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History and Persistent Symbols in Jamaicans' View of Small Farming
Author(s) -
Bims Hamilton
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 0193-5615
DOI - 10.1525/ahu.1991.16.2.51
Subject(s) - peasant , nonconformist , independence (probability theory) , action (physics) , history , aesthetics , sociology , political science , law , art , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , politics
Contemplating unexpected attitudes of rural Jamaicans, this article envisions certain kinds of maladaptive patterned acts as reflecting the persistence of a nonexplicit view of life conditioned by this peasant sector's special past. While symbols figure prominently in understanding rural life, more interesting are linkages uniting them as systems which determine people's actions to the detriment of real interests. Freed from slavery in the 1830s, Jamaicans forged a yeoman life supported by assistance from nonconformist activist religious missions. The yeomen's own symbolic view of what a private parcel meant (independence) fused with those of Christian thought and Victorian‐style morality to generate a powerful though largely “hidden” guide for action.