Politics, Violence and Drugs in Kingston, Jamaica

Author: Clarke, Colin

Source: Bulletin of Latin American Research, Volume 25, Number 3, July 2006 , pp. 420-440(21)

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Abstract:

The involvement of gangs, guns and ganja (marijuana) in Jamaica has, since independence in 1962, largely been confined to the capital, Kingston, and more specifically to the downtown, impoverished sections of the city known locally as the ghetto. This paper examines the characteristics of the ghetto; the context that it provides for political patronage among Kingston's most marginalised citizens; the evolution of certain downtown constituencies into garrison communities; and the separation between politics and drug violence that has marked the last twenty years, as Colombian cocaine has displaced locally-produced ganja as the key drug to be consumed and traded.

Keywords: drugs; garrisons; ghetto; patronage; politics; violence

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0261-3050.2006.00205.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Oxford, UK

Publication date: 2006-07-01