The strange case of ‘John Black’ and ‘Mr Hyde’: constructing migrating Jamaicans as (un)worthy nationals

What is it about?

This article uses Jamaican news reports from the 1960s to explain how migrating Jamaicans were constructed as "worthy" or "unworthy" to be part of the Jamaican diaspora. It argues those distinctions were made on the basis of a nationalist ideology of respectability. It further demonstrates that respectability had different meanings for migrating men versus women, and migrating middle class professionals versus working class migrants. These differences tended to privilege middle class men as the "most worthy" members of diaspora.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Many countries with mass outmigration, including Jamaica, are engaging with their diasporas. There is a lot of other research examining how different institutions affect how diasporic engagement is carried out, or how discourses of citizenship and nation affect the goals and rationale of engaging with diaspora. My research adds to those debates by examining how cultural ideas affect who "counts" as part of the diaspora, and how different social categories of migrants might face different criteria for diasporic membership. This is an important consideration for designing engagement programs or understanding their effects on the nation, the diaspora, and their relationship.