Precarious Experiences of Security and Citizenship in Turl Head

Abstract

Turl Head, in many ways, is like Jamaica’s typical garrisons, where violation of rights, gang-related violence and power struggles over community governance are quite common. Owing to a myriad of factors, there are significant problems with security and the ways in which violence is utilized in Turl Head. People complained about their citizenship rights being violated by both state and local actors. Violence is a frequent recourse for those who feel shut out of, or insufficiently incorporated into, the formal systems of citizenship in Jamaica. The system of donmanship and the localized order, which seeks to rectify this problem, has unearthed problems of its own. Within the community, violence, and the threat of it, is increasingly being used as a tool to settle disputes and assert power. The community has become a site where habits associated with privileged structures and the legal system in Jamaican society are rejected, contested, and re-narrated.