The Politics of Language in the Caribbean Region

Paper Summary:

In this article the writer discusses American patterns of shaping public support for policies that are often little understood in their foreign contexts. The writer looks at developments in the Caribbean region influenced by U.S. policies upon which most economies and governments depend. The writer maintains that the politics of language in the Caribbean reflect marketing features familiar to most North Americans and that the politics of language also involve a strong American role in shaping all matters of economic planning and development and diplomatic relations. The writer concludes that most Caribbean countries have dual economies of growing gaps and no solution in sight for enlarging under-classes apart from the symbols of the stability orientation in more enforcement development and security, more incarceration or other punishment, all factors manipulated in different ways by American interests.

Outline:
Introduction
Selling to the Caribbean
The Caribbean as Sold
The Political Language of Stability
The Politics of Language and Caribbean Criminality
Discussion
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"There is a growing media role in all processes of tourism in the 21st century led by the imperative of selling a particular rendition of The Caribbean as tropical paradise that is in competition with various other paradises of the kind that are in development. Air distances between North America and the Caribbean no longer guarantee simple equations of choosing Nevis over Florida or Antigua over Arizona for air-miles and other incentives make South America, the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia more accessible. Obviously, the way in which Caribbean countries are marketed to North Americans and Europeans obscures often severe socioeconomic troubles borne by the poorest classes. Tourism depends on an impression of local happiness and especially indications of the stability that visitors expect when buying what is often a vacation package. Consumers ask about present crime levels in Jamaica in particular aware that the economic slump of the later 1990s has escalated violent drug-related crime."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police. (2005). ACCP Release to Media of June 24. Christ Church, Barbados: ACCP.
• Bagley, B. (2004). Globalization and Latin American and Caribbean Organised Crime. Global Crime. 6: 32-53.
• Baker, J.L. (1997). Poverty Reduction and Human Development in the Caribbean. Washington: World Bank.
• Beaton, S., G. Croy and W. Frost. (2006) Tourism and Media in the 21st Century. Tourism, Culture & Communication. 6: 157-159.
• Chomsky, N. and E.S. Herman. (2002). Manufacturing Consent - the Political Economy of the Mass Media. NY: Pantheon.

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