Abstract
Ninjaman’s 1990 composition “Border Clash” is the classic articulation of a recurring motif in Jamaican dancehall culture that demarcates contestations for power in a wide range of spheres of influence. In its narrowest sense, the dancehall clash denotes the onstage competition between rival DJs and sound systems contending for mastery before a discriminating audience. More broadly, the clash is not just the performance event but becomes a trenchant metaphor for the hostile interfacing of warring zones in Jamaican society where, for example, rival politicians, area dons/ community leaders, and their followers contend for the control of territory, both literal and symbolic. Its meaning thus widened, the dancehall trope of the “border clash” ultimately speaks to ideological conflicts between competing value systems in Jamaica.
Yu know dem send fi di Don inna di border clash
[You know they sent for the Don at the border clash]1
—Ninjaman, “Border Clash”
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Donna Hope, “Inna Di Dancehall Dis/place: Socio-Cultural Politics of Identity in Jamaica,” Master’s of Philosophy thesis, University of the West Indies, Mona, 2001, 146–47.
Denise Noble, “Ragga Music: Dis/Respecting Black Women and Dis/Reputable Sexualities,” in Barnor Hesse, ed., Un/settled Multiculturalisms: Diasporas, Entanglements, Transruptions, London: Zed Books, 2000, 151.
George Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism and the Poetics of Place, London: Verso, 1994, 5.
Julian Cowell, “Jamaicans in U.S. Prisons,” Abeng Newsletter 3, 1 (January–March 1998): 10.
Winston James, “Migration, Racism and Identity Formation: The Caribbean Experience in Britain,” in Winston James and Clive Harris, eds., Inside Babylon: The Caribbean Diaspora in Britain, London: Verso, 1993, 245–46.
Richard Burton, Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition and Play in the Caribbean, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997, 6.
David Scott, “‘Wi a di Govament’: An Interview with Anthony B.,” Small Axe 2 (September 1997): 88.
Edward Baugh, It Was the Singing, Toronto & Kingston: Sandberry Press, 2000, 74.
Claude McKay, “The Apple Woman’s Complaint,” published in Wayne F. Cooper, ed. The Passion of Claude McKay: Selected Poetry and Prose, 1912–1948, New York: Schocken Books, 1973, 112–13.
Copyright information
© 2004 Carolyn Cooper
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cooper, C. (2004). Border Clash. In: Sound Clash. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982605_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982605_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-6424-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-8260-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)