Re patois and Anancy

THE EDITOR, Sir:

As a Jamaican who lived in England for some years, I was accustomed to using patois at home and English elsewhere. I arrived in Australia just before the demise of the White Australia Policy, so you could say there were few non-whites, let alone Jamaicans. I missed very few things, but I was starved of my language.

Call it fate, but I entered a small second-hand bookstore one day to be confronted at eye-level, on a front shelf by a copy of Miss Lou's "Jamaican Labrish". That little book has given me, fellow expatriates and Australian friends great amusement over the years. I have been performing a show combining Jamaican dance, song and storytelling to audiences throughout this big country for the past ten years. When I started I used to modify my patois, but Bob Marley, "Cool Runnin's" and the West Indian cricketers' popularity mean that I now use patois more freely, and still be understood.

While I appreciate the need to communicate with correct English, patois is charged with humour and expressiveness which few languages can boast, and to foreigners it is distinctively Caribbean. Anancy is a likeable rogue, and although his antics are often questionable, he is a link with our African roots, and his mischievousness well appreciated by children. He is not a perfect role model but he does represent a type of character abroad in society to be wary of, however amusing they might be.

Given the problems facing Jamaica and the world at present, it is perhaps a good time to evaluate what we already have that is worth keeping.

To this Jamaican, who has seen the delight on faces of aboriginal children in remote communities of Australia when I present my Jamaican culture, I know what we have is worth holding on to, not just for ourselves.

I am etc.,

JIGZIE CAMPBELL

Jigzie@yahoo.com

45 Raglan Street, Port Melbourne

Victoria, Australia

Via Go-Jamaica

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