Life & Debt The documentary Life and Debt portrays a true example of the impact economic globalization can have on a developing country. When most Americans think about Jamaica, we think about the beautiful beaches, warm weather, and friendly people that make it a fabulous vacation spot. This movie shows the place in a different light, by showing a pressuring problem of debt. The everyday survival of many Jamaicans is based on the economic decisions of the United States and other powerful foreign
Life and Debt “The economy today is much more under the control of foreigners through debt and not ownership.” States a gentlemen from Jamacia in the film Life and Debt. The country of Jamacia is a prime example of globalaztion impacting international debt because Jamaica is unable to build a strong econmony. Through tourism, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and native framers unable to sell their produce increases inequality in their national debt. When a foreigner visits Jamaica they view
Life and Debt discusses the major themes of cultural identity, an influence of homeland, and a desperate desire for independence. Jamaica, on the outside to tourists, is a beautiful island to escape from the “boredom” or stress of their own lives, a place they can relax and party without a worry. Tourists also believe that the natives of Jamaica share the same simplistic lifestyle, when in reality the natives of Jamaica actually want to escape their own country, but unfortunately are too poor to
Life and Debt, a documentary directed by Stephanie Black in 2001, highlighted the alarmingly negative impacts of economic and political globalization on Jamaica. The film discussed the consequences of the structural adjustment policies imposed by the Bretton Woods Institutions on Jamaica. Such policies were tied to the international spread of embedded liberalism and neoliberalism; both of the concepts were referenced in the textbook. After the late 1970s, a theory that economic growth is the result
growing complex, “troubled” world and how studying globalization can help to comprehend almost all issues and aspects that humanity is facing today (Robinson 11). While Robinson seem to see globalization as a key into understand our world the movie Life and Debt looks at globalization as the main factor in the destruction of a self-sufficient, individualized world. While Robinson does not deny there are issues with globalization, he seems to see it with more of a positive perspective versus a virus as
The documentary film Life and Debt was written by Jamaica Kincaid and directed by Stephanie Black. The film portrays the complexities of economic globalization on developing countries in the world. It digs deeper on the mechanism of debt and how it destroys local industries in third world countries. Some of the conditions set up by international financial institutions before offering loans to disadvantage developing countries and prevent them from participating in potentially profitable endeavors
I, personally, found those facts about Jamaica are portrayed in “Life and Debt” are quite astonishing. As a non-Jamaican university student, the real Jamaica which hides behind the beautiful scene and terrific beach never came across my mind. This whole documentary is combined with two sections which intervenes with each other. One part is primarily portrayed that how beautiful Jamaica is, and how many tourists come to Jamaica every year to take a vacation based on the good reputation of the fantastic
The movie Life and Debt demonstrates how it’s difficult for individuals and communities to be in control of their own health when the entire country is suffering through many financial problems. To begin with, throughout the movie, the narrator compared tourists visiting Jamaica and Jamaican natives. The narrator expresses how much easier tourists have it compared to Jamaicans. Unlike the tourists, most natives are too poor to explore their homeland. Natives are often jealous of tourists because
The Impact of Debt on Life Assessing debt can be an uncomfortable or unsettling experience if large numbers are used, relative to individual circumstances. However, it can also be a relieving or empowering experience if numbers are small or non-existent. Whichever scenario accurately depicts an individual’s current situation, assessing debt is always beneficial and can be productive if an individual is willing to work for financial health. Hamm (2011) explains assets entail not only financial
left her home, but these “firsts” make her “smile with my mouth turned down”(11). These new experiences do not make her happy or make her feel comfortable. She’s living out of her own skin in a different and jarring new life. Nothing is familiar, and nothing from her former life fits in with her present. However, her past is a part of her sense of self, and the new and demanding current situation threatens her “familiar and predictable”(40) past, although “a not very nice situation”(53-54). The narrator
bitter tone to describe how it was written all over her childhood, how it “ran through every part of [her] life”, and how it represents the “greatness” of England ingrained into Antiguan society (40, 81-82). At the beginning of each paragraph, she includes slight variations of the ironic statement, “I saw England for the first time”, to duplicate the constant, powerful presence of England in her life, despite never seeing it in person, only seeing it on maps
show that England has colonized many places, and “they were not welcome” in any of them. Kincaid wants the audience to understand that from the view of those colonized; colonization strips their land of all that belongs to them. They lose their way of life and this happened all over the world, therefore Kincaid expresses her idea that colonizers should stay in their country and not ruin other
and very confrontational tone throughout the book. From the beginning, Kincaid introduces the tourist, whom she describes as a white middle-class man from either Europe, U.S., or Canada that is traveling to Antigua because he is bored with his life back home and also to pursue a sense of freedom and excitement. Kincaid goes to describe things like the Japanese cars, and the giant mansions that to the tourist would seem picturesque and fascinating, but has a different significance to the local
Tourism is Still Oppression in A Small Place In part fictional and part autobiographical novel “A Small Place” published in 1988, Jamaica Kincaid offers a commentary on how the tenets of white superiority and ignorance seem to emerge naturally from white tourists. She establishes this by using the nameless “you” depicted in the story to elucidate the thoughts they have when visiting such formerly colonized islands. This inner mentality of the white tourists reveals how tourism is still a form of
tourist to native, rationalist to anti-rationalist. In A Small Place, Antigua’s identity as a nation varies when observed from two different perspectives. Tourists view Antigua as a utopic resort that serves as an escape from the dullness of a routinely life. However, because a tourist’s beautifying gaze distorts the reality the Antiguans have to face, their view greatly differs from an Antiguan’s view. Due to Britain’s colonization of Antigua for over 350 years, the residual effects of their domination
Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place is a work of creative non-fiction that does not fit squarely into one literary category. This makes the task of evaluating the works effectiveness more complex. To determine the books effectiveness, it is first necessary to establish a benchmark with which the book can be measured against. A Small Place combines elements of an autobiography with elements of a social critique and exists within the vast framework of travel literature. Measuring A Small Place against
Jamaica Kincaid is the author of “A Small Place”, a book about her real-life homeland Antigua, a struggling island. This island is doing poorly for a variety of reasons, such as the corrupt government, the economy being in shambles, the infrastructure crumbling, lack of resources. Almost all the people in Antigua are poor, with the few exceptions being privileged by the government. A Broken Place The government depends on tourism for nearly all of Antigua’s revenue. But that tourism can hurt unintentionally
adventure, a vacation from the boredom and stress that they have experienced back home. What tourists do not realize is that they are able to experience this adventure at the expense of other people’s hard work and labor, which is the Natives daily life. These people may bask all day in what the tourist thinks they enjoy the...
Jane King stated in her essay entitled “A Small Place Writes Back” that “A Small Place begins with Jamaica Kincaid placing herself in a unique position able to understand the tourist and the Antiguan and despise both while identifying with neither” (895). Another critic, Suzanne Gauch, adds to this claim by asserting that “A Small Place disappoints…readers when it undermines the authority of its own narrator by suggesting that she is hardly representative of average Antiguans” (912). In her narrative
POHI 333: Globalization Stephanie Black’s documentary film, Life and Debt, was made in 2001 to show the effect economic globalization had on a developing country, but specifically Jamaica. The film examines the social and economic impact from the World Bank policies, and the International Monetary Fund. Throughout the film, there are several interviews with farmers, business owners, Rastafarians, activists, the former Jamaican Prime Minister, and many others. The former Prime Minister Michael Manley