ABSTRACT

Within the pursuit of black freedom, this article is concerned with the everyday experiences of the black poor in 21^st Century Jamaica. I refer to both this experience and its potential politics as organic blackness. I locate this notion in relation to the coloniality of power in the postcolonial state and to creole nationalism which brought Jamaica to independence. I argue that colonial power norms worked alongside creole nationalism to produce limited sovereignty, particularly concerning the conditions of the black majority on the island. In thinking about what ‘black freedom’ could look like from an ‘organic blackness’ perspective, I question what is demanded by those who live blackness as a lack of resources, space, and power. My interrogation is mainly concerned with the intersection of blackness with poverty and how thinking about sovereignty from below or as ‘people’s sovereignty’ versus ‘state sovereignty’ would construct black spaces as sites of upliftment.

摘要

在追求黑人自由的过程中，本文关注21世纪黑人贫困人口的日常经历^。世纪牙买加。我将这种经历及其潜在的政治称为有机黑色。我将这一概念与后殖民国家的权力殖民性以及使牙买加独立的克里奥尔民族主义联系起来。我认为，殖民权力规范与克里奥尔民族主义一起产生了有限的主权，特别是考虑到岛上黑人占多数的状况。在从“有机黑人”的角度思考“黑人自由”可能是什么样子时，我质疑那些生活在缺乏资源、空间和权力的黑人中的人们的需求是什么。