Can we go to the Beach?: Pollution, Erosion and the limits of Belonging
Topics: Black Geographies
, Caribbean Geographies
, Ethnicity and Race
Keywords: erosion, water, beach, tourism, Caribbean, Jamaica
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 39
Authors:
Traci-Ann Wint, Smith College
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Abstract
After the rain, oil makes rainbows atop brownish water. Trash bobs along like markers on a map to a place that happened sometime before. The air is rancid. Until the waves manage to sweep away the mess, we live with other people’s stink, and wait for the ocean to feel like healing again. Somewhere around the 1940s Jamaica’s burgeoning tourism marketing machine shifted its focus from mountain to sea encouraging tourists to visit for a dip in Jamaica’s curative waters. The creation of a Jamaica synonymous with an all-inclusive beach vacation for tourists, meant severely limited access to swimmable ocean for locals. While tourism ads showcase white sand and crystal-clear blue water, locals in urban Jamaica swim in the polluted harbour slave ships once docked in and shoulder the blame for rapid erosion of one of the few beaches to which locals have free access. The national rhetoric around pollution and erosion focuses on litter and the consumption of parrot fish thereby placing the blame for destruction on Jamaicans rather than on a global climate change crisis to which this small island is but a minor contributor. This paper and experimental video project is the beginning of an exploration of our complex relationship to the ocean. What does it mean for the beach to simultaneously be the foundation of our global identification when we have no access to its curative power? What does beach restoration mean for us as we struggle with the heartbreak of polluted water and missing sand?
Can we go to the Beach?: Pollution, Erosion and the limits of Belonging
Category
Virtual Paper Abstract
Description
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