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Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets:
A century of betrayal of the Jamaican working class
In many ways this work is a lifelong enterprise. A significant portion of the writing was done in 2012/2013 during the researcher’s sabbatical leave. The research and, ultimately, the book, were supposed to epitomise what the university is about an academy that should create knowledge that is of academic rigour and that stands up to international scrutiny, while at the same time, helps the community to understand itself better; and finally, to assist policy makers in charting a path forward.
The need for a work which was not simply descriptive became apparent during the researcher’s years as a conciliator/mediator at the Ministry of Labour in Jamaica. Other bits of literature and research existed, but nothing could be found that was deeply analytical.
The intention was also to write a text that was sociological but at the same time multidisciplinary. The researcher asserts that anything that deals with social interaction over time is sociology. Nonetheless, he believes that, too often, Caribbean literature has been so theoretically parochial and blindly faithful to a particular school of thought, that it is or little utility to the scholar or policy maker. Thus, while being sociological, it does not resurrect the old bones of Europeans or Americans. Instead, the intellectual
The work is about Jamaicans, by Jamaicans. Therefore, there is little apology about this being a ‘black’ book which addresses the history and status of black Jamaicans.
Recognising Outstanding Researchers 2016