Aug 22
Paper prepared for the SALISES 50-50 Conference, “Critical Reflections in a Time of Uncertainty”, Kingston, Jamaica, 21 August 2012
This reflection on the relationship between economic development and happiness in Jamaica since independence fifty years ago relies to a good extent on currently available data on life satisfaction (happiness), and on income and other socio-economic variables…
Interesting paper. One specific observation on Iceland and Jamaica. The paper pointed out that the unstable geography provided a cauldron for the abundant ferment of creativie energy. Note was also made of Jamaica’s extremely high physically insecure environment. It may be that Iceland’s ferocious seismic energy is a confounding varialbe for “nearness to death”. The common thread between Jamaica and Iceland is that both peoples live close to the edge and are both constantly on the brink of crossingover; the environments are not safe. YOu might want to examine whether there are physiological and psychological reasons why the brain and mind are most creative under those conditions. These is an anectdote that the passengers of the Titanic happily sang “Nearer my god to thee” as they entered the kingdom.
Interesting comment. I think it is well know that many individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to cultural creations have a history of living/having lived “on the edge” . We can certainly see this in Jamaica. And elsewhere in this hemisphere– e.g. Haiti and Brazil. Presumably, this is phenom that can be/has been researched by anthropologists/sociologists, as well as by neuroscientists. I was more concerned to observe this extraordinary feature of Jamaica than to locate its origins/causes. As I was reflecting on whether creativity could compensate, in terms of happiness(life satisfaction), for shortcomings is say social capital (in Jamaica), and for a hostile physical environment ( like in Iceland). That might explain why a country like Barbados (with a wealth of social capital and a high income pa)does not have a commensurately high score for happiness. It would indeed be interesting to probe into the sources/origins/explanations of Jamaica’s extraordinary creativity. HB