“Seh dem a gangsta and a gyal a run dem head,” defining the criteria for “manliness” in the lyrics of Jamaican popular music.
“Seh dem a gangsta and a gyal a run dem head,” defining the criteria for “manliness” in the lyrics of Jamaican popular music.
According to dancehall scholar, Donna Hope, in her book Inna di Dancehall, (2006), “dancehall culture is a space for the cultural creation and dissemination of symbols and ideologies that reflect and legitimize the lived realities of its adherents, particularly those from the inner cities.”1 Dancehall is a cultural production and representation of Jamaican realities. The concept of culture refers to patterns of human activities and the symbolic structures that are transmitted across generations, for example values, norms and attitudes. Dancehall has become one of the authoritative elements of Jamaican popular music and culture in that, dancehall is inseparable from Jamaica because once mention is made of dancehall, it is accredited to Jamaica, where it was originated and where it continues to play an important role in the island’s cultural distinctiveness. This paper seeks to define the criteria for ‘manliness’ in the lyrics of Jamaican popular music. Maleness/ manliness/masculinity have to be understood in the context of gender. Upon consulting renowned gender scholar Michael Kimmel, he defines gender as “the cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity - the meanings of maleness and femaleness.”2 (Kimmel 2000) As such, masculinity/manliness is the culturally constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that are appropriate for men as opposed to femininity, the behaviour appropriated for women.
Masculinity must be proved or otherwise will be questioned, and must be proved “constantly; relentlessly and ultimately the quest for proof becomes so meaningless that it takes on the characteristics as Weber said of a sport.”3 (Kimmel 2000) One of the most important criteria of manliness in the lyrics of Jamaican popular music is not to fit the description of a ‘battyman’ or homosexual. According to Cooper
According to dancehall scholar, Donna Hope, in her book Inna di Dancehall, (2006), “dancehall culture is a space for the cultural creation and dissemination of symbols and ideologies that reflect and legitimize the lived realities of its adherents, particularly those from the inner cities.”1 Dancehall is a cultural production and representation of Jamaican realities. The concept of culture refers to patterns of human activities and the symbolic structures that are transmitted across generations, for example values, norms and attitudes. Dancehall has become one of the authoritative elements of Jamaican popular music and culture in that, dancehall is inseparable from Jamaica because once mention is made of dancehall, it is accredited to Jamaica, where it was originated and where it continues to play an important role in the island’s cultural distinctiveness. This paper seeks to define the criteria for ‘manliness’ in the lyrics of Jamaican popular music. Maleness/ manliness/masculinity have to be understood in the context of gender. Upon consulting renowned gender scholar Michael Kimmel, he defines gender as “the cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity - the meanings of maleness and femaleness.”2 (Kimmel 2000) As such, masculinity/manliness is the culturally constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that are appropriate for men as opposed to femininity, the behaviour appropriated for women.
Masculinity must be proved or otherwise will be questioned, and must be proved “constantly; relentlessly and ultimately the quest for proof becomes so meaningless that it takes on the characteristics as Weber said of a sport.”3 (Kimmel 2000) One of the most important criteria of manliness in the lyrics of Jamaican popular music is not to fit the description of a ‘battyman’ or homosexual. According to Cooper
Bibliography: Bhasin, Kamla, What is Patriarchy? New Delhi: Khali Press, 1993. Brown, Janet Socialization Project in the Caribbean. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 1995. Harris, Marvin. Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. New York: Random House Publishers, 1999. Hope, Donna. Inna di Dancehall Dis/Place: Socio-cultural Politics of Identity in Jamaica. Masters of Philosophy thesis University of the West Indies Press, 2001. Johnson, Allan. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. Kimmel, Michael. The Gendered Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Stolzoff, Norman. Wake The Town and Tell The People. USA: Duke University Press, 2000. Through the Dancehall Culture. In Ideaz, Vol. 1, No. 1, May, 2002.