island as so beautiful, but she had other views. The area she grew up in was pretty run down. She experienced great governmental corruption as the government was going through changes in rulers. She gives the readers a tour of the different spots that she deemed important in her life. The other sections are about Jamaica and her life. It gives a look into her past and an even deeper look into her present day life. She looks at the islands corrupt past and evaluates its current state as well.
The island of Antigua had a very corrupt government. The government was very abusive of its’ power and Jamaica made this very clear. The island of Antigua has a long history of corruption. They became independent from the United Kingdom in 1981. There have been many accusations that the government officials had been accepting money in return for political favors. Jamaica actually discusses this in her book. Many newspapers brought attention to these scandals, but the corruption continued. There was a long line of family members in charge of this government. The Bird family was in charge for many years which allowed this corruption to continue.
This family allowed for many of the citizens of Antigua to grow great distrust for the government. This abuse of power that continued for many years caused Jamaica Kincaid to write her book. She experienced these tragedies first hand. This story allows one to put themselves in the shoes of a citizen during the time of this governmental corruption.
Sources:
Antigua and Barbuda: History of Corruption and the Stanford Case
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llglrd/2018298888/2018298888.pdf
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. New York, N.Y: Penguin, 1988. Print.
Thank you for this context presentation! It is nice to know how this book is organized and how some sections of the book are about certain places on the island and what they mean to her and some are about her life and what she has experienced. It is also interesting to learn that the government running Antigua is extremely corrupt and has been for many years. I think this will explain a lot of Jamaica’s feelings and experiences throughout the book. I wouldn’t have known this without your presentation. I feel well prepared to read A Small Place now!
Great context presentation. It did a great job setting up a reader to read A Small Place, without revealing too much information. It gave an informative yet not too detailed synopsis of the story, and highlighted some things we should look out for. I liked how you mentioned Antigua and the struggles they have been dealing with in their government. Great work.
Hello.
I have never been on many vacations so the next time I visit a different country I think I am not only going to consider how beautiful a country looks, but I will also consider what is involved with the government and people. For instance, I have visited South Korea one time and all I remember is my family and how cool it looked. But South Korea’s government is corrupt and the country is involved in a couple of scandals. Your context presentation will make me think twice when I visit another country.
Hello,
Good job on your presentation, it was put together very well. I like how you gave an overview on the way she took us through her life in that area. It is interesting to see the different perspectives between a tourist and someone who lived on the island. Great Job!
Hello! I really enjoyed reading your presentation! I think this gave really good background knowledge on the reading for the week!
Hello, great presentation! I believe this prepared me for next weeks readings. It definitely makes you think differently when visiting a place!
Hi!
I think you did a great job on your context presentation. It seems as though you summarized this week’s information well, preparing us for the week to come in the class. I like how you gave historical context and related it to the story we will be reading. Overall, really good job!
I loved the context you provided about Antigua and how it ties into parts of the book and sheds a different light on the country. I did not know to the extent of which Antigua’s government was corrupt. Great job!
thank you for your presentation. I’ve never heard of the corruption going on in the government of Aruba, so i learned a lot of new things in the presentation you gave. It helped understand more about next weeks reading too so i´m more prepared too, thank you
Thank you for your background introduction. I have never known these regrettable things before. As a small country, these tragedies in Jamaica are rarely shared by people worldwide, but for the people living there, they are suffering all the time.
I think this presentaton did a great job at preparing us for reading “A small place”. I think you gave just enough background information without revealing too much! I think it is going to be very eye opening to put myself in the shoes of a citizen during this time.
I liked how you mentioned how corrupt the government was in this post. I did not realize. I also believe destructive colonization played a major role in the state of Antigua and its people.