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This dissertation deals with the political economy of survival within a Jamaican urban slum. It departs from the sociological tradition of viewing the slum as a separate social entity and treats it as an integral part of the urban community. For theoretical guidance, the dissertation draws significantly upon works subscribing to the dependency perspective. However, the inner dynamics of survival, presented throughout the study are derived through participant observation in the West Kingston slum. Problems within the slum such as high unemployment, crime, violence, overcrowding and the general state of poverty are viewed within the context of Jamaica's historical dependence. The thrust of the study focuses on the techniques employed by slum dwellers in their struggle for survival. These include participation in petty commodity production and petty trading, most of which takes the form of hustling which is conceptualized as the application of one's wits in securing scarce material resources. Furthermore, as the slum dwellers struggle to survive, they at the same time contribute to the economy in ways that are not usually recognized by the state. Given the scarcity of jobs, competition tends to be fierce. This is reinforced by a strong orientation towards individual acquisitiveness. The situation is manipulated by politicians through a highly sophisticated political patronage system. Political violence is usually the result. The slum dwellers do not appear to be in control of their social world. Many make sense of their world by resorting to a strong belief in the occult or participation in various syncretized religious cults. There is an absence of political consciousness among slum dwellers who tend not to perceive their poor material condition as socially produced, thus perpetuating their situation. This dissertation shows that the slum dwellers sustain an asymmetrical symbiotic relationship with the urban economy. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

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White women who inhabited the West Indies in the eighteenth century fascinated the metropole. In popular prints, novels, and serial publications, these women appeared to stray from “proper” British societal norms. Inhabiting a space dominated by a tropical climate and the presence of a large enslaved African population opened white women to censure. Almost from the moment of colonial encounter, they were perceived not as proper British women but as an imperial “other,” inhabiting a middle space between the ideal woman and the supposed indigenous “savage.” Furthermore, white women seemed to be lacking the sensibility prized in eighteenth-century England. However, the correspondence that survives from white women in Jamaica reveals the language of sensibility. “Creolized” in this imperial landscape, sensibility extended beyond written words to the material objects exchanged during their tenure on these sugar plantations. Although many women who lived in the Caribbean island of Jamaica might have fit the model, extant writings from Ann Brodbelt, Sarah Dwarris, Margaret and Mary Cowper, Lady Maria Nugent, and Ann Appleton Storrow, show a longing to remain connected with metropolitan society and their loved ones separated by the Atlantic. This sensibility and awareness of metropolitan material culture masked a lack of empathy towards subordinates, and opened the white women these islands to censure, particularly during the era of the British abolitionist movement. Novels and popular publications portrayed white women in the Caribbean as prone to overconsumption, but these women seem to prize items not for their inherent value. They treasured items most when they came from beloved connections. This colonial interchange forged and preserved bonds with loved ones and comforted the women in the West Indies during their residence in these sugar plantation islands. This dissertation seeks to complicate the stereotype of insensibility and overconsumption that characterized the perception of white women who inhabited the British West Indies in the long eighteenth century.

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The present study utilized the ecological-transactional theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1983; Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993) as a theoretical framework for examining the relationship between Community Violence Exposure (CVE) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Jamaican inner-city children and adolescents. Social support and spirituality/religiosity were proposed as potential mediating factors. Based on the empirical and theoretical literature, two competing models were designed and tested, a priori. In the primary model, CVE was proposed to directly impact PTSD both directly and indirectly through social support and spirituality/religiosity. The alternate model tested the full meditational effect of social support and spirituality/religiosity on the relationship between CVE and PTSD. It was hypothesized that the primary model would adequately fit the data. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the fit of the two models to the data for the present study. Results indicated a poor fit for both the primary and the alternate model. However, post hoc model modification yielded adequate fit with the removal of social support from the model. Theoretical, research, and practice implications are discussed in relation to these findings, as well as methodological limitations and directions for future research. The study concluded that spirituality/religiosity has the potential to protect Jamaican inner-city children and adolescents from the consequences of CVE / Access permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

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