Time Keeps on Slipping

Time Keeps on Slipping

by Ben Woodruff

     In Downtown Ladies, the life of the Informal Commercial Importer (ICI) was examined. I went back to this book after reading "A Global Sense of Place" by Doreen Massey to see what new insight was possible through that lens. For the average person in Jamaica, their world can seem quite small. Most do not travel extensively and they are therefore would be unable to experience the goods produced abroad. The ICI women are able to travel however and they are therefore able to bring some aspects of the United States and other countries back to Jamaica. 

     This space compression, where a person living in a small town is able to enjoy fruit from one continent while drinking coffee from another and wearing a shirt from a third, leads to a reexamination of what it means to be in a place. This concept of "Jamaica" is not the same before the ICI went abroad to bring in the items that the people of Jamaica would wish to have. This changing of Jamaica though affects the people differently. For the ICI, this is simply a business opportunity. This is a way to enter into the capitalist structure on their own terms, or at least more of their terms than most others, and to use that existing power structure to better their lives. 

     What does that mean though for the people of Jamaica. What does it mean to be Jamaican when the clothing people wear came from Bangladesh? What does it mean when the jewelry being worn came from a store in Queens?

     The concept of time is also distorted. The compression leads to a speeding up of life. This physical moving of migrant workers or of the ICI leads to a loss of control. There was mention of the import process for the ICI and the higher taxes paid for imports over a conventional importer. This compression and then waiting only serves to demonstrate how little control the ICI has when trying to cross boundries. 

     The people of Jamaica however need the ICI to bring them items. They have become accustomed to having this access. If the ICI were to not make those trips then the people in the villages would be forced to do without. This is partially due to a lack of a single identity.