Jamaica: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture (Culture Smart!)

Jamaica has world recognition. There may be millions of peoplewho cannot pinpoint it on a map but who will have heard of it,helped in no small part by the contribution of its bass-heavyheritage—it’s one of the only countries with its own soundtrack.This island overachieves for its small size, and its people arebursting with energy and drive—Jamaica’s dominance in athletics isjust another example of that.Music and sports aside, Jamaica’s greatest export and asset isits warm, strong, and spirited people. Their ancestors, forced intoa system designed to break the human spirit, remained unbroken.Despite the many hurdles the country still has to clear, theoverriding feeling is that the Jamaicans will do it.The country’s recent history has been dominated by the rockyroad to independence and the path its leaders have since trodden.It went from a situation where a small minority controlled much ofthe wealth to a form of socialism that saw much of that same wealthand experience flee.There is a great deal more to Jamaica, however, than itstroubled politics or the palm-fringed beaches and “all-inclusive”holiday resorts that have come to typify it. One of the mostintriguing countries in the region, it leaves an impression thatis, like the character of its people, larger than life. CultureSmart! Jamaica will take you through the gates and beyond theclichés to the real life of the island. It will show you the rootsand explain the nuances of modern-day Jamaican society, and helpyou to enjoy and make the most of your visit to this amazing andinvigorating country.