The Jamaican Marronage, A Social Pseudomorph: The Case of The Accompong Maroons
The Jamaican Marronage, A Social Pseudomorph: The Case of The Accompong Maroons
The Jamaican Marronage, A Social Pseudomorph: The Case of The Accompong Maroons
by
2011
8 2011
Alice Elizabeth Baldwin-Jones
All Rights Reserved
ABSTRACT
Based on ethnography, oral history and archival research, this study examines the
religious and kinship institutions, foodways, and land history. This research demonstrates
that like the South American Maroons, the Accompong Maroons differ in their ideology
and symbolisms from the larger New World population. However, the Accompong
Maroons have assimilated, accommodated and integrated into the state in every other
name only. Today’s Accompong Maroons resemble any other rural peasant community in
Jamaica. Grounded in historical analysis, the study also demonstrate that social
stratification in Accompong Town results from unequal access to land and other
migration. This finding does not support the concept of communalism presented in
previous studies.
Table of Contents
Page
Part 1: Prologue
I. Prologue 1
Theoretical Resources 10
Description of the Community 18
Methodology 25
Significance of the Study 30
Organization of the Dissertation 31
i
e. Summary 164
Part IV Ideology
ii
ii Revival Churches 294
Zion Church 294
iii. Rastafari, Religio-Political Cult 297
iv. Afro-Christian Churches 298
The United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman 298
Seventh Day Baptist Church 300
Ta-Ta DeNue Assembly of God Church 300
Church of God International 301
c. Religions of the South American Maroons 301
d. Summary 308
IX Bibliography 323
iii
Appendices
iv
List of Tables and Figures
v
Maps
vi
Photographs Page
Cudjoe’s monument 24
Road inside Accompong 21
Café 24
Hansley Reid, Abeng Blower 86
Basic School Graduation 239
Housing Stock 117 -119
Kindah Tree 282
Sign of 1738-9 Maroon Treaty 281
Zion Church 295
James (Japhet) Chambers, Obeah/Science Man and researcher 286
Past Colonel, Rev. Harris Cawley in front United Church of Jamaica 299
vii
Acknowledgements
their community and answered my many questions. A special note of thanks to Past
Colonel, Harris N. Cawley, who persuaded me to stay and continue with my research
when frustrated, I wanted to leave. My gratitude to others in Jamaica who gave their time
including the Librarians of the University of the West Indies Special Collection, the
Jamaica Archives in Spanish Town, the Chief Surveyor, David Hemmings, at the
Department of Lands and Survey, the Jamaican Records Office of Births and Deaths, the
Office of Marriages, the personnel at the Department of Lands and Evaluation, the
Statistical Institute of Jamaica, and the Office of Copyright at the University of the West
Indies Press.
University and members of my doctoral committee for their training and encouragement.
I also wish to thank Dr. George Brandon, my husband, who introduced me to the
Maroons in Jamaica and my son Akeem Jones who helped with the video recording. To
Alford, Ph.D. for their endless hours of proofreading and feedback, thank you. A special
thank you for technical support is extended to The City College of New York
Department of CUNY/The Sophie Davis School of Medical Education for their support
viii
Archival research conducted in 2003 was supported by research grant # 64539-
0033 from the Professional Staff and Congress of The City University of New York,--
ix
PROLOGUE
to slavery. A testimony to that resistance and still forms the basis for the construction of
maroon identity is their appropriation of the 1739 treaty between the British and the
Trelawny Maroons that ended the warfare. This treaty also continues to serve as the basis
for Maroons’ concept of apartness from, and conflict with, the Jamaican government.
Besson (1997), Bilby (1994 and 2006) Zips (1996, 1998 and 1999), have argued that the
Dunham (1946) and Kopytoff (1973) argued that by the late nineteenth century,
Accompong Maroon culture had converged with the broader Jamaican culture. Williams
also wrote that the Accompong Maroons could only speak a few words of Kromantee
by anthropologists as well. Bilby (2002) asked whether or not Maroon communities were
“States within a State,” or “Villages No Different From Any Other”? He noted that “By
and large, the abstract notion of Maroon autonomy seems to have been tolerated by the
2002:28).
Zips (1999) however argue that the Maroons constitute a “state within a state”
Because Maroon societies have been studied as isolated groups, the earlier
practice of anthropology, I found that Zips’ analysis above does not take into
consideration the changes that took place in the relationship between the Accompong
Maroons and the colonial administration prior to Jamaica’s independence, nor the
changes within Accompong itself. Through evidence presented in this study, I will
over choice of the colonel to the Accompong Maroons themselves through elections
3
supervised by the Jamaican government’s electoral division. This made the Maroons
Using oral history as their primary resource, Zips (1999); Bilby (2006, 1997 and
1994) and Besson (1997) provide information on the early days of resistance and
especially since the early records are Euro-centric and bias, participant/observation and
study although one must filter the bias of the early colonial writers.
We now know quite a bit about the resistance and rebellion of the early
savages” continues to be perpetuated. Price notes that the “mythic maroon has retained
and even strengthened his role as a symbol for diverse Caribbean political and intellectual
tendencies” (Price 1996:xiii). But the ideology, imagery and mythology of maroon
independence in the present day are yet to be probed objectively and in depth by
anthropologists and we know very little about the cultural life of the group. For example,
to what extent have the Maroons have become acculturated and assimilated into the
larger society? What are the current status and role of the Accompong Maroons vis-à-vis
Jamaicans? Who controls access to land? Who has land and how much? What is the
structure of the kinship system? We know that the village is governed by a colonel [1], a
legacy of their militia days, but what is the status and role of the colonel? What is the
structure of maroon leadership and other organizations? What are the occupational
For too long we have focused on the past in the Caribbean, especially the past of
the Maroons with little focus on the present. Similarly, when speaking to Accompong
Maroons, one gets the impression that there is no present, only a glorious past. While it
is to their advantage to promote the past as a means to gain economic benefits, it limits
today’s world systems. That is not to say that descendants of Maroons do not have a right
to equal opportunity for improved living conditions. This study highlights the level of
participate in the world systems to the degree they did in the 17th century. It is possible to
learn about the more immediate past along with the modern and trace the changes that
genealogies and oral histories from a variety of informants and analyzing this
information, it is possible to learn about the maroon culture and social organizations.
Jamaican rural peasants, although the history, ideology and some symbolisms differ. In
the pre-treaty era, the Maroons shared similar culture and history with the rest of Jamaica
that diverged with the 1739 treaty, and later converged after emancipation. By the 1930s,
the Accompong Maroons and the rest of Jamaica were experiencing the same economic
hardship that ultimately impacted the political, religious, social institutions, as well as
5
kinship structures and foodways.[2]
The analysis done in this research will demonstrate that the Accompong Maroons
are not independent by any stretch of the imagination and although the group holds land
Maroons demonstrate similarity to the wider Jamaican society at the surface and deep
structural levels in terms of the food classification system and symbolisms. The
difference in the foodways is the level of poverty and symbolisms exhibited in the
communal meal on Treaty Day during ritual of ancestral veneration. This symbolism is
overtly manifest only one day a year. I argue that the Accompong Maroons were not
construction of boundaries between who is and is not a full-blooded Maroon (as only
‘full-blooded’ Maroon males are allowed to prepare the meal and feed the ancestors). De
facto, there has been a long history of exogamous relationships and migration that
impacts on the kinship and household structures. Moreover, my analysis of the religious
systems highlights the Maroons’ request for Christian groups to settle in the village
shortly after arrival on the island, in contrast to the South American Maroons, who
rejected Christianity and its mission of assimilation, well into the late twentieth century.
The 1739 treaty institutionalize Maroon dependency on the British who co-opted
the group as a militia to suppress slave revolts and return runaway slaves, all in return for
2 In the social sciences, the term foodways is used to mean food production, preparation, consumption,
symbolisms, social inclusion and exclusion, food sharing and power relations.
6
certain rights and privileges such as communal land grant and a stipend for duties
performed which were significant during slavery. Maroons went from a status of anti-
institutional to institutional with boundaries imposed on the land they once utilized for
hunting, burials and subsistence agricultural purposes. The treaty also imposed a labor
system and boundaries on reproduction that would impact the formation of families far
into the future (Kopytoff 1973). While granting distinctive rights and privileges, the
treaty left the Maroons with no state system or economic infrastructure. In the 18th
century Jamaica itself was not a state; therefore, to argue that the Maroons were granted a
status of statehood is inaccurate. We must examine the Maroons within the contexts of
the prevailing system of their days as opposed to present-day thinking. In the 21st
markets, organized police and army, contractual bureaucracy, central courts and
judiciary, effective communication, bank, post office and widespread literacy which are
Over two and a half centuries have passed since the signing of the treaty and
during this period, the political, economic and legal relationships between the various
actors in the world systems have changed. Two major changes were the abolition of
slavery and marronage—refers to small groups who escaped from slave plantations living
in the interior. However, Maroons often do not recognize or admit this and it leads to
paradoxical situations where Maroons talk about their warrior past as if it were yesterday,
while their attempts to participate in the global economy in a way that improves their
impoverished condition result in uncompleted projects and failed dreams. Yet, Maroons
continue to demand the rights and privileges they had under marronage. In an interview
7
with Martin Misiedjan, Granman Matodja Gazon of the Ndyuka Maroons of Suriname
argues that:
Everyone who denies the value of the treaty denies the slavery that
was imposed on the children of Africa, denies the hardships that we
endured during slavery; denies our freedom and our existence as human
beings. In my understanding this treaty is still valid even though there is
no slavery anymore. How could one deny this treaty, which we shed so
much blood for? How could I deny my history? How could I throw away
the bonds between the present and the past, between past generations and
those of the future? (Misiedjan 2002:14)
Today, I do not believe that anyone denies slavery. However, the Maroons’ desire
to continue upholding the institution of marronage denies the abolition of slavery and that
marronage was used by the colonial government to uphold slavery. In effect, I argue that
with economic privileges above people who were formerly enslaved but are now in the
same position as the Maroons, vis-à-vis the state. So much so, that the Accompong
Maroons view themselves as superior to those in state positions. There is no reason why
Maroons should not be able to maintain their group identity without the institution of
marronage. Since the abolition of slavery, those previously enslaved have been fighting
for dignity, respect, and the right to own their own labor, which is the same for Maroons.
In this study I compare certain aspects of Accompong Maroon society with that of
other Jamaican Maroons and non-Maroons, the Saramaka, Djuka and Aluka Maroons of
South America. Who are the Maroons? Maroons were organized groups of escaped
slaves who challenged the colonizers and lived in the interior areas of certain Caribbean,
Price quotes the Cuban philologist Jose Juan Arrom (1986) who:
8
[H]as pushed back the origins of the word maroon beyond the Spanish
cimarron that was first used in Hispaniola to refer to the Spaniards’ feral
cattle, then to enslaved Amerindians who excaped to the hills and, by the
early 1530s, mainly to the many Africans who were escaping from slavery
on the island. That New World Spanish word—which spawned English
maroon, as well as French and Dutch marron (and English Siminole)—
actually derives, he now argues from an Amerindian (Arawakan/Taino)
root, making it one of the earliest linguistic coinages in the postcolumbian
Americas. (Price 1996:xi)
Debein (1973) examined marronage in the French Caribbean referring to the size
and organization of escaped groups of slaves. Debein (1973) argued that there were two
types of marronage, “Grand marronage” and “petit marronage.” I use the term “maroon”
(lower case) to refer to certain aspects of the group and “Maroon” (upper case to refer to
the name of the group. Here, I also view marronage as an economic institution used to
Bilby argues: “In the Jamaican context, the designation “Maroon,” in this more
historical role or condition (in this case, that of an “escaped slave” or “descendants of
language…Maroons in Jamaica, then, have long represented, as they still do, an ethnic
Other” (Bilby 2006:28). A problem with Bilby’s analysis is his primordialist model of
identity is somehow apolitical and a priori inherent in a social group. I believe that
Maroon identity was first a primordialist model then changed to the “circumstantialist
for economic and political benefit from foreign and local organizations. Given that
Maroons are historically exogamous with a high rate of migration, “maroonness” is now
9
inherited through a “one drop rule” policy.
I argue that the institution of marronage differed through time and space, from
country to country and even between different groups within the same country. Each
Maroon group had a different relationship with the colonial government and the later
state. Similarly, the institution of slavery differed through time and space. There has been
Maroon groups differ from each other and fought with each other to better secure their
place vis-à-vis the colonizers within the overarching system of freedom, marronage and
slavery.
Although we don’t know the full story, the Accompong Maroons fought with the
Trelawny Maroons in the 18th century for possession of the treaty and land, and aided the
colonizers against the Trelawnys. The Jamaican Maroons also supported the colonizers
against the larger slave population as was required of them under the terms of the treaty.
The Accompong Maroon continued land claim is their claim of the Trelawny land set out
in the 1739 treaty.(Kopytoff 1973) However, despite their earlier resistance that has been
replaced with rhetoric of resistance, the Accompong Maroons have now assimilated into
the state. The relationship between the Suriname and Guyanese Maroons and their states
differs from that of the Jamaican Maroons and the Jamaican state. Suriname Maroons
were forced to renew their treaties three times in the 19th century, and in 1980, they were
engaged in civil war with the Suriname state. In contrast this was not the experience of
Scholars differ on in their position as to whether or not the six Suriname Maroon
groups are similar or different. According to Price (1979), each of the six Maroon groups
10
of Suriname has a distinct language, diet, type of dress and displays unique patterns of
marriage, residence and wage labor migration. Hoogbergen (1990) argues that each tribe
is considerably different from the others in terms of marriage patterns, religion, and
language, but similar in terms of political structure and agricultural system. De Groot
(1974) pointed out that there are cultural differences. Leerschool-Liong (1980) states that
the cultures of all six Maroon groups are similar, but the groups are kept separate through
the political and social institutions. In an earlier study, Kahn (1931) maintained that in
spite of the common cultural background, different groups have historically not
maintained extensive social contact with each other, preferring instead exclusive intra-
tribal social relations. St-Hilaire (2000) argues that all “six Suriname Maroon societies
maintain linguistic, cultural and political norms that differ considerably from those of the
2000:102). Based on the evidence provided, my position is that the groups differ from
one another.
Theoretical Resources
Jamaica in the 1950s and found that they were not homogenous, but comprised of
different settlement types—dispersed and compact. These settlements had different levels
attempting any type of development and welfare programs. “The levels of intensity of
11
social relations within a local group vary for spatial as well as other reasons. People
living on the boundaries or margins of a local group may have their closet social ties with
groups outside it. Class and wealth differentials are also important” (Smith 1956:177) .
Although over 50 years old, there are merits to examine Smith’s work in relationship to
the Accompong Maroons. Accompong Town differs from Smith’s model for rural
Jamaican peasantries in that the political system in Accompong Town is not the same.
The Maroons has a legacy of marronage and therefore has a colonel that is an
Beginning in the 1920s, Maroons have been the focus of anthropologists debating
slave resistance, African heritage in the Americas, the processes of creolization and the
historical knowledge among non-literate peoples. Herskovits’ (1941) argued that there
were African retentions among different African groups, including Maroons in the New
World. Herskovits and his wife conducted fieldwork in Suriname in the 1920s
(Herskovits and Herskovits (1934) and visited Accompong in 1938, classifying African
retentions among the group as follows: very African in its magic, folklore and music;
quite African in its social organization, non-kinship institutions and religions; and finally,
According to folklorist Bilby (1994) and German anthropologist, Zips (1999), the
them. They argue that one can only learn about the maroon culture based on what one is
told by the few individuals who serve as guardians of maroon cultural knowledge. I
argue that we can learn about Maroons empirical structures as well as the ideological
have full knowledge of the culture. There are others who may be more knowledgeable as
knowledge and orientations of women might be quite different from those of males in
reference to foodways, kinship and land. This present study draws from a larger pool of
informants than mere designated “guardians” with representatives from various age,
articles published in the newspapers by the Maroons at different periods, adds still
Besson draws on Mintz and Price’s (1976) theory of creolization, arguing that
Africans in the New World were incapable of conveying generalized cultural heritage but
I argue that the land tenure system is based on the history of the community and
13
that institution-building are not entirely separate from the masters’ institutions. The
names of the Accompong Maroons leadership are those of the British military and
African names of Maroons themselves began disappearing shortly after the signing of the
treaty. Additionally, the majority of groups developed in the village have been prompted
by outside agencies.
Price argued that, “Maroons indeed drew on their diverse African heritages in
building their cultures. But unlike other African-Americans, who were unable to pass on
integrated patterns of traditional culture, maroons could and did look to Africa for deep-
children on the one hand, or systems of justice on the other” (Price 1979:28). However,
unlike the Saramaka Maroons, Price noted that the Jamaican Maroons had “increasing
contact with the rest of Jamaican society” which resulted in creolization. “Exactly how
much of the [Jamaican] Maroons’ distinctive cultural heritage, and which particular
aspects of it remain alive beneath the surface is a question that only sensitive in-depth
field work, carried out in the immediate future, can answer”(Price 1979:228-9).
rather, they mimic the European model. Similarly, the religion for the most part is not
Christian; although there are interactions with the spirits on a daily basis as found in
African religions and art is almost non-existent. Examination of the South American
This study builds on the work of Kopytoff (1973, 1976 a & b, 1978, 1979 and
1987); Comitas (1964); Besson (1979, 1997 and 2002); and Robotham (1998 & 1991).
Kopytoff (1973 & 1976) focused on the early formation of community through the 1930s.
14
In these articles Kopytoff outlined the political organization and economic base of the
Maroons, their relationship vis-à-vis the British government, and, through document
analysis, shows that the British government had no intention of granting the Maroons
Arawaks, Amerindians, Mesquito Indians, and Malaysians and locally born Africans.
The author argues that the 1739 treaty was a critical turning point for the development of
maroon culture and ethnicity and created the space for a naturally reproducing population
while “[T]hey also closed the membership of the Maroon societies, thus insuring that in
the Maroons established as a consequence of the 1739 treaty with the British. She
concludes that “[T]he inroads into Maroon sovereignty, begun in the treaties, had been
carved to such an extent that Maroon autonomy had become a legal myth” (Kopytoff
1973:268). Kopytoff argued that the Maroon colonels were subjugated to the colonial
governor and had very little authority, except within their own boundaries, a situation that
continues today. Two other works of Kopytoff (1978 & 1987) focused on the 1739 treaty
as a sacred charter for the Maroons, and on religious changes that occurred in
Accompong resulting in the ascendance of the Christian God within the Maroons’
ascendance of Christianity in Accompong in 1938 are situated within the context of the
political changes then taking place in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. This period was
15
one of intense political, social and religious ferment resulting in the formation of the
Rastafarian religion, class consciousness, the National Movement, and unions to improve
the life of Caribbean and Jamaican citizens, movements in which the Maroons did not
participate. Although the economic position of the Maroons was the same as the Black
population, the Maroons offered to aid the British against the larger population during the
Robotham (1991) argued that three racial and socioeconomic groups were formed
in Jamaica—“a white… group was consolidated at the top, an entirely new group of
bottom” (Robotham 1991:36). I suggest four groups were consolidated: Whites, Browns,
Blacks and Maroons because the treaty with the British establish Maroons as a special
socioeconomic class of subjects. Although the Maroons were Black like the previously
enslaved, they were in a different economic category and located above slaves in the
British hierarchical pyramid—a position that changed after abolition of slavery and
marronage. The Maroons had land and income from the colonial government, but lost the
income and was threatened with the replacement of communal land with individual land
Caribbean to correlate the Maroons’ economic, political and social transformation with
that of the state and argue that stratification at the national level impacts on the local level
where individual Maroon communities are situated so that Maroons are stratified along
argued that “all the ethnicities which evolved were socially stratified” (Robotham
1991:37). Although Robotham was talking about the other ethnic groups in Jamaica, the
same applies to the Maroons. This study of the Accompong Maroons presents several
distinct indices by which social stratification within this rural community can be
operationalized. These include the following: historical succession to the political office
of colonel; the degree of familial concentration of other offices in the formal and informal
on occupation, income, “cultural capital,” wealth, access to land, and the ability to
religious institutions.
narrowly focused and based on information coming from a small number of informants
including whoever was Colonel during the period of fieldwork. I should note that the
amount of time Dunham (1946), Hurston (1938) and Williams (1938) spent in
Accompong spent was actually quite short, and that they had a very narrow range of chief
informants, mainly Colonel H.A. Rowe with whom they all resided. In Accompong the
colonel=s role allows him to provide only a restricted range of information to outside
observers.
Accompong Maroons of Jamaica,@ the author argued that Atheir corporate landholding is a
being a mirror of maroon political organization, ritual and oral history reaching back to
17
the rebel plantation slaves who founded the community@ (Besson 1997:203). Besson
(1997) also examined the Myal ritual and reported that the ritual draws the boundary
In my study I found that the function of ritual that takes place on Treaty Day is
complex, along the lines of carnival in the Caribbean. First, there is a tension between
the African Ancestral Cult veneration and Christianity, second, with a shift in African
cosmology, the focus shifted from Accompong to the signing of the treaty by Cudjoe.
With the elimination of the Trelawny Maroons, Accompong’s claim to the “blood treaty”
became tenuous as the colonial government sought to nullify the treaty and continued to
reject the Accompong Maroons’ claimed of Cudjoe’s land. Thirdly, Accompng Maroons
stress a “maroon identity” with “rights and privilege.” With a Maroon identity, the
support. The group also views themselves as better than the rest of Jamaicans who they
label “land renters.” Fourth, the ritual highlights the dependency of the Maroons on the
state, although there is the rhetoric of resistance and rebellion. Fifth, the Maroons make a
distinction amongst them and draw a boundary between “full-blooded” and other male
maroons. Such a distinction points to the fact that the community is not endogamous as
they claim. Sixth, a boundary of exclusion is also drawn between males and females
18
since females came in the group as they were necessary for reproduction.
The ritual incorporates the sacred geography of the Maroons where the separation
takes place at Kindah, which signifies family for the Maroons. Kindah is midway
between the sacred and secular areas of the geography. Full-blooded Maroon males
proceed to the sacred area of Old Town where the Maroon ancestors are venerated. The
party returns to Kindah where they are joined by other Maroons,--male and females, and
In my study, I also found that the systems of affinity, kinship and descent,
political organization, ritual and oral history are indeed a basis for land holding.
and outside of Accompong. Land tenure was based on residence and wealth, although
this is rapidly changing to a system based entirely on wealth. There are variations of
about 1103 (according the most recent census of 2000), located at an elevation of fifteen
hundred feet in the Cockpit Mountains of the parish of St. Elizabeth, and borders the
parishes of St. James and Trelawny. This is a compact settlement with well-defined
boundaries and membership. Residents are both Maroons and non-Maroons. The town is
19
Map I
Accompong Maroon Lands Laid out as 1000 acres by virtue of the 21 Geo II Cap 9
Passed 1758 but found by resurvey November 1868 to contain 1220 Acres.
Map shows Appleton Estates and other neighboring communities.
(Courtesy Jamaica Archives)
20
21
about 43 miles south east of Montego Bay, via extremely rugged roads, two and one half
hours by car. The nearest town is 11 kilometers away, and the private estates of
Appleton, Jamaica=s largest rum producer, are located about 5 kilometers to the west.
residence pattern, as there are no phenotypic difference between Maroons and other
Jamaicans. The road going into Accompong loops through the village with residential
areas located along it in eleven segments called quarters. The effect from above is like
two concentric circles. (see map II and photo, page 20 - 21) On Jamaican maps, roads
are classified as “first class,” “second class” and “other roads and intervals.” The roads to
Accompong are in the category of Aother roads and intervals@. Inside the village, there is
one main thoroughfare leading from one quarter to another and various foot paths.
Historically, the state of the roads has been bad, because the colonial governments and
the post colonial governments penalize the Maroons for refusing to pay taxes. Driving
22
five kilometers west of Accompong, one is immediately struck by the dramatic
difference in the roads on the Appleton Estate that are wider, well paved, and regularly
maintained.
little room for social mobility. Few occupations are gender specific. As there is little
opportunity for wage employment in the area, with the exception of occasional domestic
work and seasonal farm labor. Migration out of the village for work is high. There is both
long term and short term cyclical migration to the surrounding urban areas of Jamaica,
regionally to other Caribbean countries, and internationally to England, the United States
and Canada, with most transnational migrants leaving directly from Accompong. In many
cases, there is at least one family member overseas, facilitating further migration. Women
who migrate appear to be better able to obtain and keep work, and once gone they rarely
return. This is confirmed by gender disparity in latest census data of 2001 for the most
economically productive residents ages 16 to 44 with 256 males and just 188 females in
mechanics, bakers, rope twisters, unskilled laborers and in other service jobs. Some men
who migrated locally and hold top civil servant jobs and occupations such as doctors,
lawyers and politicians, have not returned to Accompong, nor do they identify as
and other non-Maroon communities in the Caribbean. “Male migration, both temporary
and long-term, has been a standard pattern for almost 100 years and has had far-reaching
consequences for many aspects of Saramaka social structure” (Price 1974:65). “The
Djukas have always had to rely on their contact with the coastal area to procure
additional provisions. As a result of this the population, especially the male part of it,
was mobile; and money – for making the supplementary purchases – has always played a
There were 252 houses counted in the 2001 census varying in terms of
architectural style, age and size including wattle and daub, wooden, and cement houses.
The wattle and daub houses are the earlier types of houses, and only a few remain. Not
all the houses are furnished with running water and electricity. Other buildings include a
community center, five churches--the United Church of Grand Cayman (the oldest
building in the community), Assembly of God, Seventh Day Baptists Church, Zion
Church, and Ta-ta Denue Church; three guesthouses, three schools, an herbal garden
project hut, a café and fifteen shops. The café sells a variety of products including soft
General meetings are held at the community center which also houses a small
museum, restroom, a clinic and the colonel’s office. Across the street from the
below) Public speeches and revival meetings are held in this location. It also serves as a
Cudjoe’s Monument
Café
abeng, phone (land line and cellular), word of mouth, and messages on the notice board
near the community center. The abeng is “a side blown horn, Maroon war horn which
has been in use in Jamaica for three centuries”(Ralston Reid, 2001). There is one public
and two private phones in the community and many individuals own cell phones, as two
mobile phone towers were erected in 2008. The public phone requires the use of a
25
prepaid phone card and is dependent on the availability of electricity.
and trucks. Although there are no large trucks carrying produce to the market, there is
one truck that makes a weekly visit delivering supplies to the village. Taxis make several
trips a day to the neighboring towns and so do the mini-vans that transport high school
students. Most cars are 1970s model; however, there were a few 1990s models. There is
no post office in the village and the nearest on is approximately three miles away in
another community.
Methodology
The methodology for this study combines ethnography, archival research and the
collection of census data gathered over a period of years B winter 1999 through 2009. An
practices, artifacts, folk knowledge and behavior” (LeCompte and Preissle 1993: 2-3),
interactions of Accompong residents while living in the community during winter 1999,
and summer 2001 and 2008. The name of the village has not been changed as requested
by the Maroons. Names of public officials have not been changed, but those of other
The language of the Maroons is Creole. Although I speak Belizean Creole, I was
able to understand the Jamaican Creole of the Maroons. Interviews were conducted in
phase of participant observations, when you are just settling in and getting to know the
lay of the land” Bernard 1994:209). These were followed by open-ended interviewing,
The unit of analysis is the household. A household composition census noted kin
arrangements such as marriage, spouse equivalence, births and deaths, and visiting
arrangements and the movement of children. The household survey also included data on
the division of labor and handling of resources, work-teams and peer groups which make
up units such as the political units, kinship, economic systems and foodways system. As
such, all the institutional and non-institutional structures were investigated. Originally,
my intention was to study the foodways of the Maroons, but given the poverty level, I
seven from males and fifty-one from females. Information gathered included kinship
information, household income, land tenure, inheritance practice, labor and migration
history, and patterns of remittances. Informants for this study were of various socio-
resided in different areas of the village. Non-maroons living outside the community were
also interviewed. These included both academics and lay persons. In addition, thirty-five
genealogies were collected from Cooper’s notes. Cooper, along with his wife, conducted
fieldwork in Accompong in late 1938s; however, he died without publishing his work.
This information was used to substantiate the genealogies I collected and in some cases,
27
drawing attention to particular relationships in the past.
reinforced in their minds by the “large number of individuals who hail from various parts
of the world to study them.” Some believe that individuals who studied them returned
home earning millions of dollars. Hence respondents frequently asked me for US$100 for
an interview. One woman asked for US$500 since she claimed that the last person she
worked with had promised to send her money but never did. Another individual
threatened to “smash up” my camera if I did not give him any money. Given that I did
not pay informants, these requests and several subsequent refusals to participate
cooperative and I take pride in the fact that, over all, diversity among my informants is
agricultural fields with several informants to determine what products were grown, where
these products were marketed, by whom, and when. Food preparation was also
documented. This included who carried out the cooking, what was cooked and when,
I also attended the Denbeigh Agricultural Show where farmers from all parishes
compete at the national level on behalf of their village or town. At this 3-day event, I was
able to gather comparative information on practices and goals of agriculture on the island
not only on the micro but the macro level and the influence of the United States
government. As a way of learning about the availability of produce that could be found, I
kept a journal of foods prepared for my family since a journal of food preparation can
28
reveal daily and weekly meal patterns and the types of food available. In the field, I
was accompanied by my husband and eleven year old son. The overseer of the café was
hired to provide us with three meals per day. From the journal, it is then possible to
determine if food is grown locally, or purchased outside the community. I also observed
the butchering of a pig and a cow, noting the different roles of each individual, the
individual in charge, and which portion of the meat was given to whom.
Inventories of several of the shops were conducted, noting cost and variety of
items sold who was making purchases. I also took several tours of the community, and
visited historic and sacred sites during which the oral history was narrated. These
During my fieldwork, several life cycle events took place and I participated in
these. These events included graduation ceremonies, two deaths, and the celebration of
Treaty Day. Mortuary practices and mourning obligations were also recorded since
practices at death reveal information about the life of the deceased. These public events
were photographed and in some cases videotaped for later analysis. I noted who
attended, the relationships between various individuals, and the nature of rituals
performed.
I attended meetings of various political and social organizations where the status
and roles of attendants were recorded in addition to whether or not attendance and
membership were closed or open, temporary, ad hoc, or perpetual, and the rules
governing recruitment and exclusion. I took notes on transactions at the meetings as well
as the stated interests and goals and any handouts at the meeting. I also noted overlapping
29
membership and relationships between local organizations.
I examined a total of 142 clinic records dated from 1989 - 2001 to determine
disease incidence and distribution. These records were also examined to obtain
information about who goes to the clinic, the cost of the clinic, and the type of medical
care available to the community. The records included 36 records of reproductive age
females, and 44 children (20 males, 24 females). Observation of the traveling dentist
who makes three trips per year to the village was conducted.
very little was available in Accompong. I examined records of births, deaths and
Gardens near Kingston. I also visited the Statistical Institute of Jamaica; the Lands and
Evaluation Department; the Survey Department; the University of the West Indies
Libraries; and the National Archives of Jamaica. At the Survey Department, I obtained
aerial photographs of the community dated 1978 and 1992, and maps dated 1896, 1938,
1941, 1945, and 1991. At the Lands and Evaluation Department, I obtained maps of
Accompong dated 1976 and 1991, the latter representing the most recent map the
Jamaican government has made to facilitate levying property taxes. Census data from
1960, 1970, 1991 and 2001 was collected from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica. I
obtained copies of the following documents from the National Archives of Jamaica:
Maps dated 1757, 1868 and 1896; the 1739 treaty; and the 1842 Allotment Act. In
Secretary, other colonial officers, and Accompong Maroon Colonels, dated 1882, 1895,
30
1906 and 1920. At the University of the West Indies, I examined the papers of
Former village administrators kept very few records and there was little sharing of
historical record keeping was sparse as the village’s history is passed on orally. I had the
opportunity to review the private small library of one former Colonel, Pastor Harris
Cawley, which included records from his own term in office and published academic
material on the Maroons. The Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer proved to be very
valuable resources as individuals vying for power and the office of the colonel aired their
literature on land, kinship and identity within Caribbean communities in the tradition of
Besson (1984, 1987, 1995 and 1997), Fog-Olwig (1997 and 1999) and Maurer (1997);
also, on maroons studies along with Bilby (2006, 1996, 1994), de Groot (1969),
Kopytoff (1973, 1976 a & b, 1978 and 1987), Mintz (1976), Price (1979), and Zips
(1999, 19989, 1996). This is the first such study to examine the internal dynamics of the
Accompng Maroon village, including the social organization. Besides the scholarly
audience that exists for doctoral dissertations in anthropology, I expect that this study will
find a readership among two other groups: First, I believe Maroons themselves will find
the historical and political analysis of interest; second, policy makers working in both
31
government positions and nongovernmental organizations, particularly those involved
with food aid organizations, may find the community development implications that I
outline of use. The foodways of the Accompong Maroons have never been studied before
and, to my knowledge, no detailed study any Maroon community has employed this
organizations need to make real productive resources like seeds and technologies
than only distributing food, since that only serves as band aids on a more fundamental
problem. Similarly, food aid organization must take into account the lack of technology
in the village when distributing food. Food aid must be in the form of small, single use or
community’s values and social life suggest that nongovernmental organizations working
in Accompong should not take an approach that relies heavily on the community’s
support individual entrepreneurship. For example, both the failed projects spear-headed
by OXFAM and the Canadian government discussed in chapter IV were based on the
idea that community members worked together harmoniously rather than individually.
In the next chapter, I provide a detailed account of the history and sociopolitical
discussion of how the colonial plantation economy produced scattered and remote
Maroon communities throughout the Caribbean region. I then provide a very detailed
account of the history of the legal status of Accompong via an analysis of the treaty
Chapters 3 and 4 examine the economic activities of the village, including the
legal and economic history of the communal land holding. I also describe the differential
importance of residence proximity, land use history, with the latter becoming more
kinship system and village’s social organizations from an emic and etic perspective. I
found that systems of affinity, kinship and descent are indeed a basis for land holding,
political office and indigenous healing knowledge and practices. I describe strategic
marital practices (legal and non-legal), including cousin-marriages and marriages with
outside the Jamaican legal system in that their births and deaths are never recorded.
Hence, the number of legal marriages remains low. From the emic perspective, there are
no differences between legal marriage and common-law marriage. I discuss the historical
religion, magic, witchcraft and healing. The religious life of the Accompong Maroons
differ from the South American Maroons, but are similar to the larger Jamaican
populations and other Jamaican Maroon communities and is very more Christian than
33
African in nature. Examination of the foodways is in appendix IV. The religion and
foodways highlight the similarities between the Accompong Maroons and the wider
Jamaican population. The foodways system of the Accompong Maroons has never been
studied before. This study examines the foodways system of the Maroons, paying
boundaries between different groups, gender divisions and power relationships. The
treaty prevented the Maroons from having a market and growing sugar cane, the major
cash crop of the day. In addition, the provision grounds of the Maroons and their
neighbors were destroyed by the colonial government during the Maroon Wars to ensure
that the Maroons did not have access to food for their continued sustenance. These acts
highlight the measure of power and powerlessness between the two groups. The ability of
the Maroons to reproduce their population is tied to the access to land and, through land,
to food. While food is necessary for social and biological reproduction, food events in
Accompong also serve as an encoded system of communication that regulates key social
relations both within and outside the household, and in the larger political system. Food
exchanges solidify socio-political alliances and food consumed at feasts serves as means
for fostering communal solidarity and ties the community to their ancestral past.
34
New World Maroons
Introduction
This chapter examines the historical and contemporary political structure and
context of the Jamaican Accompong Maroons. The analysis highlights the dependency of
the village, and their integration into the Jamaican state and the processes that allow this
to happen. I also briefly examine the history of other Maroon communities in Jamaica
and South America in order to compare the different legal and political trajectories
beginning with the treaty between the Jamaican Maroons and the South American
Maroons. Like Kopytoff (1973, 1976b and 1978), I argue that the terms of the 1739 treaty
with the British were never intended to grant the Maroons independence.
Elders. Added to this group is the abeng blower, a single individual, and legacy of the
past, that provides an important ritual and symbolic service for the community. Some of
36
these groups are recent parts of Accompong Town’s social organization formed in response
to programs initiated by the national government, and/or national and international agencies.
Kopytoff argued that the British found the cost of maintaining separate Maroon
communities expensive along with the emancipation of all the slaves in the island.
Therefore the British eliminated the cost of maintaining maroon communities. AAmong
the costs were the salaries and housing expenses of the superintendents and White
officers; the wages and rewards for Maroon parties, their provisions while on duty, and
their uniforms; gifts to Maroon chiefs; wages for road work, and the costs of surveying
My position is that in addition to the expense with the abolition of slavery, there
was no longer a need for the institution of marronage to uphold slavery. However,
Maroons resisted a change to their status and maintained that the treaty was a >blood
treaty,= not to be broken. Not wanting to push the Maroons too far, nothing was done to
disband the groups, especially since the British could not find land to distribute to each
Maroon. Therefore, the Maroons were no longer in a special category legally, but de
facto, remained with their land intact. Accompong Maroons continued to operate under
two articles of the 1739 treaty while they have made accommodations and assimilated
Kopytoff (1973; 1976b and 1978) repeatedly argued that the terms of the treaty
did not allow Maroons to become totally independent and that independence suggested
by the treaty is a “legal myth.” The author demonstrated that the treaty resulted in an
Zips (1996) argues that the “the political structures of Jamaican Maroon societies
show similarities and parallels with West African systems of traditional authority that
deserve further comparative research. One of these features can be seen in the
Zips in 1991, Colonel Harris noted: “The Colonel is the head of state. He assumes this
matters related to the Maroons. He is elected into office for five years by the popular
vote in a democratic system. The Colonel office is managed by a Council with its Major,
its Captains and then you have the other members on the Council numbering sometimes
Zips also argue that “the system of authority among the Jamaican Maroons has
undergone important changes since its regulation in the Peace Treaty. The official title of
the political head of the society has changed from Captain to Colonel and in recent years
1996:291).
I found that the system of authority changed from captain to colonel and although
there was an attempt at re-africanisation in 1994 after visits to and from Ghana, the name
remained as colonel as many felt that this title was more militant than chief. My analysis
demonstrates that the gerontocratic leadership is due to the migration pattern rather than
an African survival. Young men leave for 20 or 30 years then return with capital and
engage in political life of the village, a pattern that goes back to the nineteenth century.
Mintz (1985) examined Caribbean peasants and noted, “one obvious answer for the
Caribbean peasantry has been migration; but this is not, as many people believe, a new
38
answer. Caribbean people have been emigrating for nearly a century in search of work,
phenomenon, with a large number of each generation of males emigrating in turn. (Mintz
1985:141)
Zips (1994) examined the Council of Elders and argued that “the competencies of
the Council of Elders comprised the following tasks: constructive suggestions to the
denunciation of any action detrimental to peace and progress, and planning the election of
a new Colonel”(Zips 1998:16). My research found that the council had fallen apart, was
resurrected and did try to carry out these tasks but was unsuccessful. Similarly, the abeng
blower was revived from the time Dunham (1942) visited the village in the late 1930s.
Maroon communities in the New World grew out of resistance to the plantation
economy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Escaped slaves repeatedly destroyed
plantations and waged war against the European colonizers. Because of the high cost of
labor, slaves and time spent fighting, planters periodically declared truces and negotiated
treaties. The first such treaty in Jamaica was signed on March 1, 1739 between the British
and Cudjoe of the Trelawny Maroons following the First Maroon War (1725-39). Two
years later, a similar treaty was signed with the Windward Maroons which included the
communities of Moore Town, Scott’s Hall, and Charles Town, located near Port Antonio.
(See Map III.2) In actual fact the present Maroon reserve at Accompong was acquired by
39
a legislative act in 1758 as opposed to the 1739 treaty. However, for our purposes we can
act as if the treaty was signed with the Accompong Maroons, for it is the firm belief of
the present day people that this is the case and they have abundance of what is to them
The Dutch in Suriname followed in the footsteps of the British and in 1760 a
treaty was signed with the Njudka Maroons, in 1762 with the Saramaka Maroons and the
Matawai Maroons in 1767. In 1791 a treaty placed the Surinamese Aluku Maroons under
the supervision of the Ndjuka Maroons. Later, the Paramacca and Kwinti Maroons were
placed in protectorate relationships with the preexisting Maroon groups. In 1801, the
Other known Maroon communities are the Palenqueros of Colombia; the Garifuna
of the Atlantic coast of Central America; the Maroons of the Costa Chica region of
Mexico; the Quilombos of Brazil; the Cimarrones of Cuba; and the Seminole Maroons of
Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico and the Bahamas. (Price 1979) (See Map III.1, page 33)
The legal status of maroon communities varied by country and through time and
regions and colonial regimes account for some of the differences between present
Maroon communities in the South American mainland and Caribbean island, and how
they have been treated in the literature. While the British colonial government abolished
the institution of marronage along with slavery in the late 1830s, the Suriname and
Guyanese governments renewed the terms of the treaties with their Maroon communities.
The Dutch renewed their treaties with the Maroons in 1835, 1837 and 1838. In the 20th
40
century, the Surinamese government argued that territories held by Maroons are those of
the state and will be used as such. Between 1958 and 1961, a large portion of Maroon
territory on the Suriname River due south of Paramaribo was flooded with the
construction of the Afobaka Dam. The status of the French Guiana Aluku Maroons also
changed again in 1969. “In 1969, the Inini territory was dissolved and the French
Aluku villages came directly within the scope of the coastal territory” (Bilby 1989). The
Aluku Maroons are now under French Guianese administration and many have left the
villages for urban areas. Some of these shifts in the legal status of maroon communities
correspond to the changes in the legal status of the colonial countries as they became
Marronage in Jamaica
circumscribed maroon government and lifeways while providing certain rights, privileges
and obligations. (See Appendix I for the full treaty.) This treaty governed the Trelawny
Maroons, but the Accompong Maroons view this treaty as covering them as well. In
addition to the land grant, the articles included the liberty to plant certain crops, breed
livestock and hunt “except within three miles of any settlement.” Their status as military
officers required Maroons protect the country from enemy invasion, and return all
runaway slaves. “True to the treaty, the Maroons played decisive roles in the suppression
of the Taki and Sam Sharpe rebellions, not to mention in the delivery of subsequent
41
runaways, and, following emancipation, in the suppression of the Morant Bay Rebellion”
in 1865 (Chevannes 1995:11). The Accompong Maroons also offered to aid the colonial
government during the 1938 rioting as reported in several issues of the Gleaner
The second article of the treaty limited the Maroons’ ability to expand through
group. The treaty also handicapped the Maroons as they were prevented from having
their own market and planting sugarcane. The absence of a market along with the
prohibition on producing sugar cane, the largest export item, severely impacted the
to the Custos or magistrate of that parish for a permit to vend their goods at the market
outside their boundaries. To date, the Jamaican Maroons still do not have a market,
although they no longer need permission to sell their produce in other regional town
markets.
The maroon leader was granted the authority to settle disputes in their community
with the exception of murder, and to inflict punishment as he saw fit with the exception
of the death penalty. In addition, shortly after the treaty was signed, British planters
moved into the mountains and lived adjacent to the maroon communities, preventing
their access to the resources of the larger forest. In effect, the British created a reservation
Two other crucial items of this treaty addressed the issues of road clearing and
leadership succession. Maroons were responsible for clearing the roads from Trelawny
Town to Westmoreland and St James, and if possible to St. Elizabeth, all in the west.
42
Cudjoe’ treaty stated that upon his death the position would pass to his brother
Governor would appoint someone fit to command. British officers were also stationed in
the Maroon settlements to facilitate ties with the colonial government and were involved
The treaty granted Cudjoe and his group a 1,500-acres parcel of land in Trelawny
(Appendix I, Article Three) but not the Accompong Maroons, under the leadership of
Accompong, Cudjoe’s brother, who were already residing in the Cockpit Mountains.
However, the then governor provided Accompong with a separate land grant. It was 1758
before Accompong Maroons were granted 1000 acres of land in the Cockpit Mountain
region. Although the Trelawny Maroons were disbanded in 1796 and their land returned
to the crown, the Accompong Maroons remained separate and tried to claim the Trelawny
from the British military system of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 17th century the title
of Maroon leader was captain used by those signing the 1738-9 treaty, Awhereas Captain
leader of the leeward Maroon groups and was given the title of colonel. The nature of the
relationship between the various maroon groups is unknown with the exception of the
That Captain Cudjoe and his successors shall wait on his Excellency or the
commander-in-chief for the time being, once every year, if there upon
43
requires...full power to inflict any punishment they think proper for crimes
committed by their men among themselves, death only excepted; in which
case if the captain thinks they deserve death, he shall be obliged to bring
them before any justice of the peace who shall order proceedings on their
trial equal to those of other free negroes. (Appendix I, 1738-9:XI, XII).
The fighters working most closely with the colonel bore military titles just like
their British counterparts,-- major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, private and constableBall
held by men. We don=t know the functions of the men holding these titles within
Accompong. The colonel, as the leader of the Maroons, came under the jurisdiction of the
With the abolition of slavery, the colonial government also abolished the
institution of marronage with the 1832 Law. Article two of that law reads: AAnd be it
enacted 1 , That the maroons shall be entitled to and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and
immunities of British subjects, as fully and completely as the same are enjoyed by any
other of her majesty=s subjects in this island@ (Appendix II). Maroons for their part,
argued that the treaty could not be changed and viewed themselves as having all the
under military personnel during the 17th and 18th centuries to a representative
government, to Crown Colony from 1866 until 1944, and finally, an independent nation
in 1962. Simultaneously, the status of the Maroons changed from under the institution of
1
This section of the text in the original document is underlined.
44
marronage to British subjects after emancipation. With the changes in the structure of the
conquered territory with an administration of major generals and colonels. The settlers
British legal system to meet the needs of the existing population. Each governor served a
term of five years, or less depending on certain life circumstances such as death.
Jamaica was a Crown Colony from 1866 until 1944 when Adult Suffrage was
granted. Both the change to Crown Colony status and the granting of Adult Suffrage
Prior to the passage of Universal Adult Suffrage, Women=s Suffrage “was passed
45
into law by a vote of 13 to 9. The qualifications for women to vote were made
substantially higher than those for men. Only women of 25 years of age and over, who
paid two pounds a year in taxes or earned 50 pounds annually, were allowed to vote” on
Jamaica was granted political independence from the United Kingdom in August
of 1962 after a new political consciousness had arisen that, beginning in the late 1930s,
similar to that of the United Kingdom. Legislative power is vested in the government and
parliament while the Judiciary is independent of the Executive and Legislative Branches.
Queen Elizabeth II remains the Chief of State and appoints a Governor General, based on
role. The de facto executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet
with general elections held every five years to elect a new government.
legislature. The Senate is a twenty-one member body with thirteen senators nominated
by the Prime Minister and eight by the leader of the opposition. There are also fourteen
ministries. Both the ministers and the senators have an economic infrastructure to support
their portfolios.
Administratively, Jamaica is divided into fourteen parishes with each parish under
the umbrella of one of the ministers. “Each parish (or precinct consisting of a union of
(Edwards 1807:264). The Custos reports to the Minister of Parliament for that area.
Parishes are further divided into towns and villages. Accompong, located in the parish of
46
St. Elizabeth, is one of the villages of that parish. During the political changes in Jamaica,
the 1970s, the colonel from Moore Town was a legislative member for Port Antonio as
and judiciary system. However, like the rest of the Caribbean nations, the Privy Council
remains British. None of the above criteria for a state can be found in Accompong.
The position of colonel was initially based on lifetime rule during which the
presiding colonel chose a successor, usually from among his kinsmen. But in 1957, after
nineteen years of internal power struggle, the colonel=s position was changed from
lifetime rule to a five-year term based on popular election. This change was instituted by
the colonial government after repeated pleas from the Maroons themselves to settle the
dispute. Accompong=s elections then came under the supervision of the Jamaican Chief
Electoral Officer and use the national government=s voters’ registration list. Under the
new system the colonel=s supporting group became a council and their military titles were
replaced with political ones such as Minister of Justice, Minister of History, or Minister
47
of Agriculture. Health aides, generally Maroon women who have been trained to work
along with visiting nurses provided by the Jamaican government as well as visiting
international medical teams, are now also council members. The colonels come from the
Wright, Rowe and Cawley families. The council was also kin-based. Until 1938, the
colonel and some of the council members were also traditional healers, including obeah
practitioners.
Under the quasi-military system of the immediate post-treaty era, the official
group advising and supporting the colonel was entirely male, with the exception of
Nanny as the only female in Moore Town. However, women served on the council in the
1920s.
Even though the colonel=s position is now an elected one for a five-year term, all
the colonels elected since 1957, have been the direct descendants of previous colonels
and older men. H. A. Rowe was appointed colonel by Colonel H. E. Wright in 1920.
Rowe collected taxes and levied fines for infraction of the law within the village.
Maroon males were taxed at the rate of four shillings and women at two shillings per year
for roads and the poor. Money was also used to offset the expenses incurred by the
council members in their travels, for remittances to the constables and for donations and
alms.
Colonel H. A. Rowe paid no taxes to the colonial government, but lobbied for
medical aid, better roads, the establishment of a post office and more land, through the
visiting writer Morley Roberts Cole. Cole, a white man, was viewed as a powerful and
influential person capable of achieving support for the Maroons. Cole wrote:
From the above passage, it is clear that the Maroon colonel was incapable of
securing economic and medical aid for his community. Morley Roberts Cole was also
unable to secure aid for the community. The result was a disgruntled group and by the
late 1930s Colonel H. A. Rowe was faced with high unemployment rate; low earnings
from export crops; loss of the use of the unpatented crown land where logging took place;
food shortage resulting in food theft; and increasing pressure from the colonial
government to individuate Maroon land. After two hundred years of freedom, the
Eventually H.A. Rowe resigned but, since no one took his resignation seriously,
men and his mother, took over from him. These series of events in Accompong resonate
even more as 1938-39 marked the bicentenary of the signing of the treaty between the
British and the Maroons, and one hundred since the abolition of slavery.
The government had no desire to take on the discipline of the Maroons and
hoped that Rowe would remain as colonel. Although the internal political issues leading
to Rowe=s forced resignation are not alluded to in this article, the background against
which the reporter sees it as significant is the Maroons= disputed claims to land. The
author hopes that Maroons will listen to Rowe and settle their land grievances through the
In 1938, Cawley burst on the political scene and, once there, challenged the old
leadership until his death. Cawley was supported by his mother, and an elderly Charles
Reid who appeared to be knowledgeable about the maroon cause. Cawley was an ardent
Christian and his coming to power marked not only a change in the internal selection
process for colonel, but also a change in the religious cosmology that was to dominate in
Accompong. That these things occurred in Accompong when they did is, I believe,
linked to other political and economic currents affecting Jamaica and the Caribbean.
An important element of Cawley=s agenda was to end the social control of the
community by self-serving obeahmen. AIn the early 1930's, it was said that the Old
People, including Town Master, were being manipulated by obeah men who were using
the power of the ancestors for their own purposes rather than for the good of the
was a courageous one because Cawley believed in the power of the Old
People and the obeah men and thought he was risking death. He also
believed that the obeah men were putting Town Master to an improper and
evil use, and he announced that Town Master must not be put to such use,
must not be put Aabove God.@ The chief obeah man predicted Cawley=s
death within a few days. When he survived and thrived, it gave
considerable impetus to Christianity, which Cawley had claimed as his
protection and which had proved to be the greater power. (Kopytoff
1987:477)
After this incident, Cawley gained tremendous power within the community and
Colonel H.A. Rowe was forced to resign. This action by Cawley not only disrupted the
political and religious systems, it also disrupted the economic and the social order of
Accompong. Cawley used the Maroon ideology of Town Master to discontinue the old
Master. However, that is not to say that obeah practices were discontinued; rather, they
went underground. With this move, the celebration of Treaty Day was banned for several
years as a part of the celebrations included a Myal dance. (More on this later.)
After Rowe’s resignation, Cawley announced, not only his assumption of the
Both Maroons and government workers were cutting timber and sleepers, used to
make rope, in the same area. The presence of the government workers meant that they
51
were in competition with the Maroons for the same items at a time when there was an
economic down turn. This dispute continued through to the end of 1938. Eventually, the
land on which Maroons were squatting and logging was confiscated by the government
and another piece of land was made available to them. In addition, an offer of 3,000 to
4,000 acres of land was made to the Maroons under the leadership of Colonel Cawley.
The Maroons were required to pay minimal taxes on the land. Henry A. Rowe
undermined Colonel Cawley and the deal was rejected. Nevertheless, the Maroons ended
In the 1930s, the global economy suffered under the weight of an economic
downturn initiated by the United States’ stock market crash of 1929 and World War II.
Between 1928 and 1933, the prices of Caribbean export crops bought on the global
market dropped by half (Lewis 1978.) Under economic pressure abroad, Jamaican
migrants including Accompong Maroons were repatriated from places such as Panama,
Costa Rica and Cuba only to find drastic wage cuts, increased taxes, and high levels of
unemployment.
These conditions were compounded by crop diseases and storms that destroyed
crops that resulted in economic and political disturbances. Panama disease began to infect
Jamaica’s banana crops in 1922. In 1935, the banana was infected again, this time with
leaf spot disease; in 1937, it was a fungal disease in the ginger crop. The violent storms
of 1933 and 1935 also destroyed many crops, compounding the problems of an
agricultural economy that was already severely stressed. The picture in Accompong was
even worse. In addition, the wild hog population that Maroons hunted was declining.
During her mid-1930s sojourn in Accompong Katherine Dunham noted that “[F]or three
52
years there has been no hunting at all. For meat there are goats, a few stray hogs, and a
impacting the religious, political and legal institutions. In his book entitled Labour Unrest
in the West Indies, Lewis (1977) uses 1935 as a bench mark for the series of upheavals in
the Caribbean. The unrest began in St. Kitts and then spread to Trinidad and throughout
the region as the largely Afro-Caribbean population reacted to lack of food and jobs. The
strikes were led by agricultural workers, workers in oilfields, and other industries. This
situation was exacerbated by mass migration from rural areas to urban areas. The late
1930s marked one hundred years after emancipation and the bicentenary anniversary of
the Maroon peace treaty. However, the Afro-Caribbean population had not achieved
economic prosperity. The result of the Caribbean protests brought their plight to the
attention of the British public. In reaction to the strikes, the British government reacted
with armed force which resulted in thousands imprisoned and killed. Although some
The result of these events was a series of strikes throughout Jamaica, in the early
months of 1938, in the parishes of St James, Westmoreland, St. Andrew, and Kingston.
During this period, there was also a series of public meetings led by Alexander
Bustamante, William Grant and Norman Manley resulting in the birth and strengthening
of labor unions. The governor responded by forming a Commission to enquire into the
The fall in prices of export crops had a direct impact on Accompong because
almost everyone there grew bananas and sugar cane. Accompong Maroons sold bananas
53
to the United Fruit Company for export but, and also processed sugar there in
Accompong, although some farmers also sold raw sugarcane to the nearby Appleton
Estates (Cooper, 1938-9.) Maroons who worked in outside banana fields and sugar
estates also suffered. When the export prices for bananas and sugar fell, so did the wages
of banana and sugar cane workers. Thus in Accompong, there was real hunger.
Katherine Dunham (1946) described a case of food theft being tried in the colonel=s court
in Accompong. Food theft was a significant and common phenomenon during this period
due to the high rate of hunger on the island and in this region.
Accompong was not isolated from either the economic privation or the political
unrest experienced elsewhere in the Caribbean or the wider Jamaica. But Accompong=s
leadership reacted to these broader forces in a way that reflected the community=s
previous unique social and legal position within Jamaica and its distinctive political
system and local values were upheld. Although the Accompong Maroons were in the
same position as the wider Jamaica and the Caribbean, they offered to join the British
Accompong Maroons reacted to these events in two very different ways. Rumors
predicting that Accompong Maroons were going to attack large estates in their area had
been spreading throughout Jamaica during the unrest. No doubt the existence of these
rumors was significant for the larger Jamaican population. In one action H.A. Rowe, still
the reigning colonel, affirmed the willingness of Accompong Maroons to serve the
government as a reserve militia to put down political unrest, an affirmation rooted in the
historic provisions of their peace treaty. Colonel Rowe placed a letter in the Daily
Gleaner dated July 26, 1938, to the effect that the Accompong Maroons would come to
54
the aid of the government to suppress any violence by Jamaicans rather than join the
strikers.
Editor: Sir: Kindly allow me space in your valuable columns to publish the
following: It has been rumoured that the Maroons of Accompong in the
parish of St. Elizabeth have joined in the rioters in this island, and that
they are about to attack big properties on the first day of August. This is
strange news to the Maroons__ _ _. The Maroons in general do not have
any right to go against the Government of Jamaica, as we hold ourselves
responsible that if any outbreak occurs in this island, we are certain to give
our help to the Government.
I am etc.,
R. A. Rowe
Colonel
Accompong, Maggotty P O July 30, 1938. (Gleaner: July 30, 1938)
No records suggest that Accompong Maroons actually were called upon or joined
forces with the police and army in putting down strikes. Instead, the British sought help
from the homeland, and several war ships were positioned in the Caribbean Sea,
surrounding the islands. At the same time, Maroons were experiencing their own internal
Rowe, brother of Henry A. Rowe. Then, in 1948, Man O. Rowe was upstaged by his
brother H. A. Rowe. Although Thomas Cawley was the most dominant, between the
years of 1938 and 1957 several men seized power, with possession of the Colonel=s role
During the internal turmoil, Maroons repeatedly wrote the governor requesting
him to settle the dispute. However, the Governor was still reluctant to choose another
colonel. In the interim, a social welfare officer was appointed to live in the community
and maintain stability. From 1951 to 1957, Cawley continued as Acting Colonel. The
55
dispute over the colonelship was discussed in the House of Commons in London on July
20, 1950. The issue was brought up by the Labour Minister of Parliament, Mr. Tom
Driberg. The Secretary of State of the Colonies noted that he would have the governor
Tom Driberg asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what
steps he proposed to settle it, and who at present was recognized as
Colonel. James Griffith replied that according to his latest information, the
question of arranging an election was still presenting difficulties but a
further attempt is to be made shortly. He would ask the Governor if any
further progress has been made.
Mr. Driberg queried whether it was possible for the Governor to take
initiative in settling the unfortunate dispute among Athese remarkable
people@ and whether he had visited Accompong personally.
After some deliberations, and with input from the resident welfare officer, the
governor made the ruling that the position of colonel should be voted on by the people of
would be for a five year term. Council members came from all strata of the society. The
first elections for colonel took place on June 12, 1957 under the supervision of the
Jamaica Electoral Officer. The candidates were Robertson, Mann O. Rowe and A.
Nicholas and had symbols, indicating a low level of literacy in the village. The symbol of
Robertson was the star, a head for Rowe, and a hand for Nicholas. (Gleaner, June 12,
1957)
Under Article 15 of the treaty, it was the governor=s responsibility to appoint the
next colonel as he saw fit. What we see in 1957 is the Governor handing the people of
56
Accompong the mandate to choose their own leader. This ruling came 13 years after the
island was granted a new constitution and Universal Adult Suffrage. Prior
correspondence between the Maroon leadership and the Governor does not indicate any
desire for independence on the part of the Maroons. Rather than becoming more
independent, the Maroons became more integrated into the state when their new elections
came under the supervision of the government=s Chief Electoral Officer. Previously, the
showing of hands would have sufficed to elect a Colonel, but now the Maroons used a
voters’ registration list and could cast their votes at voting booths located inside
Discussions with several high ranking individuals regarding the reported 1938
incidents confirmed the personal fighting between Thomas Cawley and H. A. Rowe but
informants were unaware of details and the continued power struggle. This missing data
is also seen in the oral history Zips collected. Zips data suggests that the Maroons
instituted these changes themselves which was contrary to the actual events.
status vis-à-vis the state. In a letter entitled “Maroons Want Status Clarified” that
appeared in the Gleaner on February 5, 1951, the Maroons requested that their legal
status be clarified. The Maroons also reiterated their call for economic development and
The Maroons= call for clarification of their status was echoed in the House of
I am concerned about the future welfare and the fate and freedom
of the people known as the Maroons of Jamaica - the Maroons of
Accompong and of Trelawney Town. To remind hon. Members who
may not recall their West Indian history, I should say that these Maroons
have an extraordinarily romantic and interesting history. As far back as
the eighteenth century they won their freedom: they won a treaty of
independence from the British Government…
and wish the Jamaican people well in the future; but I hope, first, that
the Jamaican Government will deal tenderly with these interesting
people, living as they do in a few remote mountain villages. Secondly,
I hope that the Minister - although I know this is a lot to ask - will be
able to say something today about them, because this is the last
occasion on which it will be possible to discuss them in this House, in
view of the impending independence of Jamaica. (House of Commons
Debates Series 5 Vol. 664:cols. 620-621, August 1, 1962)
On February 24, a few weeks later in the House of Commons, the Secretary of
State for the Colonies reassured the Maroons that they would remain self-governed. “The
identity and measure of Self-Government they have always enjoyed, was given by the
Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. James Griffiths, in the House of Commons…”
These are two distinct types of government the British maintained in terms of their
There was no further discussion vis-à-vis the status of the Maroons. Jamaica
became independent on August 6, 1962, and inherited the British government=s legacy.
Three weeks later, on September 5, 1962, fearing a threat to their status, a group of
L. G. Harris, Head Master and Forman of the committee, J. T. Harris, secretary, Moore
Town Maroons and the Hon. Kenneth Jones, M.H.R. for the area,” (Gleaner, September
5, 1962, page 5) from Moore Town meet with the Prime Minister to discuss their treaty
and their status within an independent Jamaica. However, Accompong Maroons did not
The Prime Minister noted that his government did not intend to molest or make
the burden of the Maroons heavier—a policy that has continued. However, the
government reminded the Maroons that they are citizens of Jamaica. On Treaty Day,
government officials reiterate that the Maroons need to pay taxes in exchange for social
services.
Rowe), took over from Thomas J. Cawley. Although Robertson remained in office until
1967, his tenure was fraught with unsettled land deals. Robertson visited the governor to
press for more land but was unable to secure additional land. Maroons unhappy with
Robertson=s leadership repeatedly wrote to the colonial Governor requesting his removal.
(Colonial Secretary Office) However, he remained in office until the next election.
On November 16, 1967, Martell Wright 2 was elected colonel. At fifty years of
age, he was the youngest Colonel. Colonel Martin Luther Wright went on to serve three
consecutive five year terms, and then another five year-term, following Harris Cawley.
On October 27, 1982, amid both violence and bitterness, Harris N. Cawley, son of
Colonel Thomas James Cawley was elected Accompong=s colonel. Harris Cawley served
until 1987, returning to office briefly in 1993 after Colonel Wright was ousted.
In the 1980s Colonel Harris N. Cawley sought to gather the most highly
respected members of the community into his Council. According to his
organizational outline of the Accompong Military Sovereign State, there
were two differently composed Councils, one the Council of Elders and
one the Privy Council, appointed in addition to the 'full Council' of all
political officers at the time, called the Accompong Maroon Regiment
Government…The functions designed for the Privy Council included
making primary decisions regarding the state of Accompong and
2
Later, Martell Wright was known as Martin Luther Wright.
60
The titles of Cawley’s administration as told to Zips differ from what Cawley
told me. In addition, many of these titles were no longer in use during the period of my
Rowe held both positions simultaneously and at times, his role as policeman superceeded
his role as colonel. Rowe was followed by Sidney Peddie in 1999, who was elected
colonel after running on a platform which promised “integrity, accountability, care for the
children and the elderly, restoration of and protection of Maroon traditions, and respect
for the people.” In 2004 after a bitter election drama played out in the Daily Gleaner and
Jamaican Observer newspapers, Peddie was re-elected after Meredith Rowe failed to
capture the necessary majority despite backing from the Council of Elders. This dispute
generated a slew of newspaper articles with the publication of facts, similar to those of
1938, previously not divulged by chief informants, such as land sale and exogamous
relationships. The main points of dispute were over who could vote in maroon elections,
the location of polling stations, and accountability of the January 6 funds. Due to the
conflict, the elections were postponed so that the election list could be certified to the
Maroons are registered to vote in the Jamaican general elections and this same
electoral list is used for the election of a colonel. There are nine polling stations located
61
in the villages of the three parishes where Accompong Maroons are known to live.
However, overseas Maroons are prevented from voting in the elections. In 2004, Colonel
Peddie argued that polling stations should be located only in Accompong and only
individuals living there should be allowed to vote because there was no way to tell if
individuals voting outside of the community were really Maroons. “Colonel Peddie
declared that he thought it was wrong to have polling stations outside of the Maroon
village and indicated that he would be taking steps to close the stations in Aberdeen,
Windsor, Cedar Springs, Elderslie, Garlands, and the EOJ=s (Electoral Office of Jamaica)
offices in Montego Bay and Kingston”(Jamaica Gleaner, May 19, 2004). However, it
was agreed that the polling stations outside of Accompong would remain in place.
In addition to the dispute over of the location of polling stations, the four
candidates vying for the position of colonel, Meredie Rowe, Sidney Peddie, Hansley Reid
and Ralty Salmon; argued that the voters= list compiled by the Electoral Office of Jamaica
was inaccurate. Consequently, the Electoral Office of Jamaica turned to the Maroon
Council to verify the electoral list. Due to the charges filed against Colonel Peddie by
Meredie Rowe, Past Colonel, over allowing non-Maroons to vote, elections were
postponed until 2005. Even after this, the issue remained unresolved. Salmon dropped
out of the race during the conflict over the ballots and after the elections, Reid was
dream that Accompong can become one of, if not, the best tourist destination in the
Caribbean if we get the proper infrastructure in place and we are moving towards that,”
Colonel Peddie said”(Jamaica Observer, January 3, 2005). Colonel Peddie also proposed
62
economic infrastructure. He leased land to the three cell phone companies to erect
reception towers in the village, and leased land to an American to construct a hotel and
golf course. In addition to leasing land, land was sold to Maroons returning from other
parts of Jamaica and England. Monies from these transactions are yet to be accounted for.
Local support in the development of tourism has been supported by the Jamaican
local and foreign funds, little development of the village has taken place. The only
visible improvement in the summer of 2008 was the community center roof had finally
been completed and both the outside and the inside were painted and a mural added.
There were also new benches installed, along with the TV and VCR from the Austrian
government, and the bathroom in the clinic was functioning with running water. Despite
the construction of the Jamaican highway 2008, the road to Accompong remained in
However, Peddie remains in office. Peddie was charged with lack of accountability of
“It is not my council that is grumbling, most of them see eye to eye
with me. It is my deputy and a group of people calling themselves
‘concerned citizens’ that are grumbling. This money thing, it was
discussed before and they asked me to come clean with the transparency.
I have nothing against coming clean, that is being sorted out, so I don’t
know what this grumbling is for.”
(Gleaner: Sunday, November 12, 2006)
The group of ‘concerned citizens’ Peddie refers to is the Council of Elders. From
his comments, the group was not respected. Despite input from the group, they were
unsuccessful in removing Peddie from office. In 2008, several individuals noted that
they had no knowledge of the amount of money Peddie collected from the telephone
companies.
Although Peddie’s second term of office expired in 2008, no elections were called
and with the economic down turn, the Jamaican Electoral Office argued that it did not
have the money to pay for elections any time soon. However, elections were called in
August 2009 after Peddie stepped down in May. In the interim period, the village was
governed by the council under the leadership of Tyshan Wright. The candidates were
Colonels Peddie, Harris Cawley and Meridie Rowe, Police Inspector Ferron Williams,
abeng blower Hansley Reid and for the first time, a woman—Norma Rowe Edwards.
Rowe Edwards, a retired public health nurse, lived abroad some time before returning
home.
Shortly before the elections, Reid and Cawley withdrew their candidacy and
threw their support behind Ferron Williams. Cawley argued that “it look too disgraceful
for so much of us to run for one post here. When you check it out the colonel whom we
want to defeat may end up returning to the post because the votes are going to split up”
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(The Gleaner, August 13, 2009). He also protested changes that had been made to the
election process. “They want us to name a deputy colonel when it had not been done
before. When the colonel is elected you had time to elect a deputy colonel. But they want
you to elect a deputy colonel now and write his or her name on the form” (Jamaica
On August 25, 2009, 53 year old Ferron Williams won the elections with 442
votes; Rowe Edwards received 245 votes, followed by Peddie with 230, and Meridie
Rowe with 95 votes. Norma Rowe Edwards is deputy colonel as it is the de facto policy
to award this post to the individual with the second highest vote count. For the first time,
the Accompong Maroons have a female deputy colonel. Based on the number of votes for
Meridie Rowe, it is clear that his popularity had declined to an all time low.
the Westmoreland Police Division and does not reside in Accompong Town. This will be
the second time a police officer will serve as colonel simultaneously, although Williams
has promised that his role as police inspector will not interfere with his role of colonel—
only time will tell. According to Williams, “People are calling me from everywhere and
asking me to run… The community needs proper governance but Peddie cannot provide
it because the people no longer support him… The young people need to be properly
motivated and guided and I believe I am the man to do it” (Gleaner, February 19, 2009).
Unlike the Accompong Maroons, the structure of the Moore Town Maroons is
that of a “Colonel or Chief, the Major, two Captains, a Secretary, and a Foreman of the
Council. All these posts are elective and under normal circumstances are held for the rest
65
of the incumbents’ lifetime” (Harris 1994:44). Colonel Harris notes that there are
elections, but no one campaigned for office in Moore Town and that the rules are those of
the state, in addition to rules specific to Maroons. Those rules specific to Maroons are
those regarding land issues. All judiciary issues except land issues are handled by the
Thirty years earlier, Cohen (1973) described the Moore Town political structure
as consisting of “the Colonel, the Major, the Captaqin, the Secreaty and a Council of
thirty elected members. The dominant figure, without question, is the Colonel” (Cohen
acclamation upon the resignation of Colonel Downer. One can infer that since an
emphasis was placed on Colonel Harris being a full-blooded maroon, that some were not.
Cohen continues and described the colonel as being that of a mediator, and as the
Although the description of the role of Moore Town’s colonel is more than forty
The Council
Dunham noted that: “The council at one time consisted of twelve persons, nine
men and three women...There are probably not over five active members now...But the
whole organization is so loose that I doubt very much if anyone will trouble to suggest an
election to fill the positions of the seven who have become indifferent or who have
Later, Williams noted that: “when Colonel Rowe took charge, he appointed as a Staff
Lieutenant. He also appointed twelve young men as Constables. The people approved
Dunham’s description from the late 1930s was not much different from what I
found in 2001. Membership in the council was just as loose then as in the 1930s. In fact
the council and its leadership were in a state of disarray and membership was difficult to
abroad, and a few handed in resignations that were declined by the colonel. For example,
the deputy colonel handed in his resignation in 2000, but the Colonel refused to accept it,
so he remained in office. On the other hand, Melvin Curry who had unsuccessfully run
for colonel several times, appointed himself as deputy colonel and became a close ally of
Colonel Peddie.
Through the years, it has been common for individuals to appoint themselves to
office within the council. In addition to Currie, there has been Henry Octavius “Mann O”
Rowe who had seized the Colonelship in 1951. Afterwards “Man O” tried several times
67
to get elected as Colonel. Later, he became Secretary of State and kept a copy of the
original treaty as a symbol of his authority and power. Rowe died on December 26, 2006
and his obituary in the Observer read: “Rowe served for several decades as secretary of
state for the Accompong Maroon Council, and was keeper of the historic treaty between
the Maroons and the British. He was particularly knowledgeable in the area of treaty
rights. Rowe was also keeper of the records of transactions between the British colonial
In recent times the size of the council has differed with each colonel, varying
from twenty-eight to thirty-two members. For example, in the 1980's, under the
leadership of Colonel Harris Cawley, the government consisted of a colonel, and a total
of thirty-two male and female council members, including a first and second deputy
colonel, a treasurer, and a secretary. The council consisted of the following offices:
culture and tourism, education, external affairs, health, agriculture and industries, finance
and projects, community development, commission of lands, and law and justice. “The
title of Commissioner of Lands remains the same from one administration to the other as
there are unresolved land issues” (Harris Cawley, 2001). These titles and offices are of
significance only within Accompong, and unlike the political offices of American or
Ideally council members oversee various areas within the community to improve
standards of living. For example, if a project based on outside funding develops to fill a
overseeing the project’s implementation. Some of the titles in the 2001 council were:
youth and culture, secretary of justice, minister of history and culture, minister of health
council members Dudley Rowe and Mrs. Lawrence, 2001.) Individuals holding council
titles are not involved in their activities on a daily basis: these are not in any sense full-
time jobs, nor are they paid positions. However, council members do have access to
The titles of council members are sometimes misleading in relation to what they
actually do; and not comparable to the Jamaican governmental structure. For example,
the minster of health and clinic serves as a broker between the paid government nurse’s
aide who services the community and the rest of Accompong. The minister of health and
clinic keeps a list of those who are ill, unable to move around and require medical
attention. The individual in this position will then relay this information to the nurse’s
aide and ensure the sick person is attended to. If a medical team is visiting the
community, the minister of health and clinic sees to it that the clinic was cleaned before
the visit, collects a fee from the villagers for services, and maintains order during the
medical team’s visit. The medical team did not charge a fee for their services.
Nevertheless, villagers were charged $50 - $100 to see the dentist. From the arguments
that erupted during the dentist’s visit, it was clear that there was no accounting of the
monies collected since the money did not go to the medical team.
The minister of justice handles petty crimes in the community but is not, as one
would expect, a Justice of the Peace. Accompong’s Justice of the Peace is an outsider
69
who was also the principal of the elementary school. This position is one of the few
village positions held by outsiders and she has been in this position for over 35 years.
Evangelists from a variety of Protestant sects stage revival meetings in the village
from time to time. Whenever a religious crusade like this comes to the village, it is the
task of Accompong’s minister of religion to make the arrangements necessary to host the
group, such as getting villagers to help set up the revival tent and securing a sufficient
number of chairs. The minister of religion has no authority over the religious life of the
village.
Colonel Peddie has spoken about the necessity for maroon traditions to be taught
to the younger generation since older Maroons are dying without passing on their
knowledge. This announcement was followed up with the creation of a minister of youth
and culture, responsible for organizing programs to facilitate the transfer of knowledge
from older Maroons to younger ones. However, there are no guidelines or protocol to say
Meetings were open, and could be called by the colonel, or another council
member. Notice of upcoming meetings was placed on the notice board outside the
community center. Like most meetings in Accompong, they never started on time, and
usually only a few individuals attended. When my family first arrived in Accompong in
2001, the colonel promised to have a meeting with the council so we could inform the
community about our study. However, he never called a meeting. Two months into the
fieldwork Melvin Currie was dissatisfied that we had not paid him any money for our
presence in the village and collecting data, and called a council meeting. I was most
pleased to have the meeting, although I had attended other meetings with the visiting
70
group from the Tourism Development arm of the state. The result of the meeting was that
the colonel and villagers determined that Currie was wrong to try and solicit money from
us. The majority of those who attended the meeting already knew about the study, since I
had spoken to them. A few others were disappointed that they did not know about the
study earlier as originally conceived, there was a health survey that would have been
The Maroon Federation House of Assembly includes representatives from all the
Maroon communities of Jamaica-- Accompong, Moore Town and Scotts Hall--, and
ideally is linked to other Maroon groups in the Caribbean, and to several African
The Federation was formed in the late 1980s and following the Festival of
American Folklore organized by Ken Bilby and Diane N’Diaye at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC, and there was a move to include other Maroons.
Organizers of the Festival hoped for “the birth of the new pan-American Maroon nation
(Price & Price 1994:69). In addition to the Jamaican Maroons, this event brought
“Saramakas and Ndjukas from Suriname, Alukus from French Guiana, Black Seminoles
from Texas and Mexico, Palenqueros from Columbia”(Price & Price 1994:13). Except
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for the Jamaican Maroon groups, it was the first time that they had encountered Maroons
from other countries. When the Maroon groups came together for various activities, they
recognized the need for a central group with representation from all them. However,
given the linguistic barrier of the Maroon groups,--French, Sranan, Saramaccan, Matawai,
Ndyuka, Aluku, Paramaccan, Kwinti and Creole, with the exception of the Jamaican
Maroons who shared a common language, and the remote locations of the groups, they
the Federation that is rooted in the philosophy of the Jamaican national hero Marcus
Garvey. Marcus Garvey, the son of a Maroon woman, born in 1887 in St Ann’s Bay,
Jamaica, advocated for Black liberation and the Back-to Africa Movement in the 1930s
and traveled around the world advocating his position. He was the leader of the Universal
prominent Maroon leaders however, such as Colonel Harris of Moore Town, opposed
Meredie Rowe’s vision of the organization because they believe the Federation should be
concerned primarily with promoting the history, culture and achievements of Maroons
rather than with any broader political agenda. Again, this is another instance of Maroons’
involvement in national and global politics. It is also ironic, and points to the complexity
of the Maroon/Jamaican relationship since the Accompong Maroons did not participate in
the nationalist movement in the 1930s. Even though Garvey was a half-Maroon, this fact
has always been down-played during his life and even now as the Maroons try to
Although there is talk of the need to draw one up, presently the Federation does
not have a constitution; neither, for that matter, do any of the Maroon communities. It is
hoped that a constitution, once drawn up, would clearly define Maroon citizenship and
rights.
(Carlton Smith and Colonel Cawley, 2001). “One could become a ‘naturalized’ Maroon
woman”(Carlton Smith, 2001). A Maroon is entitled to the use of communal land for
farming, and to build a house and vote in the election for colonel.
and lamented the fact that there was none. In 2004, a constitution was drafted.
This new constitution was rejected by Colonel Peddie as he felt that it restricted
his power and authority and that it needed to be changed. In addition, the
candidates in the 2009 elections had issues with the new constitution as they
But Edwards, a public health nurse who lived abroad for some
time, threw cold water on Peddie's claims.
care of their elder and young ones. If you could traverse the community
you would find people without proper roofing. I would make sure they are
fixed as well as the roads,” he said.
“To honour the treaty which our foreparents signed in 1838 and to
live by that treaty and no other document in maroon community can and
should supersede the treaty. The developmental agenda will comprise an
attractive 20,000 seat multi-purposed facility for all sports and other
entertainment. The educational trust is also a must,” he said. (Jamaica
Observer, August 13, 2009)
No doubt there will be ongoing discussion and disagreement over the new
constitution. From the arguments, it appears that some of the articles of the constitution
differ from the treaty. The constitution was drafted and signed off by Colonel Peddie in
front of a Justice of the Peace with the Jamaican government. However, he refused to
abide by the constitution. The conflict surrounding the constitution is reflective of the
Bay. The leader of the Federation is seeking a seat in the Jamaican House of
government. They were demanding over a half million dollars, more land, roads, water
supply, and a seat in both the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament.
The call was made by the vice president of the MFHA, Mr,
Meredie Rowe as he addressed a meeting of Maroons in Montego Bay,
Sunday March 6.
Rowe’s demands are quite large, and the number of Maroons and Maroon
settlements are grossly inflated. Rowe solicited the help of the Nigerian High
Commissioner who had only just recently chided the Maroons for their in-fighting and
failure to govern themselves. (Gleaner, January 6, 1994) But more importantly, after over
150 years of refusing “all privileges and rights of Her Majesty’s subjects,” Rowe is now
demanding these privileges. We can’t be sure that this is the position of all the Maroons
since they hardly ever agree as a body. The question then becomes: “Are the Maroons
now ready to pay taxes?” Or is this just political posturing on Rowe’s part? The
76
demands by Rowe were made as head of the Maroon Federal House of Assembly before
he became colonel. During his term in office as colonel, these demands were muted.
Unlike the Accompong Maroons, the Moore Town Maroons have had a closer
relationship with the government to the point where Colonel Harris was elected a senator
of Port Antonio Parish. With this appointment, Colonel was able to secure additional
The Jamaican government and the Jamaican people have never fully embraced the
Maroons, with the exception of Nanny, as heroes. A statue of Nanny was erected and
placed downtown in New Kingston in 1977 and her face appears on the $500 dollar bill.
One can argue that the myth of Nanny shooting bullets from her buttocks is more
acceptable than that of Maroons hunting down runaway slaves and slaughtering them or
The flyer on the next page was taken from the October 25, 1981 edition of the
Gleaner that depicts the Jamaican National Heroes: Marcus Garvey, Sir Alexander
Bustamante, Norman Washington Manley, Nanny of the Maroons, Paul Bogle, Sam
Sharpe and George William Gordon. In the 19th century, the Maroons aided the British
during the rebellions headed by Sam Sharpe and Paul Bogle. In the 1930s, the Maroons
served notice that they would aid the British during the protests organized by Manley,
Bustamante, and Gordon. Marcus Garvey advocated for people of African descent to
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become independent and was also active in the 1930s protests as well. Clearly, the
politics of Jamaica and the politics of the Maroons have not fully engaged each other.
For the most part, the story of the Maroons has been one of the ‘noble warrior’
resisting domination. The other half of the story of the Maroons aiding the British is only
spoken about in certain circles. We have seen that in 1938 when Jamaicans were
mobilizing for improved living conditions and better wages, the Maroons offered to come
to the aid of the government. They refused to join in struggles similar to those they were
faced with. As more and more countries are facing their past and apologizing for
Maroons will apologize for their role in putting down slave revolts?
January 6th 2006 “as part of efforts to create sustainable development within the
community...We as a people will be moving to ensure that visitors to our community see
more of the Maroon heritage and culture...The Maroon Foundation is the first step
towards bringing back some level of respectability to our ancestors who fought for their
In large part the foundation was formed as a means of dealing with the dilemmas
Treaty Day focuses more and more on developing it as a tourist attraction, the historical
and symbolic meanings of the event are being lost. Peddie contends that the Treaty Day
celebration has taken on the atmosphere of a flea market, something he wishes to counter.
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“Starting next year and beyond, the flea market atmosphere, which now prevails on the
January 6 celebrations, would be significantly reduced and more of the Maroon heritage
and culture displayed” (Jamaica Gleaner, January 6, 2006). The question then becomes
how do you attract larger numbers of tourists and still maintain the historical and cultural
focus of the celebrations? It is unclear how the foundation will function. In 2008,
Meredith Rowe called for the celebrations to be extended to two days, as a means of
drawing a larger crowd—a move that will only compound the problem.
loose kin ties to each other, that ensures that the colonel and the council address the needs
of the village and is called upon from time to time to settle disputes among the Maroons
of Moore Town and Scotts Hall. This group appears to function when needed and in
2001, it was resuscitated by a group of concerned citizens. Their goal was to remove
what they determined was a dysfunctional colonel and raise badly needed funds for the
community. However, the group was unsuccessful in removing Colonel Peddie from
The 2001 Council of Elders was comprised of two former colonels, a former
expatriate Maroon, and senior members of the community who were dissatisfied with the
performance of the colonel. The colonel was unable to secure funds from the government
of Elders was also responsible for the accounting of funds collected during the Treaty
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Day celebrations. The main function of the group was to ensure the functioning of the
local government and to secure funds for capital projects such as the newly built
vocational school. The vocational school had been built with funding from an American,
a Mr. Peterson, but the community did not have the funds to hire the teachers and
Once the rain came to a stop, the women left. The young men
present were joined by other young men and they began drinking beer,
Malta, soda, and white rum. Meridie Rowe (past colonel) later joined the
group, no doubt he was there for the meeting as well. The conversation
then turned to politics and the group became polarized into two groups, –
Peoples’ National Party and Jamaican Labour Party. Eventually, the rain
stopped completely and I left after three hours. (Brandon, 2001)
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politics through the Peoples’ National Party and Jamaican Labour Party, the major
Given the Council’s dissatisfaction with Peddie, “the board 4 decided to throw its
support behind Mr. [Meridie] Rowe because incumbent Colonel Sidney Peddie’s rule has
been autocratic and lacking in transparency and leadership,” in 2004 (Sanford: Jamaica
Gleaner, March 13, 2004). However, Rowe lost to the incumbent, Colonel Peddie. In
Abeng Blower
Dunham feared that the abeng would fade away and persist only as a dim
memory. However, the abeng remains very much in use today. According to Dunham
prior to 1935 the abeng blower was a Maroon called Ole Galleo.
Ole Galleo who died last year was the last really expert horn
blower. A long and arduous training is necessary to send messages as they
were sent in the old days…
The abeng blower is always a male and occupies a unique position in the
Accompong community, one that links Maroons to their African past. The late Colonel
4
Although listed as the board, the reference refers to the Council of Elders.
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Martin Luther Wright has described the abeng’s communicative function as well as its
African origin: “The abeng is made from the horns of cattle and at full blast it can be
heard clearly over a distance of approximately fifteen kilometers and is one of the
traditions that our ancestors brought from Africa where it is still in use as a means of
message communication” (Wright 1994:68). While the abeng is connected to the African
past, it is also related to the history of the Maroon wars in Jamaica and continues in use
today as an important symbol of Maroon cultural identity. According to the current abeng
blower, the abeng is “a Maroon war horn which has been in use in Jamaica for three
The abeng blower manipulates the pitches the instrument produces by covering
and uncovering a thumb hole and the pitch combinations, in conjunction with various
rhythmic patterns, allow him to send messages to both the living and the dead. The
abeng sounds whenever the colonel wishes to call a special meeting. The abeng also
sounds during the Treaty Day celebrations in which the abeng blower is a prominent
member of several processions. When a Maroon dies his death is announced by the
blowing of the abeng and the abeng blower is a necessary fixture during all the stages of
funeral rites. The abeng blower communicates with ancestral Maroons on behalf of their
Maroon dies.
“There are two abengs,–one with a mouth piece and a leather strap that is blown
on the death of a male, and the other without a mouthpiece and strap is blown to
announce the death of a woman”(Hansley Reid, 2001). “For a child one year and older,
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the abeng is blown to announce the death, but it is not blown during the grave digging
and the funeral. Anyone less than a year, the abeng is not blown”(Ettis Wright, 2001).
On the morning of July 16, 2001 at 7:30 AM, while I was getting dressed, I heard
the sound of the abeng. According to Hansley Reid, the abeng blower, the abeng had
been sounded to notify the community that “another soldier gone long”(Reid, 2001).
Levi Rowe, 93 year old, had died in the early hours of the morning. At 8:00 AM on July
25, I heard the abeng once more. On this occasion, the sounding of the abeng signified
that the digging of Levi Rowe’s grave had begun. The delay of nine days between
Rowe’s death and the digging of the grave was due to the fact that, except for Mr.
Rowe’s wife and one daughter, the remainder of his family was living in England,
Five men, accompanied by the abeng blower, were digging the grave when I
arrived at the cemetery. Work continued until 11:00 AM when a man came by with a
lunch of potted meat sandwiches and Kool-Aid. At this point, the abeng was sounded so
that the workers could take a break for lunch. After an hour, the abeng sounded again
and work resumed. The men continued digging until the hole was six feet deep, then they
packed the bottom and the four sides of the hole with bricks and plastered everything
with cement to form the walls and bottom of a tomb. At 4 PM the abeng sounded again
to signal that the grave diggers’ work was over for the day. They covered the tomb with
a large piece of plastic and sheets of zinc on top, held in place by several large bricks
“If difficulties are encountered during the digging, the abeng is again sounded to
call community members to come out, and sing in Coromantee, and to call on the
ancestors to alleviate the difficulties” (Hansley Reid and Constantine Foster, 2001).
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At 1:00 pm on July 29, four days after the completion of the grave, I heard the
abeng indicate that Levi Rowe’s body had just arrived at Accompong’s Seventh Day
Baptist Church from Santa Cruz where it had been prepared by an undertaker. An hour
later, the abeng sounded the beginning of the funeral or Thanksgiving Service. In
addition to singing and prayers, the service included testimonies about Levi Rowe’s life.
Rowe had lived in Connecticut before returning home. He was a farmer, an artist who
worked with mahogany, and a mason. Levi Rowe was the son of Emmanuel Rowe and
Louise White.
A thunder storm broke out during the service forcing many people inside the
already full church. As the service continued, rain blew in from the windows and the roof
began to leak just above the doorway. People had to open their umbrellas inside the
church to keep from getting wet. Mr. Rowe’s granddaughter incorporated the storm into
her eulogy commenting that Levi Rowe had been a great man, and that the tumult
manifested by the elements was a sign of his greatness. She also noted that while some
people had felt that the church was too small to hold everyone, when it began to rain
those outside were forced to seek shelter inside no matter what their religion was. I left
the church about an hour and a half later, just before the service came to an end, because I
The abeng blower, Mr. Reid, took a small soda bottle from his pocket, took a swig
from the bottle, and then sprayed it out. I smelled rum. After this he blew the abeng to
signal that the service was over. The funeral procession lined up and left the church
heading towards the cemetery. Colonel Peddie and the minister who had presided over
the Thanksgiving service were at the head of the procession with Reid at their side
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blowing the abeng all the way to the cemetery. At the grave site, the minister briefly said
prayers, followed by “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” before the casket was lowered in the
tomb with the head pointing west and the feet to the east. The abeng sounded again
The sound of the abeng announces the beginning of the annual Treaty Day
celebrations and the abeng blower plays a significant role in several important rituals.
Early on Treaty Day morning a party of Maroons takes a food offering out to the grave
sites of the ancestors in Old Town. The abeng blower accompanies this group and uses
his instrument to summon the presence of the ancestral spirits during a Myal ceremony
held on the spot. Should an ancestral spirit take possession of someone in the group
during the ceremony the abeng blower must carefully control the spirit through what he
plays on his horn. Although several people can blow the abeng, only one performs in this
The current abeng blower has played the instrument for the past fifty years.
I started to do the blowing of the abeng in 1955 until this day. I got
the gift to blow it from my fore-parents and, if you check through the
settlement here, I taught lots of guys to blow it. They can’t blow as well
as me because their gift-time not yet come. Women are not allowed to
blow the abeng as they are polluted. There are two abengs, one blown for
women, and one for men. (Hansley Reid, 2001).
Ideally, there was little conflict or competition over the role of abeng blower
because access to the role is said to depend upon the bestowal of a special gift from the
ancestors. However in 2007, Reid was replaced by another abeng blower after he fell out
of favor with Colonel Peddie for challenging him in the elections earlier that year for the
Hansley Reid
In the late 1930s in Moore Town, “the abeng or village horn is blown, calling the
men at the town square, after which they are divided into groups and sent to different
sections of the ‘town’ and then the billing commences” (Thompson 1938:474).
Colonel Harris of Moore Town also describes the abeng blown before township
meetings. “Some time before the set hour on the appointed day, the abeng or akikreh is
blown and this means that all adults attending will be free to take full part in the
proceedings. As regards Council meetings, the obraafu (town crier) does not shout the
information; the abeng is not blown and only members of Council and those summoned
to appear may attend” (Harris 1994:45). During the 2007 Accompong Treaty Day
celebrations, the abeng blower and Colonel Wallace Sterling from Moore Town
Among the Njuka Maroons, there is also an abeng. Gazon, one of the Njuka who
traveled to the Folklife Festival in Washington, D. C. noted: “we Njukas have it too…It
There is information on the structure of the South American Maroons, but not
their function, or their relationship with the South American colonial or post-colonial
governments especially since these governments have seized maroon lands in the 19th
century as they see fit. The political structure of the South American Maroons differs
from that of the Jamaican Maroons. Except for the Kwinti Maroons, each maroon group
of Suriname and Guyana has its own chief (granman) and formal government (Price
1976). The function of the granman is often combined with that of high priest (Groot
1974). Each group is further broken down into clans called the lo. The lo is a
matrilineage whose members can trace back to a common female ancestor. The
paramount chief, or granman, of each tribe is chosen from within the different lo of the
group (Goslinga 1990). Most Maroon villages are culturally homogeneous, inhabited by
members of the same lo. Kabiten, or headsmen, have lower rank than the granman and
are the villages’ most important political leaders. The various village kabiten is appointed
by the granman, in consultation with village elders (Bilby 1991). The number of lo
differ for each group, with the Ndjuka being the largest. The Ndjuka have 14, the
Saramacca 12, the Matawai 4, the Paramacca 4, the Aluku 7 and the Kwinti 2
(Hoogbergen 1990). The lo is further broken down into smaller matrilineages called the
bee or bere. The bee or bere enjoys greater solidarity and a deeper sense of belonging
than the lo (Jozefzoon 1959). Traditionally, Maroons get their primary social identity,
their rights to land and associated resources and their many social obligations from clan
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membership, primarily through the bee or bere and secondarily through the lo.
Membership in the bee or bere may vary from 50 to 200 (Thoden van Velzen 1990).
The political structure of the Djuka is a hierarchical one, involving twelve clans or
los, remaining intact during the period of 1918 - 1928, but changed in 1969. The five
clans of the upper river are the elite, compared to the lesser status of the other seven los
or clans that live down river. “The Djuka tribe is subdivided into matrilineal, exogamous
clans, named los…There are twelve clans, the one from which the Granman is chosen,
the Oto-lo, being the most important, followed immediately by the Missidjan-lo” (de
Groot 1969:17). In 1969, there was a Granman, leader of all the clans, a Grand Chief,
vice-chief and forest chief from each clan. At the forest chief level, there are usually one
or two females from each clan. “Chiefs, just like Granmans are chosen from the
matrilineage of their predecessors, but the number of relatives from whom the Granman
may be chosen seems less restricted than in the case of a chief: the latter usually
succeeded by a son of his mother’s brother’s son” (de Groot 1969:18). Next, I will
examine the Accompong council which works to support the colonel in his administrative
Summary
It is clear that the treaty was not intended as a document that granted sovereignty
to the Maroons in order to create a state, it granted freedom from slavery. At the time of
the treaty, Jamaica itself was not a state. An argument based on the ideology that the
maroon enclaves were states before Jamaica became a state is bound to fail as we
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continue to see today. The international courts have also failed in reconciling the two
interpretations of the legal system as these systems have changed. The treaty gave the
Maroons certain rights and privileges in return for ceasing warfare, at the same it
institutionalized the groups that was outside the colonial administration. Jamaica came
about during the age of imperialism and colonial expansion. As the relationships
between the different super powers changed, so did the status of many of its colonies and
outpost throughout the world. During this period, people of African descent and
Indigenous peoples have continued to fight for political sovereignty in the face of
The political system of the Accompng Maroons is different from other rural
communities is Jamaica and from the South American Maroons. Accompong Maroons
of the world systems. The concept of “semi-autonomous social fields” was developed by
Moore (1978) in her work among a Swahili-speaking ethnic group, the Chagga, living at
the base of Mt. Kilamanjaro in Tanzania. Moore found that the group retained local kin-
based ‘bounded units’ encompassing several sets of families and community groups in
which senior male members continued to mediate disputes involving property, family,
and neighborhood matters despite experiencing a history of formal laws and rules
externally imposed by the Tanzanian state in the early 1970s. These included the official
abolition of landed private property and tribal chieftainships along with proselytizing by
The concept of “semi-autonomous social fields” was also used to characterize the
garment industry in New York City which produced ‘better dress line’ for women
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(1978:59). Moore (1978) argued that although the garment industry was regulated by
state and municipal authorities, as well as national unions, the industry maintained a set
of informal rules and obligations (some illegal), to regulate the designers and contractors.
Both the Chagga and the garment industry were resistant to external forces while
flexible broader institutional arrangements. The cases of the Chagga and the garment
industry are similar to the Maroons who have maintained local kin-based “bounded units’
despite pressure, - first from the colonial government, and then later the Jamaican
proselytizing by various religious groups. Accompong Maroons make the case that they
are independent and sovereign at the same time as the colonels and their kin-based
networks gain dominance within various governmental institutions such as the religious
Through time, the Accompong Maroons have become more integrated into the
state. The election for colonel relies on the election list used for national elections and
supervised by the Jamaican Election Officer, although the election list does not identify
Maroons as a separate group. More specifically, they are registered by location, and it is
up to the Maroon administration to determine who is and is not a Maroon. More recently,
this has posed a problem, especially where voting occurs outside of Accompong. A
move was made in 2004 to change the voting practices so that only those living in
Accompong can vote for colonel. However, because of the disagreement that followed
between the various political factions, elections continue to be held in various locations
Beginning in the 1990s and the United Nations’ push for the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, the Maroons were thrust on the global stage. With this new recognition, Maroon
colonels began negotiating with foreign non-governmental bodies for economic aid. With
the increase in foreign aid and travel, the competition for colonel has intensified as there
are large sums of money to control and free trips abroad. In addition to the control of
land this gives the colonel added ‘cultural capital’ and prestige without power and
autonomy. With the increase in economic aid, the call for more land has been muted as
described in chapter 4. The exercise of power and execution of duties are dependent on
the personality of the administrator himself. There is also a correlation with the amount
of aid coming in at the time. The aid is perceived by Maroons as an indication of the
The Maroon administration is very loose and meetings, when they do occur, are
open and poorly attended, often ending with loud arguments and accusations of
various groups is far from the descriptions provided by informants. The council and the
colonel are ideally responsible for the well being of the village, but instead it is for the
The case of the abeng blower and the Council of Elders raises the question of
“invention of tradition.” In the mid 1930s, the abeng blower died without passing on the
skill to another individual. This is followed by the present abeng blower who argues that
he inherited the “gift.” Yet, this gift is taken away from by Colonel Peddie when
challenged during the 2007 elections. In the case of the Council of Elders, despite the
ideology that the group oversees the function of the colonel and the council, they were
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unable to remove Colonel Peddie from office even with a vote of no confidence. In
effect the group meet occasionally and tries to institutionalize change but without
success.
Chapter III
Introduction
The most recent research on Accompong’s economy is that done by Besson in the
1990s. Besson (1997) wrote that “the contemporary maroon economy focuses on the
cultivation and grazing of the commons for subsistence and peasant marketing on the
production and gives the impression that Accompong has a relatively independent and
considering its external relations. Nothing could be further from the truth. My argument
in this chapter is that Accompong has not had an independent economy in the past, that it
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does not have one now and that the quality of its economic activities reflects the
Dunham (1940), and Cooper (ms) was sparse. However, they highlighted its limited
buyers than sellers at the [Maggotty] market”(Cooper, ms). Kopytoff (1973) who
examined the pre and post-treaty period, argued that “the Maroons had never been wholly
the Accompong Maroons were engaged in subsistence agriculture, hunting, sale of goods
and services, and slave holding. Although the division of labor was comparatively
agriculture, hunting and commercial production of bananas and raw cane sugar for the
global market through the United Fruit Company and the Standard Fruit Company.
Hunting was waning due to deforestation and income from logwood cutting was
declining. The mill for processing the sugar was owned by Accompong’s ruling families
From the Gleaner, we learn that in the 1930s, the maroon economy suffered under
the weight of the economic downturn initiated by the United States’ stock market crash of
1929, as well as the Second World War with which Britain was pre-occupied. During this
period, the prices of export crops sold on the global market decreased by half and
immigrants were repatriated back to Jamaica from other areas in the Caribbean. Added to
this, the ginger crop became infested with a fungus and could not be sold.
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Barker and Spence (1988) argued that “modernization has led to increasing levels
Spence, “in the 1960s the commercialization process incorporated coffee production, and
by the mid 1970s it was extended to traditional ground provisions through the expansion
of the Agricultural Market Corporation (AMC) to market traditional food crops on the
domestic as well as export markets” (Spence 1989:220.) But rather than leading to
led only to further instability and the erosion of traditional agricultural and labor practices
that left Accompong more and more at the mercy of external market forces.
I found Accompong’s economy was based on land—in terms of land sales as well
as for subsistence agriculture and cash crop, migration and remittances, small shop
keeping, small-scale livestock rearing, with increasing reliance on tourism and non-
homogeneous”(Mintz 1985:139). They also rear a small number of goats, chickens, pigs
and cows. There are a few arts and crafts produced in the village.
extension and credit, crop variation, etc.—went to the plantation sector rather than the
peasant sector. But these embattled cultivators, like those blades of grass, have also been
tougher. Perhaps the most unusual thing about Caribbean peasantries is than any of them
Jamaica’s world renowned rum, has paved roads, and its own electrical generators to
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cope with the blackout that plagues the country while Accompong has very bad roads and
opportunities and which in turn influences the nature of their social alignments and
organization” (Comitas 1973: 163-4). This occupational multiplicity is not new and was
observed in the 1930s in Cooper’s notes. The limited economic opportunities also result
of communal ownership. Land is mediated by the political system in which the colonel
and town council ideally distribute communally available land. The ideology of
communal land holding was set out in the treaty and has proven to be a useful counter to
distinguish themselves from other Jamaicans. All Maroons born in Accompong, and
those born outside of Accompong who have lived in the community for 15 years or more,
are eligible for land. Land is inherited bilaterally. However, base on a variety of kinship
patterns as discuss later in the chapter 5, there are also additional methods of inheritance,-
There are three geographical zones. The first consist of homes and maybe a small
agricultural plot, the second for agricultural use and the third zone is comprised of
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‘communal land’ least used and distributed by the colonel. Although the third zone is the
furthest away from the cluster of homes along the ring road surrounding the village, there
has been some construction of dwellings in this area. Landmark areas such as sacred sites
The colonel’s absolute control of the access to land is more of an ideal than an
empirical fact much of the time. Research conducted by geographers Baker and Spence in
the 1980s found that with the expansion of sugar cane and banana cultivation, permanent
individual rights increased considerably in the middle zone. Barker and Spence report
that “The Maroon colonel argues that this is a deliberate strategy by farmers to
accumulate land. Farmers suggest that they are trying to ensure they have sufficient land
to pass on to their children”(Barker and Spence 1988:201). Colonels, then, certainly were
aware of this imposition of claims of permanent individual rights on lands in the middle
zone, and even appear to have understood why it was happening, but they do not seem to
have been able either to control or successfully oppose it. From life history data collected,
this practice goes back to the 1930s and beyond. For the Saramaka Maroons of South
America, “decisions about the distribution of most lands for farming are made by a
handful of elders in each lo, who usually include its older kabitenis [headman].”(Price
(1975:139-40)
Of the total acreage of 2876, less than half is currently under cultivation. This
total includes 1523 acres of land granted in the late 1930s. A section of the land holding
is comprised of limestone and unsuitable for agriculture. About 400 acres are taken up
with homes and other buildings--there are about 263 houses on 1/2 to 2 acres of land
each. The average land holdings vary from 5 acres to 60 acres with a few individuals with
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more than 100 acres of land. Some individuals hold additional land bought from the state,
and pay taxes on this portion of their land. For example, one informant owned 37 acres of
non-Maroon land and paid taxes on this portion of his land. What is important for the
Accompong Maroons is the symbolic communal holding of the land rather than its
no available credit for crops and fertilizers, and low numbers of personnel, it is not
possible for Maroons to farm all the land they hold in their possession. Farming is
undertaken through a system of wage labor and the traditional system intertwining labor
In an article appearing in the 1938 Gleaner, it was noted that “All the reserve
(except certain favoured tracts ruled off by and kept for the headmen) is in a forlorn and
neglected condition” (Gleaner, September 23, 1938:1). Historically, Colonels had been
allocated particularly desirable landholdings for their own use. The only colonel who has
not sought additional land is Colonel Peddie—instead, there have been numerous land
sales and leases. There is a strong correlation between the amount of money that has
flowed through his hands from local and foreign governments and his lack of interest in
additional land. Beginning in the late 1990s large sums of money for various
Land sales and leases made by Colonel Peddie between 2001 and 2008 were not
that of land held communally. Instead, the plots of land were held by individuals who
were compensated by the purchaser. These sales highlight the colonel’s lack of
knowledge regarding private property. In the past seven years, there have been at least
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three cases of leasing land to non-Maroons and two land sales. Land sales, even those
between Maroons, and leasing land to non-Maroons breach the traditional system of land
distribution and sever the links between residences; kinship, Maroon identity and access
to land that are knitted together in the ideology of the communal ownership of Maroon
land.
Colonel Sidney Peddie is the first colonel in the history of the Maroons to approve
these kinds of transactions; as a result of doing so, he is also the first Maroon colonel to
have two lawsuits brought against him by other Maroons in a Jamaican court of law.
These lawsuits were filed by Past Colonel, Meridie Rowe. One of the suits was reported
in the Jamaica Observer: “Rowe charges that Peddie is the only colonel in Maroon
history that is the defendant in two court cases brought by residents. One of the suits
involved a parcel of Maroon land owned by Mervin Robertson, which was sold with
In 2005 Colonel Peddie approved the sale of land owned by Mervin Robertson to
Elizabeth Campbell, a Maroon who had returned to Accompong from England some time
before. Several things about the sale angered villagers. There were rumors that the
colonel had profited personally from the sale. Some people were not convinced that
Campbell was really a Maroon; others objected that, whether she was a Maroon or not, it
was simply wrong for Maroons to sell land. Council member Melvin Currie maintained
that Campbell was indeed a Maroon and had been born in the village, and that the ban on
land sales only applied to sales to non-Maroons. Currie noted: “What the law says is that
lands must not be sold to anyone who is not a Maroon, otherwise it should be
leased…The person who bought the land was born and always live here” (Jamaica
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Observer, December 24, 2005). While Ms. Campbell may have been born in Accompong
she definitely had not always lived there. Campbell had spent at least 20 years in
England, and as a result may well have forfeited her right to claim or inherit land in the
village, something that would explain why she did not have land of her own and needed
to get some. Currie told the Observer that the land sale had been ratified by the town
council and that Maroon land had been sold before without provoking the kind of
This case underscores the symbolic aspect of Maroon land as home for any
Maroon. However, it is also a contradiction to the ideology of land for any Maroon. If
every maroon is entitled to land, then Mrs. Campbell should not have to buy land, rather,
Given the pattern of emigration at working age (especially in families who are
well-enough-off to stake it) and return at retirement age, pension in hand, there will be
growing numbers of comparable cases – probably too many to settle each on an ad-hoc
basis. Even speculatively, what will these conditions do to the legal system? Also, this is
Meredie Rowe took this case to the Resident Magistrate’s Court in Black River
but there was nothing the courts could do. Neither the upholding nor the destruction of
the Maroons’ traditional values concerning the disposition of land are matters of
Jamaican law. The land belonged to the Maroons. If they chose to sell it, there was
nothing in Jamaican law that said that they couldn’t do so. The sale was upheld but
At some time during 2002, Colonel Sidney Peddie initiated negotiations to lease
land to Jamaica’s two leading cellular telephone companies, Cable and Wireless and
Digicel, for the construction of transmission towers. In 2008, a third cell phone tower
wrote a letter to the Observer noting that the land was communally owned and that one or
two individuals could not give permission for such a transaction. Besides her desire to
protect traditional Maroon values of communal land ownership threatened by the land
lease, and safeguard traditional ideals of decision-making, Ms. Quarry also foresaw
economic problems that construction of the cell towers might pose to the community as
well dangers from its effects on the water supply and people’s health.
and democracy be the order of the day. (Observer, September 21, 2002)
Colonel Peddie eventually closed the land lease deals for the sum of $100,000 for
two of the towers as reported in the Observer. Informants noted that they had no
knowledge of where the money went as the colonel has not told the villagers of the
income, and where it was spent. However, during my 2008 trip, the community center
had new benches and roof, was painted, and had fully functional toilet. My guess is that
some of the money was spent to repair the community center that had long been in
disrepair. In a newspaper article, Colonel Peddie noted that money was being set aside in
a bank for the village’s poor. If money is in the bank, then there is no way of the poor
Cleon Rowe and Clive Robb was destroyed. Colonel Peddie did not seek any redress
from the two telephone companies, nor did the colonel and the town council make any
attempt to compensate the aggrieved Maroons financially out of the $100,000 that had
been collected or otherwise remedy the damage that had been done. At least one of the
Maroons, whose land had been damaged by having a cell telephone tower built on it,
When Colonel Peddie did not demand redress from the Cable Wireless and
Digicel for the property damage suffered by Maroon landholders, the Maroon Council of
Elders, represented by Meredie Rowe, acted instead. The Council of Elders have also
tacked on a demand that the telephone companies repair the roads leading into the town,
in addition to restitution for the damage done to private property due to the tower
Meridie Rowe told The Sunday Gleaner that both companies were
sent letters as early as February this year, asking them to meet with the
Maroon Board of Elders to hear the grouses, but to date there has been no
response.
“Repairs were made to the access road leading up to our cell site
located in the community and we have erected a retaining wall for one
resident whose property could have been affected by our work to erect the
site,” said Mr. Edwards in a statement released to The Sunday Gleaner on
Friday.
Mr. Edwards said however, that the company was not aware of any
commitment to repair the community’s main road which was in a state of
disrepair prior to the start of work on the cell site and “it was no worse off
upon our having completed our work,” the statement said.
This case highlights the conflict between private and communal property and the
lack of accountability of the colonel. The fact that Accompong has both communal land
ownership and private property creates contradictory situations like this one in which
individual landholders claim the right to dispose of their land as they wish or to not
dispose of their land at all, while the colonel claims the right to dispose of all land as he
wishes on behalf of the community as a whole. Outside institutions generally perceive the
colonel as the head of the town and as the leader of a group of people, someone who has
the right to represent the group’s decisions to them or has the right to make decisions on
the group’s behalf. This presumes an underlying democratic structure for decision-
making that does not actually exist in Accompong because the internal political system is
so poorly developed and has few checks on the power of the colonel and has no
customary means of holding colonels accountable for their actions other than refusing to
re-elect them. There is little to keep a colonel from using the powers invested in his office
and title to pursue his own individual personal advantage rather than community
as a smokescreen while doing it. In this case, from all indications, the colonel acted as a
single individual rather than as the leader of a group of people. The colonel may have
profited individually from this land lease transaction; certainly, the aggrieved Maroon
landholders did not. Although there is a Council of Elders as described in chapter 2, they
were not able to provide the checks and balance in reference to the colonel’s actions.
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As late as four years after the Digicel/Cable Wireless land leases, even the
colonel’s own deputy did not know what had been done with the funds. Colonel Peddie
had this to say to Sunday Observer two years later: “This money thing, it was discussed
before and they asked me to come clean with the transparency. I have nothing against
coming clean, that is being sorted out, so I don’t know what this grumbling is for”
(Observer, November 2006). Informants I spoke to in 2008, had no idea how much
money the cable company had paid the colonel since they did not read the newspaper, nor
acres of land from the Maroon council to build a tourist resort. This land was leased from
one Mr. Reid. The resort would be an ecolodge powered by solar energy and consist of a
restaurant, four bungalows and camping grounds. Kuhn expected the clientele for the
ecolodge to be mainly tourists from Europe and the United States. According to Colonel
Peddie, the resort development was approved by the majority of the Maroons. The land
and buildings would revert to the Maroons after 30 years and, in the meantime,
Peddie said that when the lease expired, the premises would be
returned to the community. “Certainly it is not that we sold it to him
(Kuhn). If he is pulling out he would not be taking anything with him and
the community stands to benefit,” Peddie said.
Added Kuhn: “Everything that is built there, at the end of 30 years
it goes back to the Maroons” (Observer, November 19, 2006).
Presumably visitors would pay Kuhn’s resort for their lodging, other services and
meals, while the Maroons who entertain the guests would be paid for performing heritage
shows. Several things remain unclear, though. Land leased to Kuhn did not come from
the pool of communally distributable land that always has been at the colonel’s disposal.
This reflects estimation that leasing land to monied non-Maroon entrepreneurs is more
profitable than providing land to indigenous Maroons for subsistence agriculture or cash-
cropping, and would be just one more aspect of the displacement of agriculture by
tourism. Who would actually manage and run the place? Would the people employed in
the establishment be local people? How would the village receive money from the
payments of guests staying at the ecolodge? Does the arrangement also include a fixed
amount to be paid to the village on a regular basis for the length of the lease? None of
this is clear from recent reports. What is clear, however, is that as more and more land is
sold or leased to outsiders the number of Maroons with access to land will significantly
decrease. Already there are families with insufficient land to farm and to pass on to all
their heirs.
Marketing
Despite the fact that Maroons were prevented by treaty from having a market in
the post-treaty period, there was nothing preventing them from establishing one over the
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past 250 years; the principal reasons why they have not done so are: lack of diversity of
crops, lack of large quantities marketable goods that would result in increased income,
limited income, and lack of a transportation system. Markets are 19th century
is a meeting place for the purpose of barter, or buying and selling. Unless such a pattern
is present, at least in patches, the propensity to barter will find but insufficient scope; it
householding must be based on autarchy, so also the principle of barter depends for its
global market. However, some of the younger men were growing ground provisions for
export. Crops grown include: ground provisions, banana, breadfruit, peppers, ginger,
dasheen, ackee, pawpaw, and other fruits. When the Jamaica Defense Force burnt most of
the village’s marijuana fields late in 2000, it destroyed a prime source of cash for the
community and there was little else in the way of cash crops compared to previous years.
Crafts is in the form of the gombay drum, a small square drum whose head was made
from goat skin, which retailed at JA$2500 for a small one and JA$5000 (US$84) for a
Despite participating in the local and global economy, Accompong remains on the
periphery. Several factors have contributed to this: the poor condition of the roads; the
high cost of fertilizers; negative internal effects of economic development schemes from
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village. Transportation has always been a matter of economic concern to the Maroons
Maggotty, or sold to higglers, itinerant traders who come to the village to buy produce for
re-sale in a market elsewhere. Since the cane must be shipped within 72 hours of cutting,
the neighboring Appleton Estates, internationally known for the quality of its rum, no
Due to the cost and the time involved in taking produce to market, the practice in
2001 was that there was a single designated individual who collected produce to take to
market twice per month. Unlike the women of Falmouth and other areas in Jamaica,
marketing is done by both men and women. “Food marketing in Falmouth is mainly in
the hands of women, as it is throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean. This predominance
of women correlates with tendencies in the gender divisions of labor in other dimensions
of the peasant economy. In Martha Brae, and throughout the island and the region, female
marketing activities complement the mainly male cultivator role” (Besson 2002:206).
Farmers with produce for the market gathered the produce on Friday nights. The
individual who went to the market picked them up and early Saturday morning headed
off to the market. Depending on the amount of produce, the individual spends the day at
the market or sells the items to someone else. At the end of the day, each individual is
given the earnings from the sale of the produce, and the seller in turn is paid a fee for the
services. Having one person go to market minimizes the loss and increases the profit
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margin of everyone involved. The other form of marketing depended on higglers coming
to Accompong either on their own, or with a Maroon, and purchasing directly from them.
A bunch of bananas sold for $300 JA directly to higglers during the week. Taking a
bunch of bananas to market involves cost of transport, time at the market, and the cost to
the individual making the trip. The net price for a bunch of banana at the market is $200
or less.
fieldwork in Accompong one evening during the summer of 2001 when a parliamentarian
for the parish of St. Elizabeth came to the village hoping to interest local farmers in an
agricultural scheme. In it one sees how the farmers evaluated the costs and benefits of the
The Member of Parliament had come to the village looking for farmers to grow
papaya because farmers in other areas had not been able to grow enough to meet the
demands of the foreign market. He wanted the community to plant 100 acres of papaya.
The farmers did not want to undertake such a labor intensive and costly project. Papaya
cultivation is very labor intensive; it also requires adequate irrigation and plenty of
fertilizer. Most of the farmers were unwilling to undertake this scheme even if provided
with papaya seedlings, fertilizer, and help in terms of planting techniques. Instead, they
preferred to plant peppers, ackee and dasheen which grew in less time, are less labor
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The MP related papaya’s advantages: Papaya yielded fruit after only six months,
and continued to do so every week afterwards, while an akee tree had to grow for
eighteen months before yielding any fruit. Once an akee tree bears fruit, it can be
harvested only once every three months. The profit from papaya could be US $200 per
Still, some farmers were skeptical: The MP might not return with the fertilizer he
promised, and the demand of the foreign market is not always stable. Most of the farmers
labor intensive, required lots of water, and fertilizer. Although the MP promised to return
with the fertilizer, most farmers did not believe that he would do so; this would result in
the farmer having to buy the fertilizer from his own limited funds. Laboring on the
papaya also meant that the farmer could not work on other crops, or take a construction
job if it came up. Some of the farmers could not have participated even if they wanted to:
their land was not properly irrigated and it would have cost them too much to buy a pump
suitable for getting water into the area to be cultivated. In the end, only three farmers
agreed to plant the new fruit. Each farmer planted his own crop on his land as opposed to
working as a group although one farmer did offer a section of his land that was irrigated,
for others to plant the crop. The farmers that chose to grow the papaya were those who
had arable land with adequate irrigation. Six weeks later, the MP had not yet returned
with the fertilizer as promised, leaving the farmers in a bit of a bind and one farmer was
Boni Maroon women of Suriname tend to the agricultural plots, while the men
fish, hunt, and migrate to the coast for work (Hoogbergen 1990). The result is that the
Boni women tend to live together. Women also collect fruits such as lemon, banana,
plantain, mango, nut palm, coconut and other fruits planted in the village. In addition to
cultivating garden plots, women do most of the fishing among the Matawai of Suriname
(Green 1974).
According to de Groot (1974), Maroon groups made regular trips to urban centers
of Suriname and French Guiana to purchase basic foodstuffs such as flour, rice, salt,
biscuit, sugar, canned goods and alcohol. For the Suriname Maroons, getting produce to
the market or the coast was difficult given the isolation of villages and the mode of
transportation. It takes several days to get to the coast. More recently, some Suriname
Maroons have bought outboard motor boats as they are engaged in mining, logging, or
tourism and produce could be moved more efficiently this way. However, it is highly
unlikely that agriculture could complete with tourism, logging and mining.
addition to their primary one of farming. Maroon males also work as construction
The Jamaican government pays all salaries for the teachers, administrators and security
guards at the school. The government also pays the salary of the colonel. Government,
rather than local workers undertook projects such as the construction of an addition to the
Shop Keeping
There were various types of small shops in the village including a poultry shop.
Unlike the rest of Jamaica where grocery shops are usually owned and run by ethnic
groups other than Afro-Jamaicans (primarily Chinese), the shops in Accompong are all
Maroon owned. These shops varied in size and structure and were scattered throughout
the village. Of the fifteen shops, only three were well stocked. They all carried more or
less the same items at the same prices. With the exception of the poultry shop and two of
the general purpose shops, the others are owned by older men who had migrated and
returned with capital. The day to day maintain of the shops are run by kinsmen of the
owner. The shopkeeper is responsible for the upkeep of the premise and extends credit to
patrons. However, the capital to restock originates from the owner. One shop is owned by
someone living abroad, therefore the shopkeeper has total responsibility and reports to
The shopkeepers operate with a keen perception of the local dynamics of supply
and demand, and the appropriate units of commodities for sale, so that only the exact
amount of produce that customers can afford is sold. For example, one can purchase a
quarter loaf of bread or bun (sweet bread), a tablespoon of margarine, or a cup of flour to
make a meal. Beans are sold in a bag weighing 12 ounces, the amount needed to cook
with one pound of rice to make rice and beans. Codfish or salted pork was sold in small
quantities. The most commonly sold items are soft drinks, white rum, beer, and
functional drinks such as Nutrament and Lucoze. Refrigerators in the shops were
uncommon and freezers are used instead. The freezer is turned on, and then turned off
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once all the goods are frozen, a practice resulting in bad tasting food products, or spoilt
food. Very rarely is local produce sold in the shops; they are exchanged or sold
separately.
Shops do not buy a large quantity of produce for resale since that requires a large
sum of money with slow rate of return. Meats and fish are salted, or canned, since the
refrigeration has not progressed to the level of the First World countries. Shops extend
credit to their patrons, allowing them to pay what they owe on payday. Only individuals
at the top of the economic structure are able to shop outside of Accompong because it
supply and demand is a delicate but necessary art for these shop-keepers but not all of
them master it, as is illustrated in the following account concerning the village’s café.
The one café sold soft drinks, candy, ice cream and alcoholic beverages daily; and
on weekends or on special occasions, fried chicken. My family contracted with this café
overseer to provide three meals for my husband and me on a daily basis for the first
month, and then our son for the length of our stay in Accompong. By the end of the third
week, the money we had paid for providing meals for the first month of our stay had been
spent. While the overseer was providing us with meals, he was also cooking large
quantities of food to give to his network of friends and acquaintances who were also his
regular Friday night customers. The result was slow chicken sales on the weekends and a
drop in profits. After all, why should his friends pay for his food on the weekend, when
they could get it for free during the week? In effect my family was subsidizing the
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overseer and his network. But impressing his friends had left him without enough cash to
fulfill his contract with us. In addition, because he was involved in ‘occupational
multiplicity’ - he was a tour guide and occasionally farmed, - the café’s overseer
sometimes had to make a choice as to what he would do from one day to the next. If a
tour group was coming to visit, that represented income to be capitalized on immediately
in terms of conducting a tour and maybe providing meals. There were times when the
overseer conducted tours and could not cook for us and in those instances, someone else
cooked dinner for us. The last two weeks of the fieldwork became intense as we were
only receiving breakfast on a regular basis and lunch had long disappeared after the third
week. In effect, our meal pattern mirrored that of the Maroons—two meals per day. The
original deal was brokered by the colonel who felt that payment for the first part of our
stay should be paid in a lump sum rather than on a weekly basis. Clearly, a week by
This case highlights the role of the colonel in the daily life of villagers, and his
lack of knowledge in dealing with the restaurant business. It also demonstrates the
living. By insisting that half the money be paid up front, the colonel assumed that the
shopkeeper would be able to provide the services he promised at the same time he may be
thinking that he was protecting the shopkeeper from being cheated by us. In terms of the
shopkeeper, he had obligations to his friends and kin, therefore his personal profit margin
was limited—he could not maximize what he could not see. He also had to juggle his
multiple jobs.
The overseer of the café was not the owner, but did have control of stocking up,
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and making decisions as to what was sold when, and extending credit. The café was
previously owned by the uncle of the mother of his child. However, the uncle, a
Rastafarian, died in England, and the café became the property of one of the decease’s
brother-in-law who had paid for the funeral. This made it so that a portion of the profit of
the café eventually made its way to the owner who lived in England.
Remittances
wealth and poverty typified in the size and designs in houses. People’s political and
economic position could easily be discerned by the structure and location of their homes.
In general, houses are located along the ring road. Some newer and grander houses
located away from the roadside signify a rapid increase in wealth. With the increase in
extra income from cash crops, remittances and pensions, houses are becoming grander in
size with elaborate designs. In the past, houses were constructed with wattle and daub, of
which only one remains. The construction of newer homes began in the 1990s. Houses
are constructed with wood and zinc roofing or cement, with the latter becoming more
common.
In old ancient days, we did not know any type of the modern houses.
We used to make our house out of round stick, dug the earth, put the stick
there, use wisk and tie the stick together. Use thatch and make the
covering of the top of the house like how we use the zinc now. We would
use round stick and build up some tough wooden bed like a barbie and got
some of those grass that you grow on the face of the earth and trash it to
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lay it on. By steps going up, we gather the experience that we could cut
those round sticks, split it, and make a wattle hut.
From the wattle hut we gather the experience that we could dig our
red soil of the earth, mix it with cow shit, and burn stone and get some
white powder from it called white lime and we will rub it together with
our tuck axe and take it and plaster those wattle and it will come in like a
Spanish wall house like what we are inhabiting today. (Hansley Reid,
2001)
When pressed further about when the wooden houses were built, the informant
noted that:
At the same time there is an increase in wealth, the increase is not steady and
reliable. The result is a handful of incomplete structures. That more than half the present-
day houses are in a state of incompletion is typical in Jamaica as a whole. Tony Hendriks
noted: AEverywhere you look in Jamaica you see brand new ancient ruins, half-built
promises, demolished stop-gaps and obscene growths. In some cases ground was broken
in a purple patch of financial assistance but the erection couldn’t out-run the gallop of
Let me examine some of the different types of housing that are representative of
the extreme between the lowest and the highest strata as shown in the following eight
photographs. There are three categories: One, upper strata: large new cement houses
built with money remitted from abroad by Maroons or non-Maroons not now living in
Accompong or built by returnees with a pension from outside Jamaica. These may have
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two stories and feature single-function rooms (including indoor kitchens and bathrooms)
and often very distinctive architectures that mark them off from other structures. This
category also includes a small number of guest houses funded from abroad that are
oriented towards tourists. Two, lower strata: wooden houses with outdoor bathrooms and
cooking facilities, often zinc roofs; and, at the lowest extreme, a single house of wattle-
and-daub construction with thatched roof and cooking and bathroom placed outside the
house. Three, in the middle strata are a variety of older cement and wooden houses with
zinc roofs, external kitchens and\or bathrooms, with or without piped water and
electricity, often having an adjacent ‘kitchen garden’ or provision ground. The lower and
middle strata of houses are older than the first, had to be financed domestically at much
lower levels and were built mainly by local families and local laborers who reside in the
village.
The cement houses which have been completed are owned by individuals who
have lived and worked outside Accompong, sending back money to build their homes.
These houses are grand when compared to others in the community and fitted with steel
gates and burglar bars although one is told that there is no crime in the village. One can
interpret this as returnees bringing the style of housing which prevents the stealing of
one=s property that is common in urban centers as well as the reality that once others see
their property people will want to take it. The newer houses are equipped with
refrigerators, dining and living room sets, TVs, china closets with complete sets of
chinaware, gas stoves with ovens and even washing machines in a few. Some homes had
the picture of the queen and Alexander Bustamante along with the picture of a maroon
that is representative of Cudjoe or Juan de Bolas depending on whom one talked to. One
home I visited had the pages of an old British fashion magazine as wall paper. Another
house had a picture of previous Prime ministers Norman Manley and P. J. Patterson. No
one I visited had a picture of either past or present colonel. Once could conclude that the
prime minister of the state had more prestige than the colonel of the village.
There were 252 houses of which 230 have electricity. It was common for two or
three houses to share electricity through one meter. Individuals without running water
had to carry water from the large cistern, or from the taps located on the premises of the
churches.
The bigger houses were bigger than any one of the churches in the community,
which were in desperate need of repairs and a paint job. The United Church pictured on
page 299 is the oldest church in the community and from all appearances, has not been
repaired in many decades. The Zion Church on page 295 is wooden, and has not been
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painted either. The other church buildings are either in a state of disrepair, or are falling
apart even before their completion. These buildings, like the community center, leaked
when it rained.
In the 1970s, Cohen (1973) described the houses in Moore Town as:
When I visited Moore Town in 1999 and again in 2001, the architecture in Moore
Town had changed from wooden structures to mostly cement structures like those in the
surrounding areas. Most houses were 2 stories high and for the most part, the disparity of
Colonel Harris’ home, the house was comprised of several single function rooms.
Comparison of the housing design of the Jamaican Maroons with the South
American Maroons indicates that the design of the Saramakan Maroons of Suriname is
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distinctively different. The picture above is the house of a Saramakan Maroon taken in
1998. The Saramakan house is a single, multi-function house with a roof made of thatch
and an apex at the top and open sides. The kitchen and bathrooms are outside the main
structure. Given the high rate of migration among the South American Maroon men, one
could speculate that the housing style will change in the near future.
Tourism
least twenty years after Jamaica became a tourist destination. Rupert Robinson, the
former deputy colonel and the village’s spokesman on tourism, said to a magazine
reporter: “the Accompong Maroons... are yet to fully capitalize on the world’s growing
heritage tourism.” Robinson continued by noting that, worldwide, heritage tourism earns
millions of dollars each year that, in turn, fuels employment and stimulates economies.
He hoped that this would happen in Accompong. For this to happen, he observed, there
would need to be increased marketing as, at present, there is “inadequate marketing of the
the roads into Accompong must improve and other infrastructure, including telephone
As noted earlier, the roads in and out of Accompong are in very poor condition.
While it is possible for a few tourists to stay with Accompong families, there are only
two guesthouses for tourists, although more are now under construction. The owners of
both of these guesthouses lived outside of Accompong, and had relatives overseeing
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them. One was owned by a white American man and was being run by a Maroon woman
who had borne his child. The American’s guest house had hot and cold running water
and two bedrooms but since it is a split-level house, it could only be rented out as a single
unit. A stay in this guest house cost $200US dollars a night, more than a four star hotel in
Montego Bay. The second guest house was owned by a Maroon living abroad in England
and was overseen by his father-in-law. This second guest house had three bedrooms, a
bathroom, kitchen and living room. The living room had been converted to a shop for
selling soft drinks and beer. The house was sparsely furnished and, even when it was
rented out, the overseer had the run of the place and sometimes slept there. A third guest
house was under construction in 2006, owned by an American on land leased from the
restaurants, except the café that provides food on a need basis for large events.
implemented with the aid of the Jamaican Tourism Product Development Company
(JTPDCo)—that is, the state. A major emphasis is on the January 6th celebrations but the
overall goal is the development of the community through several other projects as well.
Over the last five years, I have spent a great deal of time working
with the Tourism Product Development Committee (TPDCo) in a bid to
make Accompong a tourist destination,” said Colonel Peddie. “If we make
our village a good tourist destination, then we will be able to provide more
job opportunities….Colonel Peddie also stated that he hopes to solicit
Government help in building a factory to process agricultural produce in
or near Accompong. “We have too much agricultural produce going to
waste,” the 71-year old colonel said. “A factory would help to minimise
waste and create employment. (Gleaner: Thursday, June 10, 2004)
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During the period of my fieldwork, TPDCo met several times with members of
the Accompong Maroon community. One such meeting convened six TDPCo members,
along with personnel from the Environmental Fund of Jamaica and the Rural Agricultural
undertaking. Personnel from the Tourism Development Product Company visited guest
houses, rooms set aside for rental and the café. The personnel from the Environmental
Fund of Jamaica (EFJ) were pursuing additional possibilities for the community in terms
standards for the production of jams, jellies and wine for sale. Jams and jellies are made
from local fruits such as rose apple, sorrel, mango, and guava; the wine from rice, ginger
and other fruits. Production of jams, jellies and wine under controlled sanitary conditions
could be one way of utilizing the excess fruits that the colonel mentioned earlier. Some
of these products ended up in the garbage due to spoilage from fungal growth, indicating
This issue of standards was also an important one for TPDCo. After their
inspection visit, issues relating to the changing of bed linen, fresh water, clean rooms,
garbage disposal, and proper food handling including animal slaughtering practices
became topics of discussion in the meetings. TPDCo discussed the guidelines for proper
conditions with community members including how they might raise the standards for
accommodations, sanitary conditions and service to the level that would merit registration
Maroons were taught their history from written documents, along with basket
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members as a means of reviving the cultural heritage. Another part of this heritage
tourism development project is Bickle Village –consisting of four houses made of wattle
and thatched (grass) roofs representative of earlier housing styles. Money for this project
the Florida-based developer Hal Brooke and Associates. This latest project has generated
conflict among community members to which the colonel has responded by using the
new language recently adopted by the casino industry in the US. According to him the
March 2, 2006). The fact of the matter is that a >gaming resort= is a casino where
gambling takes place. An interesting aspect of the reaction to the casino proposal is that
it is Maroons who have lived in the United States who object to the Accompong casino-
hotel proposal the most, while Maroons who have never left the village see it as a boon to
the local economy as it would provide them with jobs and income, something that was
desperately needed. Also, those who never left Accompong had no knowledge of the
According to Colonel Peddie, the Maroons could benefit since the Jamaican
government would legalize gambling. However, gambling had not yet been legalized and
no developer would undertake such a project without the entire necessary infrastructure
in place. “Peddie also said he was still hoping to go to Canada to get more information on
Day, usually held on January 6, when thousands of people from all over the world visit
Accompong and pay an entrance fee of $10 US to enter the village. The cost of the
limited accommodations available in Accompong rises to more than the usual price of
$200US a night. Some Maroons sell cooked food during the celebration but far more
income is generated by the large number of outside food vendors who must pay an
additional vendors’ fee. From all indications, there has been little or no accountability for
income generated from this event. A large portion of the monies generated by Treaty
Day’s economic activities leaves the community, while the remainder ends up in the
hands of only a few Maroons. During the period of my fieldwork, working meetings with
TDPCo usually came to an end abruptly after a series of arguments about the lack of
accountability. This issue has a rocky history that continues to be played out in recent
elections.
When Sidney Peddie challenged then Colonel Meredith Rowe in the 1997
elections, he accused Rowe of stealing the funds earned during the January 6
celebrations. Peddie’s campaign flyer on the following page reads: “We need a colonel
who is “NOT MEREDIE ROWE.” But three points down, it continued: “Vote against
TDPCo personnel gave to the Jamaica Observer, we learn that a number of community
members were actually paid after the celebrations. It says: “The 2002 celebration was the
most successful, in that the Maroons had money in the bank... Everybody who worked in
the community was paid, so income came into the community says Lindo-Pennant”
(Jamaica Observer, August 18, 2002). However, the fact that some people were paid for
their work did not settle the matter of the lack of accountability for the majority of the
Treaty Day revenues. Indeed the issue continued. In a May 31, 2004 newspaper article
entitled “Accompong Maroons to Elect A New Leader Brief – Controversy surrounds this
election.” The reporter wrote: “2000 Accompong residents recently voted to elect a
politics… What’s at stake is that the new colonel will lead a Maroon council, as well as
oversee a tourist-funded budget” (Your Caribbean Online, Monday, May 31, 2004.).
During the bitterly fought 2005-06 elections, reports appeared in the Daily
Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer with Meredith Rowe charging the incumbent Colonel
Peddie with stealing millions of dollars. “Over $3.5 million is collected per year from
tourist visits and other sources, said Rowe. ‘Where is it?’ he demanded” (Jamaica
Observer 12/24/06). While I am not sure that $3.5 million is an accurate account of the
revenue generated by the Treaty Day event, both Rowe and Peddie have been in the
office of colonel and are supposed to have had control of these funds which constitute the
source of the budget they oversee from year to year. While both men are fighting each
other for control of this money by accusing each other of stealing it, one can read
between the lines and draw the conclusion that, while money is being made, and the
colonel controls the money, very little if any of these funds are trickling down to the
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Another source of disagreement that arose at meetings with TPDCo was the
expectation that community members would work collectively to prepare for the January
6th celebrations. While this expectation was based on TPDCo’s perception of the
Maroons’ ideology of egalitarianism, Maroon egalitarianism did not mean that people
working together did not expect to get paid. The problem was that any economic rewards
gotten by this collective labor would not be enjoyed until after January 6. Under
people to work on a project during the year with expectations of being paid right after
January 6th but this delay often caused serious economic hardship.
For example, during the summer of 2001 six men were hired to remove several
large boulders near one of the guesthouses in order to construct a driveway. The work
was done at the end of July and the men could not be compensated until after January 6.
They were particularly unhappy about this arrangement since they needed money to
purchase school supplies for their children in mid-August. If the January 6 revenue were
as great as expected, and was channeled into community development, their reasoning
goes, people working on community development projects shouldn’t have to wait until
the next January to be paid. So, at the same time as people are being asked to work harder
to promote heritage tourism, they continue to reference the thefts made by both colonels.
development? Tourism is volatile and subject to fashion, oil prices, and airfares. It is
age range could support a four hundred room hotel; and what about infrastructure;
reliable electricity, phones, cell phones and internet access? The overall unemployment
rate for Jamaica in the third quarter of 2005 was 11.2% and a rate of 5.2% for those
in their prime productive years is small, outsiders would flock to Accompong in search of
jobs. Such an endeavor would no doubt result not only in rapid culture change, but
impact negatively on the community as a whole since their role would now be to cater to
cultivators into one of waiters and bellhops. No doubt the Maroons will need to explore
this option in more depth before proceeding. According to de Groot (1975), the Suriname
Maroons were also engaged in tourism, but there are no descriptions of the type of
tourism.
Non-Governmental Aid
sources. Indeed foreign aid from the United States, Canada and Europe-- in a variety of
forms ranging from building funds, donations of surplus food, medical services, books,
with the Jamaican government, contributed funds to Accompong’s health clinic (Gleaner:
January 8, 1998). During the period of my fieldwork a dentist from Kingston and a team
of volunteers he had recruited came to Accompong to provide dental work free to both
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children and adults. Although similar aid comes from the charitable activities of a few
other organizations and individuals inside of Jamaica, much more comes to Accompong
Ontario, Canada where it provides social services and programs geared to youths and
adults from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. (www.jane-finch.com) The Maroon
tour was aimed at forging a link between the Jamaican Maroons and Canada, the country
to which the Trelawny Maroons were exiled in 1795. Maroons toured seven cities:
OXFAM and the Center for Natural and Traditional Medicines (CNTM), located
ethnomedical practices and transmit this knowledge to Maroon youth. As part of this
jointly-sponsored Maroon Health Project, three Maroons also traveled to the United
In summer 2001, the Christian international aid organization Food for the Poor
contributed donations of food and paid for the construction of an additional room for
Accompong’s Basic School. Food for the Poor was started by Ferdinand Mahfood in
1982 to help destitute people in Central America and the Caribbean. Food for the Poor
describes its own activities: “FFP collects funds from North American and European
benefactors, purchases goods cost-effectively on the world market, ships the items duty-
free and arranges for their distribution to the poor through churches, missionaries and
sponsored four distributions of food, one each through the United Church, the Pentecostal
Church, the Basic School and the Maroon Council. Accompong’s Basic School had only
a single room that housed both its pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes before the
Maroon communities and in 2004, donated some computers to the community center in
Accompong. Representatives of UNESCO visited Jamaica that year and linked their
events related to reflecting on the global dimensions, as well as the local histories and
representatives clearly saw the ties between their own efforts and the development of
Jamaican Maroon communities as sites for heritage tourism, one of them made some
warned, "We have to be careful how tourism takes place." He said: “It is good to have the
visitors come and experience the celebrations of the land, but we should be careful not to
destroy the environment, by putting up huge buildings and huge hotels…” (Gleaner:
The year 2004, also saw the visit to Jamaica of Helen Gehrer, the Austrian federal
minister for education, science and arts. She had been stimulated by anthropologist
Werner Zips to pay Accompong a visit and donate some expensive audiovisual
equipment to the Accompong Maroon Council for use in the community center and
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museum. In her remarks on the occasion, Gehrer stressed the connection to heritage
Maroon Foundation, a non-profit company that, with the help of local and overseas
agencies, would be responsible for the village’s development. The eleven development
priorities of the Maroon Foundation include coordination of the annual festival, a 20-year
plan of action for protection and preservation of Maroon heritage, a sports complex,
redevelopment of early Maroon trails as tourist attractions, upgrade of a trade center for
information and technology, the development of a history club and documentation unit,
culture club and film unit, and the improvement of educational opportunities (Jamaica
From the failure of some of the new projects, it is clear that the funding agencies
often lack knowledge of the structure of Accompong and of the real conditions of life in
this community. For example, Food for the Poor purchases much of the food it donates in
5-pound cans. During the food distributions, the team handing out food has to open these
big cans and distribute much smaller amounts to each person who has come to get food.
Even if each one of them were given an entire can of food, they would not be able to
consume it all before spoilage occurred. Most people in Accompong do not have
refrigeration of any kind and even the small number of individuals who do have
spoilage. While it is more economical to ship items in large quantities, if the receiving
community is to utilize the donations, then they must be provided in small containers.
Accompong’s community center, where the health clinic and now the museum are
located, has received more external funding than any other building in the community. It
has received funding from Canadian Save the Children, CNTM and from the United
Way. But the lack of a reliable supply of electricity, and a community center whose roof
leaks, do not support the use of some of the electronic equipment that has been donated to
it, such as the large TV and VCR donated by the Austrians. For this reason most of the
computers that had been donated previously remained in their boxes unopened for years
and are now, outdated. Training on electronic equipment needs to be ongoing. Similarly,
training in other areas also requires continuous support. The Accompong health clinic’s
herbal medicine garden, though sponsored by Oxfam and CNTM as part of the Maroon
Health Project, was effectively abandoned when the project was terminated by OXFAM,
Summary
historically, the village has been consistently underdeveloped with limited economic
generated is limited, and not enough to support a state or all the community’s members
In the 1930s, the Accompong Maroons experienced the Depression like the rest of
the Caribbean. Beginning in the 1960 through 1980s, there was modernization of
agricultural production but instead of resulting in increase production and income, the
Maroons experienced vulnerability on the global market. Beginning in the 1990s, the
wealth of some of the villagers increased and the disparity between the top and bottom
tiers has widened. In the 21st century, there has been a shift to tourism as a mode of
economic development. However, with the economic downturn in 2008, there has been
Farming in Accompong is based on traditional labor patterns were kin work each
others’ farm without wages and the ability to claim produce from their labor. However,
with the increase in cash crops, there is an increase in wage labor, and a decrease in
This analysis highlights the shift from subsistence agriculture to tourism and non-
governmental aid similar to other Jamaican Maroon communities but different from the
South American Maroons. The South American Maroons are now engaged in tourism,
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logging and mining for state supported multi-national corporations. After the civil war
and encroachment by multinationals engaged in logging and mining, there has been a
decline in agriculture as the Maroons are forbidden from accessing their ancestral lands.
Unlike the rest of Jamaica and the Caribbean, both men and women in
Accompong are engaged in marketing. From all indications, it is the men who are
engaged in marketing among the South American Maroons. Rather than leading to
led only to further instability, and the erosion of traditional agricultural and labor
practices. By 2000, export agriculture was non-existent. This coincided with an increase
a mode of development. With this shift in economic activities, the economic value of
lands has significantly increased. No doubt, the number of individuals without land will
increase and the lost of agricultural land will also increase the village’s food insecurity.
CHAPTER IV
LAND HISTORY
Introduction
Lowenthal argued that for people in the Caribbean land represents not just
economic value, but also other values as well that may ultimately transcend economic
values and may even be counter to them. These supra-economic values include:
Like Lowenthal (1961), I found that for the Accompong Maroons, land is
symbolic of the freedom gained from plantation slavery with a 1757 land grant. These
values transcend the economic value, and at times are counter to them. Maroons’
connection to the land is maintained from birth to death and beyond through certain
family ties linking the past, present and future. However, some of these rituals have
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fallen by the wayside as 92% of all births take place outside Accompong Town.
Similarly, all preparation of the deceased for burial is handled outside the village. The
possession of land provides the Maroons with dignity and self conscious glory that
economic values forged in the peasant village. Family land is not governed by the values
house-sites, a place for absentees to return in time of need, a spot for a kitchen garden
and, traditionally, a family burial ground”(Besson 1987:104). Besson (1997) later argued
of land is increasing with land sales and leases to non-Maroons and this value may
Zips (1996 and 1998) and Besson (1998) argue that there is legal pluralism in
Jamaica in reference to the country’s land policy. Zips (1996 & 1998) also argues that the
land tenure in Accompong is similar to that found in Suriname and West Africa. My
analysis found that there is no legal pluralism in Jamaica and the land situation is
dissolved communal property with the 1842 Land Allotment Act, but did not distribute
individual land titles de facto. Caribbean scholars tend to only examine the legal system
Besson (1997) does not argue one way or another in term of the land boundaries.
She notes:
arguments. Some Maroons do not argue that they were cheated by the number of acres
specified in the treaty, but rather they claim the 1500 acres of land set out in the treaty for
the Trelawny Maroons. Others argue that they were allocated land “from coast to coast.”
The amount of land claimed differed from colonel to colonel and others in the
administration. The amount of land claimed also varies depending on who is conducting
the interviews with the Maroons. Since this event took place over almost 300 years ago,
and no one was present, it leaves room for multiple interpretations without resolution.
More recently, after making maps of the village available, some Maroons refuted the
details of the maps located in Jamaica, and are asking for maps from England that they
believe would show land totaling 15,000 acres. The bottom line is no matter how many
maps are produced, the claim will remain since it is tightly bonded to the Maroon
identity. Copies of maps acquired during my research were hand delivered to the
Accompong officials (as they had no copies), and the maps took on added symbolic value
at the same they are refuted. Maps were delivered to one individual with letters
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containing copies of the maps, with instructions to pass on to Colonel Peddie (then
colonel and Past Colonel Cawley) but this individual kept the letters with copies of the
maps. In 2008, I was told by the individual in question that the letters were not delivered
and they were considering running for the office of colonel. In effect, the maps along
with a copy of the treaty then served as ‘cultural capital’ for this individual to run for the
office of the colonel. Since, then, I made copies of the maps available to those I had
promised.
Stanfield, Barthel and Williams (2003) in their paper entitled “Land Policy,
the institutional framework for land governance, the legal framework is often like a dusty
library, with laws and regulations passed in responses to problems long ago in the
colonial period which litter the legal landscape as their relevance has receded. In some
cases, the importation of legal codes also implies the importation of concepts which do
not include the subtleties of land tenure arrangements in the Caribbean, such as family or
generational land”(Stanfield, Barthel and Williams 2003:39). The authors also argue that
the colonial government never totally implemented the legal system on the ground due to
lack of personnel and structure to support the collection of taxes from the total
population. My position is it is not only the legal system in reference to land, but pretty
much the majority of the citizens live outside the legal system. In the case of
Accompong, very few births, marriages and deaths are registered with the state as
Land is symbolic of freedom and resistance from plantation slavery for the
Accompong Maroons represented by the 1739 treaty. With the abolition of slavery and
marronage, the possession of communal land sets Maroons apart from other landless
Jamaicans as there are no other distinguishing features between those who were and were
not enslaved.
Accompong Maroons were given 1000 acres of land in 1757. However, the land
area actually measured 1220 acres since Peace Cave would have been excluded from the
Maroons’ land holdings during the survey of the land. Trelawny Town, or as it was
usually called, Cudjoe’s Town, which is no longer in existence, was located about fifteen
miles from the present site of Accompong’s Town. The latter is apparently an offshoot
from Cudjoe’s Town and seems to have been founded by Accompong sometime between
1738 when the treaty was signed and 1742 when I find the first mention of Accompong
as the leader of a separate town bearing his name. Strictly speaking, therefore, the treaty
does not really apply to the Accompong Maroons, nor does the land grant contained in
the treaty.
There are no records indicating where individual Maroons lived, or how large
their lots were in the early days. Accompong Maroons have also maintained claim to the
Trelawny Maroon land which was returned to the crown in 1796 after the Trelawny
Maroons revolted against the British. Every colonel, with the exception of Colonel
Peddie has tried, unsuccessfully, to gain this land. However, land offered in the 1939 and
Offers of land made in the 19th century were linked to the division of the
communal land already in the Maroons’ possession, and the change of maroon status to
one with “all the rights, privileges and immunities of British subjects as fully and
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completely as the same are enjoyed by any other of Her Majesty’s subjects in the
island”(CSO).
The first treaty was signed between the British government designees, Colonel
John Guthrie and Lieutenant Francis Saddle, and Cudoje on March 1, 1738-9. This treaty
granted Cudjoe and his group a 1,500-acre parcel of land in Trelawny (article three,
Appendix II). This treaty did not include Accompong Maroons, under the leadership of
recognized that Accompong Maroons lived in a separate area and the then governor
promised to provide them a separate land grant. AGovernor Knowles had promised a
separate and additional block of land for the other town, but there had been no survey,
and, after Knowles was recalled in 1756, the Accompong Maroons became increasingly
nervous about the uncertainty of their title@ (Kopytoff 1973:146). The Accompong
Maroons petitioned the new governor for a treaty as land surrounding them was
increasingly being occupied with new land owners. “Section 2 of 31 Geo Cap. 9 passed
in 1758… gave 1,000 acres setting out the boundaries at Accompong in St. Elizabeth to
‘Colonel Accompong’, his Captains, adherents and men (being other part of the negroes
formerly in rebellion)”. Section 3 provided that the lands shall be vested in the maroons
and their heirs for ever.” (The Jamaica Law Report 1956)
A search by the new Governor found that the land was not surveyed as promised
by Governor Knowles (CSO 7400, 07/18/1906), but was completed at a later date 1 . A
tract of land was surveyed and laid out for Accompong Maroons (Map IV), dated August
1
Here there are discrepancies in the records.
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10, 1757 and signed by William Wallace as directed by Governor, Sir Henry Moore.
I have surveyed and laid out for Accompong Town in parish of St.
Elizabeth One Thousand Acres of land, bounding North-easterly on Land
owned by James Smith and partly on land patented by George Baxtead
Esquire, South Easterly on land patented by Edward & Frances Smith now
belonging to Mr. Samuel Smith, South on Land patented by Alexander
Stanhope & partly on Land laid out for George Curry, West and North-
west on Rocky Mount and Cockpits as appears more fully by the above
Plot. Protracted by a Scale of 20 Chains in an Inch.
Performed this 10th day of August 1757
Other records noted that the land was not surveyed until 1807 although the
Maroons were living in the area. In any case, when the land was surveyed in 1807, it
measured 1125 acres.(JAJ:4:602, 644-5) Here, the land held by Accompong Maroons
had increased by 125 acres. The surveyor and the colonial secretary wrote the governor
advising him that it would be in his best interest for the Maroons to keep the land they
had in their possession as the Peace Cave and other historical landmarks would be
excluded from the land grant and that they did not want to have any more conflict with
the Maroons.
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During the period when Accompong was without a treaty, they quarreled with the
Trelawny Maroons “over the physical possession of their common treaty” (Kopytoff
1979:510). In 1795, the Trelawny Town Maroons revolted against the British, resulting
in the Maroon War of 1795. (See Patterson 1970 and Carey 1997) Subsequently, the
Trelawnies were exiled first to Nova Scotia, Canada and, ultimately, to Sierra Leone,
West Africa. Accompong Maroons on their part, did not come to the aid of the Trelawny
Maroons, but instead aided the British hoping to claim the Trelawny Maroons= land.
The British viewed the war as cause to revoke the treaty, but did not reward
Accompong with the land. Instead, the land was returned to the crown and no Maroon or
Maroon descendant could lay claim to the land once held by the Trelawny Maroons. Act
The Land Allotment Act of 1842 altered among other things, the special status
that Maroons possessed because of their treaty. This Act sought to give each Maroon two
acres of land, the same rights as other citizens on the island, and remove the white
of land and 4 acres of land would also be set aside for a chapel, a school and a burial
ground. Sections III and V of the Land Allotment Act of 1842 read:
III And whereas it is expedient that the several tracts of land allotted to
the several maroon towns, and now enjoyed by the Maroons, should
resumed by and be re-vested in her majesty for the purposes hereinafter
mentioned: Be it enacted, That all and every the lands heretofore allotted
and granted unto or for the use and behoof of the Maroons shall be, and
the same are hereby declared to be, revested in her most gracious majesty,
her heirs and successors, for the purpose of being allotted and granted as
hereinafter mentioned.
V And be it enacted, That every maroon, of full age, shall be at liberty to
apply to the commissioners of the parish in which his or her township or
settlement shall be situate, who shall, and they are hereby required to
grant, convey, and allot two acres to each such maroon, to and for the sole
and absolute use of himself or herself, and his or her heirs and ensigns,
and also where such party shall have, or be reputed to have, any children
or grand-children, legitimate or illegitimate, a further quantity of one acre
for each such child or grandchild: Provided, that in the event of there
being more than one application for land on behalf of any such child or
grand-child, no more than one acre of land shall be granted or allotted
for the same child or grand-child, and such grant and allotment shall in
such case be made to the person who, in the opinion of the
commissioners, shall have the preferable right or claim thereto.
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The Land Allotment Act was never successfully implemented in Accompong due
to the Maroons’ resistance and the government’s inability to find sufficient land in the
surrounding area to distribute. Below is an excerpt from a letter from the Director of
Public Works, J. N. Mann, to the Colonial Secretary dated January 21, 1884. The letter
speaks to the inability of the director to find land that was reasonably priced to disperse to
the Maroons.
“With reference to your confidential letter No. 5264 SS779 dated October 1883, I
beg to state that I am unable to propose any satisfactory arrangement for purchasing small
parcels of land to which the Maroons of Accompong might be induced to remove, and so
correspondence from the government surveyor attached to the above letter reported that
the Crown did not have land in the area ready for forfeiture and that other properties were
Between 1895 and 1904, nine cases are cited where Maroons illegally occupied
privately owned or Crown land. The government offered to sell land to the Maroons, but
they twice refused the government’s offer and the land was eventually sold to someone
else; after this the Maroons could no longer squat on it. However, Deputy Colonel Harris
N. Cawley (2001, 2003 & 2008) argues that the land belonged to the Maroons in the first
place. Therefore, the government could not sell what was not theirs.
How do the Accompong Maroons maintain their claim on the Trelawny treaty?
They do so through what is in effect an origin myth linking certain areas of the village to
pass events and their ancestors. There are a number of land marks nearby to the present
day village that related back to what they call the “Old Time”, when all the Maroons had
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magical powers, when they fought the British and won their freedom. First there is
“Ambush Cave” or “Peace Cave” which represents the chief spot where the British
forces, if they came from the east, were waylaid. As Peace Cave it represents the place
where the Treaty was signed. In the latter connection it is a sacred spot, and is
considered a favorite hangout for the “Old People”, that is the ghosts of the old war-time
Maroons. In the rear of the cave is hidden a bottle of rum for the use of the spirits when
they visit there. Another sacred spot is called Kindah, and it is here that the “soldiers”
were buried, that is the original Maroon warriors. Kindah has certain uses in ceremonies
involving the ghosts of the Old People, and it is a favorite place for the practice of obeah.
It is also the place where food is prepared for the ancestors as discuss later in the religion
chapter.
Finally there is Oldtown, which is the place where the Maroons lived back in the
days of the “Great War”. It also contains the graves of those of the Old People who have
been remembered by name: Accompong, Nanny, his sister, and his two brothers, Quaco
and Cuffee. Oldtown is about five acres of flat land entirely surrounded by cliffs and
steep hills reaching about 100 feet or more. The outstanding feature of the place is four
tremendous cotton trees which have large gnarled roots which are partially above ground.
Under each of the four trees lives the ghost of one of the four siblings; Accompong,
Nanay, Cuffee and Quankee. Nearby to Accompong’s tree, which is near to the back
wall of Oldtown is a flat stone. This marks the grave of Accompong. The area
immediately around his grave is the holy of holies and in military fashion called the
“camp” and until recently there was a house built over it in which were kept all the sacred
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paraphernalia of the Accompong cult. It was in front of this house that the annual feast in
The stories about the Old Time people always stress the wonderful magical
powers they had. The best example of this is the explanation that is given as to how the
Maroons were able to defeat the British so consistently. Nanny, the sister, had the
greatest science (magic) of them all. During the war it was always impossible for the
British forces to surprise the maroons, for Nanny could always see them coming. And it
was impossible for any British bullet to hurt any Maroon, for if a bullet hit any of them, it
fell harmlessly to the ground. The source of this invulnerability was two-fold; The
Maroons soldiers were protected by a magical guard, consisting of a drink made of rum,
Another superiority of the Maroons was that they never could run out of
ammunition. The power they obtained from dried spices, and the bullets they got from
the British, simply picking up the bullets fired by the British after they had fallen to the
ground. Accompong’s sister Nanny was a specialist at this. She would go out in the
open, attract the full fire of the British force, and catch as many as fifty bullets at a time.
Before these bullets were used they were purified with a concoction of rum and weeds to
remove any magical charms the British may have upon them. Then the bullets were fired
and because of their treatment they were infallible–they missed their mark. So when one
considers that the maroons could always tell when the enemy were approaching, that they
were invulnerable to enemy bullets, and that all of their shots always found their mark it
is not surprising that the British had considerable trouble in suppressing them.
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The signing of the treaty at Peace Cave is an event that is well remembered to the
present day. Captain Cudjoe “signed” for the maroons, Col. Guthrie for the British.
They each cut their arms with a knife and the blood of the white man and the blood of the
black man was mixed with rum, and this is the link with which the treaty was signed.
Afterwards the mixture was drunk by both sides. Then Accompong stepped forward and
presented Col. Guthrie with a puzzle. First he called for a quart of strong coffee to which
he added an equal amount of milk. Then he said to the Colonel, “Now you must divide
the milk from the coffee.” But Guthrie answered, “No, now that they have been mixed
they can never be separated”. And Accompong answered, “It is the same with us today.”
The white man is the milk, and the Maroons is the coffee. We have mixed or blood as
the coffee and milk are mixed and they can never be separated.” This myth serves to
establish the equality of the whites and the blacks, and assures that they will live in peace
This story is essentially an origin myth and a charter. The treaty establishes the
physical extent of the land under Maroon domain, and it defines the Maroons’ relations to
the colonial government and to the outside world, absolutely. The Maroons are to live in
freedom and liberty forever, paying no taxes. This absolute quality of the treaty is
stressed in all present day conversation concerning the treaty. The treaty is a blood treaty
grandmother, let us say, came from outside. The latter is a Maroon, all
right, but not a Royal one. The treaty, a copy of which is today a part of
the paraphernalia of the village’s ritual leader, serves as a present day
proof of the validity and authenticity of the origin myth, as the origin myth
serves as a sacred sanction to the current force of the provisions of the
treaty. (Cooper n.d.)
Land Claims
There is no consensus among Maroons about the validity of the present land
boundaries of Accompong and total acreage. Instead there are a variety of opinions
concerning what the land provisions of the treaty actually were, how much acreage was
promised, and where this land is located. Altogether, the Accompong Maroons now hold
A reference point for many arguments about the amount of land Maroons can
claim is the fifteen hundred acre amount explicitly spelled out in the 1739 treaty. Many
of the Accompong Maroons’ arguments and demands upon government have concerned
whether or not they actually possess this amount of land and the amount of additional
acreage to which they are entitled. Although the fifteen hundred acre figure remains a
reference point for the original land grant, the colonial government repeatedly made the
Accompong Maroons land offers that amounted to more than 1,500 acres and these offers
were always rejected as they were also expected to pay taxes on the land being offered.
Some Maroons have argued that the present boundaries do not add up to 1500
acres. There are also individuals who acknowledge the present land boundaries and even
appear to accept them, initially. But these people go on to note that, whatever the amount
of land may have been that was granted to the Maroons in the beginning, the government
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has been gradually stealing it back over the years and that whenever the government
surveyed Maroons’ lands, their actual acreage decreased. For this reason they think that
is important for Maroons to be present when their land is being surveyed. Carey
(1997:358-360), Campbell (1988) and Rupert Robinson go much further and argue that
the 1500 acre figure is incorrect and that the treaty actually gave Cudjoe 15,000 acres of
land instead.
between Cudjoe, the major war leader and chief signatory to the treaty, and his brother
Accompong. Exactly what this argument was about is not something that has come down
outside of Trelawny where he exercised authority. The social and political distance
between the two groups of Maroons was such that, when the Trelawney Maroons
revolted against the British, Accompong aided the British against the Trelawnies. The
Trelawney revolt was a violation of the 1739 treaty and many but not all of the
Trelawney Maroons were deported to Canada because of it; they also lost the lands ceded
to them by this treaty which reverted back to the Crown. Some refugee Trelawney
Maroons took up residence in Accompong’s territory and became part of his group. The
forfeiture of the Trelawney Maroons’ lands to the British government following the
revolt is not something many Accompong Maroons remember nor, if they know of it, do
they recognize it as valid; consequently some Accompong Maroons claim that the land
formerly belonging to the Trelawney Maroons also should belong to them. This group
argues that the total land should be 2500 acres consisting of 1500 acres granted to
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The real home of the Accompong Maroons is not St. Elizabeth but
Trelawney. The treaty was signed between Edward Trelawney and
Edward Kojo and really granted the Maroons from 7 miles out to sea at
Falmouth seaport in the north, west out to Alexander Open to Troy and
Hanover, south to Black River. So the real extent of the land that should
be theirs by right extends from Black River to Falmouth and west of
where Accompong is now. All treaty agreements were signed by King
George III, written in the House of Commonwealth. (Reid 2001)
This account includes an important historical inaccuracy. The 1739 treaty was
signed by the British officers Sadler and Francis, not Edward Trelawney who, although
he may have given his name to the area, did not sign the treaty; also Sadler and Francis
signed on behalf of King George III, who did not sign the treaty himself.
The boundaries Reid invokes differ from what other Maroons, - even those who
agree with him that the Trelawney lands belong to Accompong, - have to say about this
issue. More recently, in an argument concerning bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country,
Accompong Council member Melvin Currie argued that Accompong was not a part of St.
Elizabeth at all, but a sovereign country. “He insisted that contrary to the long-held
public view that Accompong Town was a part of St Elizabeth, the Maroon village and the
surrounding Cockpits were a “sovereign” and separate area surrounded by the parishes of
2007).
Barker and Spence see a latent function in the Maroons’ vagueness about the
boundaries of the land claim. These authors write: “Their land claim is deliberately
into the forested and uninhabited regions of Cockpit Country” (Barker and Spence
154
1988:201). However, the Maroons’ refusal of land ensures their continued existence as a
distinct group. The symbolic meaning of land as a symbol of maroon resistance far
Land offers made in the 20th century required Maroons to pay nominal taxes on at
least some of the additional land being offered. These offers were refused. Colonel
Henry A. Rowe petitioned the government in the mid 1930s for additional land and for a
survey that would set out its boundaries. Colonel Rowe’s position was that the Maroons
were due 1,500 acres, but had only received 1,220. He was confident the government and
the lawyers would settle the dispute and make an offer of 280 acres. (Gleaner, August 16
& 19, 1938) Nothing came of this. When the bicentenary celebrations of the treaty
signing came around, some Maroons were angry that additional land was not being made
available despite their two centuries-old claim. This period was also the Depression. The
In his letter of resignation published in the August 14, 1938 issue of the Gleaner,
Colonel Rowe questioned whether or not the Maroons were granted the land they were
claiming, or whether they had failed to take claim earlier when the land was granted.
This position was different than his earlier position. Rowe continued to note that the
Maroons should not use violence against the colonial government since they had
After Colonel Rowe’s resignation Thomas Cawley took the colonelship. Under
Cawley’s leadership, Maroons seized timber and sleepers (material used to tie railway
tracks) from government contractors who were working on crown land where Maroons
were squatting and claimed as their own. The Maroons declared that they were going to
keep the lumber and sleepers until the land was re-surveyed. They repeated these acts
In February of 1939, Major Robinson visited the governor to press the case for
more land. The position Robinson espoused was that the Maroons were entitled to 2,500
acres of land. It was only upon this visit that Robinson learned that the land previously
held by the Trelawny Maroons had been returned to the crown. Robinson argued that
such a reversion of land was invalid; the Maroons’ treaty was a ‘blood treaty’ and not just
a piece of paper; the blood oath has made its provisions eternally binding. He continued
On June 17, 1939, Governor Sir Arthur Richards visited Accompong and offered
the Maroons 3,000 to 4,000 acres of land that would be held communally. The 1,300
acres of land already in the possession of the Maroons would remain tax free but the
additional new acreage would be taxed at a nominal rate. The Maroons would have only
156
agricultural and surface rights on this property; the crown reserved all mineral and oil
rights. In the event that the new parcel of land was divided into individual plots, the
taxes would increase to the market rate. Governor Richards made an official offer in
writing in a letter dated June 20, 1939. This same land offer was published in the
Cawley and his officers thought this was a reasonable offer but the former
Colonel Rowe opposed it. Rowe published a letter in the July 5, 1939 Gleaner, arguing
that the Maroons would not know what to do with so much land. Recall that Rowe only
argued for an additional 280 acres of land. Later, he changed his mind and argued that
what the Maroons really wanted was 1,500 acres of tax free land contiguous with the land
they already possessed. Some Maroons wanted the land the government offered; others
did not. In the end, there was no consensus and Cawley rejected the land offer.
a survey of Maroon land. On March 4, 1941 they surveyed Cockpit Country lands
belonging to the Crown. As a result of these two surveys Maroons lost unpatented land
west of Accompong where previously they had been recognized squatters. The
government took this land and sold it to individual non-Maroon buyers since the Maroons
had refused to purchase it. But the Accompong Maroons gained land too when, following
the surveys, the government turned over to them 1523 acres of unpatented land to their
In 1945, at the request of Charles Kirlew who was seeking to purchase property in
the area, H. H. Brandon surveyed the land once more. It took him from March 2nd
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through July 21st and from December 12th through 15th to do it. The resulting map
showed Peace Cave as belonging to the Maroons but did not change Accompong’s
boundaries. However, three years later, H.A. Rowe was in disagreement over the
Maroons’ boundary.
In 1948, H. A. Rowe, who was once again back in office as colonel, sent a
deputation consisting of a Mr. Cascoe 2 , then Accompong’s Social Welfare Officer, his
wife, and a Mr. J. Patterson to visit the governor to settle the land dispute. The event was
In 1952, Thomas Cawley was colonel again and he lodged a complaint calling for
clarification of the Maroons’ land boundaries. He warned that the Maroons would take
action against the government if the matter was not settled. From Cawley’s letter to the
Gleaner we learn that the government had seized and jailed six Maroons for trespassing
on government property. Cawley does not mention the additional land in the north that
had been given to the Maroons after the 1939 and 1941 surveys. So there is no
2
Mr. Cascoe was appointed by the governor to live in Accompong to resolve the
leadership crisis.
158
These threats never went any farther than Thomas Cawley’s words as no ‘striking
headlines’ appeared in the Gleaner. Fourteen years, and several new governors, after the
1939 land offer, the colonial government made another attempt to resolve the land claim.
The Governor, Sir Hugh Foot, sought a peaceful reconciliation with the Maroons, and
invited Colonel Cawley and his wife to King’s house [governor’s house], to discuss the
continuing conflict. The governor hoped that the Maroons would settle the dispute in the
spirit of Cudjoe and Governor Trelawny of 1739 and promised to visit Accompong on
January 20 the following year. Sir Hugh Foot’s land offer totaled 4,000 to 5,000 acres of
land, of which the 1,353 acres that had never been in dispute, and the 1,523 acres of
crown land that had been turned over to the Maroons after the 1939-1941 survey, would
form a part. Under Governor Foot’s plan, a team would first visit Accompong to assess
the Maroons’ needs and implement an economic development plan intended to improve
their living conditions. There would be no new survey of the land (Gleaner, October 6,
159
1953.) This offer represented an additional 2,124 acres of land which is almost equal to
that the governors did manage to implement some economic incentives; but in the end the
maroons refused his land offer. The land they wanted and claimed lay elsewhere in a
vague location within the Cockpit Country. Nine years later Jamaica became independent
and for the most part the Maroons were more anxious about their legal status in the newly
Land in the Cockpit Country (adjacent to Accompong Town) is valuable not only
to the Maroons, but other national and international parties as well. In 2006 and 2007,
Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica set off a full scale storm when it sought to begin mining
bauxite in the Cockpit Country. The Cockpit Country boasts a rich biodiversity and there
is no doubt that the state of the ecology and the conditions in which people live would be
severely compromised by extensive bauxite mining. The aquifers under the Cockpit
Country feed five major rivers, - the Black River, Cabarita River, Great River, Montego
River, and the Martha Brae; five parishes, - St. Elizabeth, Hanover, St. James,
Westmoreland and Trelawny, - all derive their water supplies from this forested area; so
any mining undertaken in this area would pose a threat to the water supplies and other
international protest against bauxite prospecting in the Cockpit. The stakeholders include
various scientists, educators, Birdlife Jamaica, Dolphin Head Trust, Bluefields Peoples’
Communities Foundation, and Windsor Research Centre. The Maroons have also joined
the fight to save the Cockpit Country from bauxite mining and Colonel Peddie has
promised a third Maroon war should any mining take place. “This bauxite digging will
not be permitted or allowed in the Cockpit, it would be a dreadful fight,” he said. “I tell
you it would lead to the third Maroon war because we live in the area and we know the
destruction that this would cause and we are not in for it at all” (Gleaner: Saturday
December 30, 2006). “We do not want any bauxite mining up there at all and we will
have to fight it until the last Maroon is dead,” said a determined Melville Currie, Maroon
Council member. “It is a sacred area where our ancestors fought and died - so we think it
“Now they are coming back through the back door talking about
digging bauxite-that will not happen.” (Gleaner: Saturday December 30,
2006).
Since May 2007, the government has suspended talks about mining in the
There is little information on the inheritance pattern of land in Moore Town and
Scotts Hall, located in Jamaica and the South American Maroons.. The Moore Town
Maroons hold a portion of their land communally, and families own their own land with
The Jamaican Scotts Hall Maroons was a splinter group from Crawford Town
who were granted permission to settle in the middle of the island near Scotts Hall with
permission from the colonial government on 610 acres of land. In 1754, dissident
Maroons destroyed the settlement resulting in some of the Maroons settling elsewhere,
and named the settlement Charles Town. The government purchased land for the group in
1770. All total, Charles Town Maroons were given 867 ½ acres of land. This group
continued to experience boundary disputes with the white settlers and requested to move
to another location. However, their request was denied. After the 1842 Land Allotment
Act, the Scotts Hall Maroons complied and divided their land although they upheld the
corporate nature of their land holding. Boundary disputes continued until 1964. In 1938,
Charles Town Maroons demanded land from the St. Mary’s Custos arguing they were
162
In the 18th century, the Dutch and French signed treaties with various Maroon
Some Saramaka and Alukus live among the Djuka on the lower Marowijne (Maroni
River), and there are several Saramaka, Djuks, and Matawai villages on the lower
Saramak River. The Kwinti live on the lower Coppename River. There do not appear to
be any fixed boundaries for these groups as they lived well into the interior. There are
disputes between the several Maroon groups and later by the colonial and post-colonial
governments.
These groups face challenges now from multinational corporations and their own
logging. For example, in order to construct a hydroelectric dam and lake, Alco
independence in 1975, both Maroons and indigenous communities, were stripped of their
163
rights to land (and its potential riches) endangering their rights to exist as separate
policy. The Maroons and the indigenous peoples have no rights or say about the land on
which they live, as they are being denied access to their agricultural lands, hunting
The Aluku or Boni Maroons of French Guiana is the only Maroon group that
chose allegiance to the French government. “The traditional territory of the Aluku is now
structure- one still poorly understood by many, if not most, Aluku – over the traditional
Aluku social system”(Bilby 1989). These changes came about due to assimilation and
emigration. Large numbers of Aluku Maroons migrated to urban centers. Villages with a
migration, the interior is now being mined and logged by multinationals, drawing large
number of immigrants from Haiti, Brazil and Suriname. The Aluku Maroons were also
running large goldmining operations. The position of the Aluku of French Guiana is
slightly different from the Maroons of Suriname. It is more than likely that these groups
will cease to exist as a group in the very near future unless the United Nations increases
Summary
demonstrated, these relationships are complex. In the case of the Accompong Maroons,
the symbolic aspect of land in terms of a continued land claim outweighs the economic
aspect of land of more land that would be taxed. They have been successful in resisting
paying taxes on their land. This claim is of added value since the Accompong Maroons
did not a treaty as the Trelawny Maroons did. The communal land distinguished Maroons
from non-Maroons and reinforces the Maroons’ relationship with the state that differs
from other communities. Communal land among the Maroons is similar to family land
found throughout the Caribbean. However, the relationship between the Jamaican
The only maroon community that has continued a land claim against the colonial
and post-colonial governments is the Accompong Maroons. Their continued land claim
stems from the problem that there was one treaty with the British that covered both the
Accompong Maroons and the Trelawny Maroons. In this treaty, the land boundary and
size was set out for the Trelawny Maroons but not the Accompong Maroons.
Additionally, the Trelawny Maroons were disbanded and their land confiscated by the
crown. However, the post-colonial government has not proved them with more land.
In Suriname and Guyana, the post-colonial governments simply made deals with
multinational corporations from countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, the United States,
Canada, China and the World Bank to mine, log and create dams in the interior, without
165
regard to the Maroons and other indigenous groups. This has resulted in the displacement
of entire Maroon groups with the creation of dams, and military force used to keep
Maroons away from their ancestral land. These Maroon and indigenous groups have no
rights to land in the eyes of the state. In effect, the treaties are not binding to the post
colonial governments as they claim that all the land in the country is state property.
Chapter V
Introduction
There is very little data on the kinship system of the Accompong Maroons so
there is no information as to whether Maroon women were having children with the white
British Superintendents stationed in the village, creating the class-color divide found in
the wider Jamaica. However, we do know that presently there are Maroon women having
Information from Dunham (1942) and Williams (1938) focused on the low
marriage rate and high rates of illegitimate children, as it was the anthropological
theoretical framework of Caribbean ethnology. However, they don’t tell us about the
kinship patterns. In the 1930s Rev. Joseph Williams was informed that “most of the
Maroons [we]re married by the Presbyterian Minister. There are few illegitimate
children, but this is usually with the intention of getting married. Most children are thus
legitimate, and most of the rest are made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of their
Cooper’s fieldwork was interrupted by WWII, but his notes and correspondence to
his advisor detailed findings on rituals, myth and kinship structure found what he thought would
“probably be hard even for Durkheim to swallow” (Letter to McKim Marriott, September 2,
1948). One learns from his letter and notes, the difficulties he encountered in trying to make
sense of his findings and framing them in the theoretical framework of functionalism. Cooper
tried to compare the Accompong Maroons to the Australian Aborigines among whom he did
fieldwork earlier and the North East Algonquins based on the work of Ruth Landes, but without
success. His genealogical data included cross-cousin cohabitation, men with multiple partners
Anthropological work in the Caribbean from the 1940s to 1980s focused on the
organization of lower class Afro-Caribbean families and households following the Monye
Commission of 1938-39. Early kinship studies of the Caribbean were that of the social
pathology school and included Simey (1946) and Henriques (1953) who viewed
Caribbean kinship forms as “deviant” because they did not fit the Western model of legal
in West Arica with practices of polygamy and female headed household with economic
independence followed. Debate began between Herskovits (1941) and E. Franklin Frazier
(1939). They both argued that African Diaspora families in the New World were
‘maternal’ and ‘extended,’ with a high frequency of common-law unions and high
illegitimate rates. Additionally, the mother-child bond was the primary one that survived
slavery.
Herskovits (1941) argued that the structure of the family was based on African
cultural patterns while Frazier (1939) argued that traces of African culture were wiped
168
out by the black experiences in America which included slavery, emancipation, post-
1988); Edith Clarke (1957); Fernando Henriques (1953); M. G. Smith (1962); Whitten
and Szwed (1970); Whitehead (1978) argued that Afro-American family patterns are a
Smith (1962) wrote that there were a variety of mating relationships such as “extra-
residential relationships,” and their effects on household structure. Douglas’ (1992) study
found that extra-marital mating was found among middle class Jamaicans and there was a
Dirks and Kerns (1976) who added a historical dimension to their study argued
that mating patterns was an ‘adaptive strategy’ in response to the changing economic
opportunities over the years. J. Gussler (1996) in her work on St. Kitts, and other
Feminist scholars also argued that the female-headed hold households were an ‘adaptive
Kardiner and Ovesey (1951) argued that African culture was replaced with self-hatred
and dysfunctionalism.
Gonzalez (1970) argued that the mother’s potential for maintaining supportive
relationships with her consanguines and other men is restricted by the presence of
unemployed conjugal males. Whitehead (1978) argued that “the absence of local
employment also frequently leads to the out-migration of workers, usually men, for
temporary periods or permanently. Often, the permanent emigrants are young single men
169
without familial responsibility” (Whitehead 1978:118). I found that both men and
Clarke (1966) argued that there was a positive relationship between land ownership, local
conditions and land were necessary for marriages. Clarke (1953:40) views family land as
a survival of Ashanti kinship system with joint inheritance, equal rights of all the family
In the 1970s, Mintz (1974) focused on peasant formation and the creolization
The discussion on the relationship between kinship and land as “African cultural
Barbadian family is based on the English cultural heritage; namely the upper-class legal
technique of the “settlement” and the associated ‘seed to seed’ clause. M.G. Smith
Mintz (1974:242) argued that the problems of land tenure and the transmission of
land rights among Caribbean peasantries remain largely unsolved, in spite of interesting
170
and careful work by such scholars as Clarke (1953), 1957), Comhaire-Sylvain (1952),
and M. G. Smith (1956), Price (1967) on the mysteries of Caribbean peasant land tenure.
Besson wrote that “while minor variations exist in these rules (inheritance),
cognatic descent; that is, all children of both sexes inherit rights to land from both
parents. When combined with the transmission of such rights in perpetuity to the
descendants of a common ancestor these rules result in the creation of the institution
If all children inherited land equally, this would create serious problems and
eventually, someone would be left without property, appoint raised by both Leach and
Davenport. Leach (1960:117) and Davenport (1961:449) both argued that inheritance
based on equal rights from both parents for all children would lead to total confusion.
How is the inheritance of land and other property operationalized? Fox argued
that when land is bequeathed bilaterally to all children, there needs to be a mechanism in
restriction on residence: only those who reside with the group are members of it” (Fox
1967:152). In Accompong, the mechanism in place includes both residence and wealth,
wealth to maintain one’s property during absence or to purchase land on returning home
The relationship between land and kinship in Accompong is similar to other rural
Islands, Barbuda, the Black Caribs of Belize, St. Vincent, Danish island of St. John as
171
identified by Olwig (1981 & 1985), and other Caribbean islands. However, if differs from
the Caribs of Dominica. The Caribs of Dominica own land communally as a reserve and
their status vis-viz the state differs from the Accompong Maroons as they “do not hold
deeds to the plots that they cultivate; the five and one-half square miles of land which
comprise the Carib Reserve have been in trust by the government since 1902. But Caribs
have exclusive rights to the use of this land…Residents who were born in the Reserve are
1985:213-5). This inheritance pattern is to ensure that land remain in the hands of Caribs
predominantly male which is similar to the legacy of slavery where natural reproduction
would not have been the focus of the society as argued by Caribbean historian Curtin
(1998); but with land. In addition to this legacy, the Maroons experienced population
decline in the post-treaty period since they: 1) had been prohibited from taking slaves
(including women) and other individuals within their boundaries; 2) experienced food
forces before the stalemate resulting in the cease-fire and the treaty; and 3) poor health
Sheridan (1986) examined the livelihood, demography and health of the Maroons
from 1730 to 1830 and compared these variables to the enslaved population during the
same period. He found that the Maroon population was all male before the treaties, and
then a population decline followed. He hypothesized that the population would increase
in the post-emancipation period as health and well-being increased with the “convergence
172
1986:170). However, the capacity for any population to grow depends on the number of
women of reproductive age. From the demographic information, the number of women
in Accompong Town remained less than the male population. Consequently, the
community increased its female population through raids on neighboring plantations and
the retention of runaway slaves. In the contemporary period, the demography is compounded
The one hundred years of freedom the Accompong Maroons experience allowed
for their kinship system to change and more resemble the kinship structure of other
Caribbean societies. However, the kinship system differs from the Saramaka, Djuka and
Aluku Maroons of South America that are matrilineal and practice polygyny. (Price 1976
and de Groot 1969). The migration pattern of Accompong is similar to the Saramaka and
Djuka Maroons and other areas in the Caribbean. “Male migration, both temporary and
long-term, has been a standard pattern for almost 100 years and has had far-reaching
In her discussion of the newly freed slaves, Clarke (1957) argued that “the fact of
Emancipation did not itself create a set of conditions, social or economic, in which the
freed Negro could at once assume the role of father and husband in the new
society”(Clarke 1957:19). Similarly, the treaties signed by Maroons severely limited their
173
economic independence resulting in high migration rates, and their ability to reproduce
This analysis is based on emic and etic perspectives. The complex kinship system
observable on the ground in Accompong can be analyzed as being the product of the
declining birth rates due to contraceptive use; 2) migration; 3) mating patterns and the
various forms that conjugal unions take; 4) the role of the genitor and pater; and 5) the
among a variety of household forms. Kinship mediates access to the possession of the
most culturally significant Maroon resources: land, political office, and medico-religious
knowledge and leadership roles, inherited bilaterally. Kinship and households of the
Maroons are similar across social economic stratum. Like Fortes (1949), I argue that
household forms change through time since there is the natural cycle of birth, maturation
Demographic factors such as declining birth rates, a sex ratio in which the number
of males exceeds the number of females of reproductive age, and the economic and social
effects of migration all tend to exacerbate the economic restrictions that poverty already
imposes on mating. In the context of lives built around subsistence farming, limited
opportunities for even poorly paid nonagricultural work, and frequent unemployment and
series of visiting relationships and/or consensual unions over of the course of their lives.
Consensual cohabitation unions can be stable and last for many years and Maroons blur
the distinction between such long lasting consensual unions and legal marriages. While a
few visiting relationships or consensual unions eventuate in legal marriages, children may
be and are born from any of the forms of conjugal union and have a legitimate and
recognized place in the community. Marriage occurs late in life, if at all, and for
While the principles of consanguinity and affinity are both important for
kinship allies the consanguines of both members of a conjugal union that produces a
child. Bestowal of the father’s surname links the child to the father and the father’s
consanguines thus strengthening the relationship between both groups. But some fathers’
surnames have status associations that make them particularly desirable and dominant
over other surnames, and a variety of economic conditions and social situations may
affect how they are transmitted between parents and children. The effect of the link
established with a particular male (or the residence of a particular male in the household)
may have beneficial or detrimental effects for the female’s consanguines (i.e., the man’s
affines) depending upon whether his relationship with the woman brings in or drains off
resources from her household. The tendency then is for several consanguineally related
households to form networks of exchange through which resources can flow and among
which members can be redistributed when it is necessary. In situations where there are
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include the affines created as the result of current or past conjugal unions.
conception of village life. In their own self-conception, the Maroon marriage rate is very
high and Maroons are endogamous. However, the marriage rate is high only if you blur
the distinction between consensual unions and legal marriages as the Maroons do. A long
standing pattern of local and national circulatory migration and mating undermines the
ideal that Maroons are maritally endogamous, especially if you include consensual unions
in which one of the partners resides outside of Accompong. These claims and the values
underlying them were emphasized by many individuals in the village, were seen as
necessary for the maintenance of its social structure, and undergird the idea that
As we shall see, kinship, in conjunction with other factors, mediates access to the
possession of land, political office and other organizational leadership role and medico-
land and in access to religious and medical roles, while both affinity and consanguinity
are important in restricting access to the highest political offices to members of a small
group of families. Ideally consanguinity and residence go together; high rate of long term
and short term cyclical migration patterns and exogamous relationships, however, has put
these two principles of Maroon identity and social organization into conflict with each
other. Maroons migrate to other areas in Jamaica, the Caribbean, United States, England
and Canada, and are having children with non-Maroons outside of Accompong and some
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of these children enter Accompong later in life, seeking property as a means of residing
in the village. The synergistic result of all these factors is increased social stratification.
Conjugal Unions
‘consensual cohabitation= and marriage. Analysis of genealogical data indicates that the
pattern of having several children before settling down with one partner dates back to the
mid 1800s; roughly one hundred years after the Maroons were free. From genealogical
data collected, there are a few long-term stable common-law relationships between young
adults in the 20 – 40 age range. A woman may live at home with her young children
before moving out later in life to live in a common-law relationship. From genealogical
data collected, there are long-term stable common-law relationships between young
adults in the 20 – 40 age range. Usually, a woman’s first three children are the offspring
of different males, while the rest of the children are from the male to whom she is
place between Maroons, they tend to be at a later stage in the life of adults and are linked
with “making things right with God before I die” (Constance Foster, 2001). Marriage
patterns are complex, and include some cross-cousin marriages. In 1938, Cooper noted
GENEALOGY I
Genealogy, Mr. E and Mrs. E
Accompong, Jamaica 2001
= 0
Mrs. E Mr. E
Legend -1
Ego
Male
Female
= Marriage
Common-Law
Unknown gender
/ Deceased
Genealogy II: The Wright Family
Accompong. Jamaica 2001
Female
Informant: John Wright
/ Deceased
= Marriage
Common Law
=-Genealogy III John Wright
Accompong, Jamaica 2001
Elizabeth Foster
Martin Luther Wright
b.1927
b.1917
Canada Jamaica US
US John Wright
b.1960
Accompong
LEGEND
Male
Female
= Marriage
/ Deceased
Common Law
180
that some individuals frown on this type of union. During my fieldwork, one informant,
the daughter of the male in one of the cross-cousin marriages frowned on the union. A
few marriages took place when the individuals, because of their social standing in the
community, were forced to do so by the church. One such example would be that of
Colonel M. L. Wright, pressured into getting married. The church minister felt that it did
not look right if the colonel was not married. Individuals who are married are not
necessarily from the upper levels of the community, but from the lower ones as well.
Marriage Rates
deaths. Registration takes place in the neighboring town of Retirement. Only about 10%
of the population lives within the legal jurisdiction of the Jamaican state. The same is
relationships with legal marriages. Ideally, legal marriages are strived for. The number of
legal marriages and divorces are actually was very small. From Cooper (m.s.), we learn
that three years prior to 1938 there were no legal marriages. Marriage records for 1947
indicated only seven marriages and there were none for the first eight months of 2001.
Overall, marriage records were difficult to get from the Office of Birth, Marriage and
Death. If we examine the 2001 census data on marriages, we find a total of 174 married
persons in the village population. Given that the Accompong Maroons view marriage and
common-law marriage in the same light, there is no way of determining if the numbers
Table 1 on page 182 details the female population sixteen years and older and
their marriage status and figure 1 (page 184) is a pie chart of these figures. Females aged
16 to 80 total 287 and, of this number, 173 (61 percent) had never been married; eighty-
one (28 percent) were currently married, 31 (11 percent) were widowed and one woman
(close to zero percent) was legally separated from her husband. One woman did not
report her marriage status. The age category in which the highest number of married
females is found is the 30-34 year age group with a total number of ten, and then peaked
in the age group 50-54 year age group. Twelve of the thirty-one widows were in the 75-
79 age group, which is to be expected since people marry late in life and deaths occur
Turning to table 2 (page 183), and figure 2 (page 184), we see that there are a
total of 421 males in the group 16 to 80 year range. Of this number, 309 (74 percent)
have never been married, 93 (22 percent) were married, 14 (3 percent) widowed, four (1
percent) divorced and no legal separations. For males, the highest number of married
males is found in the 60-64 year age group. The thirty-five to thirty-nine age group
includes eleven married males and 11 married males are found in the 55-59 age group.
There are fourteen widowers starting in the sixty to sixty-four age category and this
There are more currently married males than currently married females residing in
the village, but this is not just because there are more males than females overall. The
village is also impacted by migration. Both males and females are often married to
spouses who do not reside in the village permanently, or who no longer reside in the
.
Accompong Female Population Marriage Status, 2001
Age Group Total Never Married Married Widowed Legally Separated Divorced Not Reported
16 - 19 years 36 35 0 0 0 0 1
20 - 24 years 29 26 3 0 0 0 0
25 - 29 years 22 16 5 0 0 0 0
30 - 34 years 32 22 10 0 0 0 0
35 - 39 years 22 16 5 0 0 0 0
40 - 44 years 25 16 9 0 0 0 0
45 - 49 years 20 11 9 0 0 0 0
50 - 54 years 14 4 10 0 0 0 0
55 -59 years 18 9 7 2 0 0 0
60- 64 years 16 5 7 3 1 0 0
65 - 69 years 14 2 8 4 0 0 0
70 - 74 years 10 3 4 2 0 0 0
75 -79 years 19 3 3 12 0 0 0
80 years & Over 10 2 1 7 0 0 0
Total 287 173 81 31 1 0 1
Accompong Male Population Marriage Status, 2001
Age Group Total Never Married Married Widowed Legally Separated Divorced Not Reported
16 - 19 years 36 36 0 0 0 0 0
20 - 24 years 35 35 0 0 0 0 0
25 - 29 years 44 40 3 0 0 0 0
30 - 34 years 39 33 7 0 0 0 0
35 - 39 years 53 41 11 0 0 1 0
40 - 44 years 39 34 4 0 0 1 0
45 - 49 years 30 21 9 0 0 0 0
50 - 54 years 16 14 2 0 0 0 0
55 -59 years 34 23 11 0 0 0 0
60- 64 years 28 10 14 4 0 0 0
65 - 69 years 20 9 9 0 0 2 0
70 - 74 years 16 4 9 3 0 0 0
75 -79 years 12 4 5 2 0 0 0
80 years & Over 18 4 9 4 0 0 0
Total 421 309 93 14 0 4 0
Tables 1 and 2 (Jamaican 2010 Census)
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0%
0%
11%
NEVER MARRIED
MARRIED
WIDOWED
LEGALLY SEPARATED
NOT REPORTED
28%
61% Figure 4
Fig 3
Male Marriage Status , 2001
1%
0%
3%
22%
NEVER MARRIED
MARRIED
WIDOWED
LEGALLY SEPARATED
DIVORCED
74%
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village at all, so these spouses could not be counted among the village’s resident
population. In any case, of the 708 Maroons who were of marriageable age (16 to 80
years) in 2000, only about 31.6% were currently legally married, or had ever been legally
married.
For a number of reasons, long term consensual cohabitation unions are much
and the attendant festivities is expensive and requires the kind of financial outlay many
Maroons cannot afford. Marriage also requires a steady income as the woman would have
already had several children living with her and the husband must be able to support all
those in the household. Many younger Maroon males do not have a steady income and do
not achieve this level of economic security until later in life, if they achieve it at all.
These kinds of factors, among others, tend to delay contracting a legal marriage. In the
Maroon Endogamy
Observer reporter and noted that: “the changing times have dictated the need to change
some of the tribes’ ways. In previous years, he explained, Maroons were not allowed to
marry outside the tribe. Now that has changed” (Observer, February 26, 2004). While
Meredie Rowe implies that Accompong Maroons were strictly endogamous up until
recently we learn from other sources that certainly this has not been the case, since the
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post-treaty era some men have had long-standing conjugal relationships and even legal
marriage with non-Maroon women. We learn from the Cooper Papers that Colonel H. E.
Wright had children with a non-Maroon woman, and Josiah Gillett had five children with
a non-Maroon woman (Cooper m.s.) Colonel Thomas J. Cawley married Bernetta Morris,
From Dunham, we also learn that there were non-Maroons living in Accompong.
“Mai is comfortable too. She is not a Maroon. She was brought in from the outside, I
learn, by the sister of the owner of the house, to care for an invalid mother while she
herself went to Kingston to marry. The invalid died and Mai stayed on. Though her
position in the community is uncertain, she always finds a hut to sleep in and breadfruit
Regardless of the degree of endogamy that may or may not have existed in the
past, certainly migration has tended to reduce it. When young males or females migrate,
they often have children with non-Maroons in the places where they migrated to. When
or if, the males return because they were successful, or unsuccessful in finding or keeping
a job, they usually return without the children they sired and may lose touch with them.
On the other hand, when females return in most cases they bring their children back with
All of these children born of exogamous unions are classified as ‘half-Maroons.’ What
this means, then, is that there are many half-Maroons, including some colonels, and that
many, if not most of them, reside outside of Accompong. It is possible, however, for
One-drop Rule
Who is a “true born Maroon?” Although not stated in these terms, everyone with
a drop of maroon blood is a Maroon. In the context of slavery and its aftermath, a system
of “one drop” was constructed to designate anyone with black ancestry as black.
Similarly, based on the criteria for a maroon, the percentage of maroon blood one carries
living in Accompong Town for 15 years or more is granted maroon citizenship and
eligible for land.”(Colonel Cawley, Reid and Smith, 2001) Because maroon heritage is
important, in effect, one finds the “one-drop” rule in play where anyone with one drop of
maroon blood is a Maroon. One need not live in Accompong Town to retain one’s
identity.
Family Names
In the past, African names could be found in Accompong. However, in the 1930s
Dunham (1946) found the practice no longer in use. “In the old days a Maroon baby was
given a “day name” as well as a Christian name. This is done only rarely now, but the list
of names which Mr. Reid and Ba’ Weeyums checked over with me corresponds
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identically with that which Miss Beckwith has recorded from Goss as being in use in
rural Jamaica. With the exception of “Cubena” all of the names ending with “o” are for
The Accompong Maroons never kept records of their members despite a request
from the colonial administration as they no doubt felt that such a roll would be used to
their disadvantage. In correspondence dated August 15, 1895 from the surveyor general
to the colonial governor, he thought that the rolls should be used document all the
Maroons and their property, including any shops and other businesses and to levy taxes
on those non-Maroons. He felt that if the roads were not repaired, eventually the village
would decrease in size and all the Maroons would leave, and taxes could be levied on
The closet the Maroons came to a roll was that discovered by Cooper in Appendix
III. Cooper speculated that the names were that of full-blooded Maroons. This list was
taken from the back of a copy of the treaty in the possession of Charles Reid. These
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names are not African, and most of the names can still be found in Accompong today and
I found that there are no differences in the family names among the Acccompng
Maroons with that found throughout Jamaica and among the other Jamaican Maroon
communities. The Accompong Maroon names are however, different from what one
finds among Suriname and Guyanese Maroons. Although the Akan names of early
Maroon leaders such as Cudjoe [Kojo], Accompong, Cuffy [Kofi] or Quaco [Kwaku] are
remembered, no one bears these names today. The same is true for the Spanish names of
the earliest Maroons of Jamaica such as Juan de Bolas. Instead maroons’ forenames and
Smith, Wright, Foster, Pryce, Taylor, Halliday, Reid, and Lawrence can be found.
Names in Moore Town are: “Anderson, Pasley, Philips, Roberts, Sterling, Brown,
(Saramaka Maroons) names are African-derived: Avo Abenkina, Pamo, Arabi, Oseisie,
Tonnie, Bambey, Bijman, Blijmoffo, Aguma, Sakka, Kanape, Amatodja, Gazon, Akonyu
How are names transmitted in Accompong? Dunham wrote that descent was
recognized through one’s father. “Owing to the great amount of illegitimacy, one might
imagine difficulties in reckoning descent, but a child identifies himself by his “pappy”
even before he thinks of his own name. And even after he is grown and has children of
his own, the word of his pappy is law… The illegitimates are given the name of the
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father, and are recognized by the entire community as part of his family. In the rare cases
where a man refuses to recognize a child as his own, the child is known as ‘she mammy
My analysis found that in most cases a child born from any of the types of
conjugal union is given the surname of its father. Here we must distinguish between two
roles, that of the genitor or biological father and that of the pater or social father, the
male who actually takes on a parental role and responsibilities and is recognized socially
as doing so. Although this is not phrased as such by Maroons, a number of their social
practices make this distinction implicitly and it also underlies the maxim, - which I will
examine in a moment, - that the woman gets to choose who the father is, a practice which
In the most typical situation, however, pater and genitor are the same man and
that man recognizes and is recognized as such by all through exercising his right to give
the child born from the union his own surname. In effect, to extend the family name is
not guarantee the fulfillment of the paternal economic and social responsibilities that
ought to spring from it except in relatively stable long lasting consensual cohabitation
arrangements or in legal marriages. In the past the socially recognized paternity known in
the village and shown by giving the surname did not always translate into legal paternity
The most binding social recognition of paternity is the legal registration required
by a birth certificate. These certificates request the names of the child’s mother and father
and also the name of an informant, someone who can testify that the woman who signs
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the certificate did indeed give birth to the child she is registering. Records of births in
Accompong for the year 1947 showed four instances where the names of children’s
fathers were not recorded. In those cases the child’s surname was the same as that of the
male informant but the male informant’s surname was different from that of the mother.
In these cases the child was registered with the state without any legal claim of paternity
being made by the genitor, the informant or anyone else for that matter.
These records yield no clues that can explain how these situations arose but there
are a number of practices that are known to result in a number of children carrying family
names deriving from males other than their biological fathers. This happens in the case
where a male with financial means but no children gives a child his name. According to
Hansley Reid, “It was not uncommon if an adult take a special fancy to a child, for that
person to register that child under his name. That person would also assume financial
responsibility for the child” (Reid 2001.) It seems in this case that, not only does the
financially able male have no children, but the child has a genitor who is unable to
provide economically for the child or may not even be present or alive--a form of
adoption.
One case: a Maroon whose family and land were so poor that people described
them as ‘not being able to make food.’ (Here food does not mean any kind of food at all
but rather the basic kinds of root crops and ‘ground provisions’ that are the foundation of
rural Jamaican diets. Throughout the entire island it is these particular foods that are
meant when Jamaicans use the word ‘food.’) The man remained quite poor, even by
Accompong standards, all his life. When he produced a child from a visiting union with a
Maroon woman, it was clear that he had no means to provide anything of economic
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substance for the child but he did give his surname to the child. The woman later was
able to convince another man who was better off economically to give his name to the
child. At this point the genitor was displaced and cut off from further relationship with
the child, the child’s surname changed, and the child grew up and lived in the
In another case, a man gave his name to a child born from a conjugal union whose
genitor was someone else and assumed years of economic obligations on the child’s
behalf. The man was sufficiently prosperous not only to shoulder these obligations but
also well off enough to migrate to England and over several decades continue sending
remittances for the child’s care back to Jamaica. However, he left Accompong so early in
the child’s life that they never really knew each other and remained estranged despite the
economic support rendered to the child and the mother. Other cases involving the
adoption of a child by a well-off male occurred during the period when men were going
off to WWII without heirs. There were three other known cases of children who were
One suspects that in these cases what has happened is that, in effect, the woman
has ‘chosen who the father is’ and that this choice is based on an evaluation that is
women tend to have children by several men in succession, there may be a period of
overlap during which a woman may be having sexual relations with more than one man,
or when the interval between monogamous relationships with partners may be short
enough that there is uncertainty about who the genitor is. In still another scenario, the one
outlined by Reid, a financially able male comes to the aid of a woman who is not in the
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economic position to care for her child or children and, out of generosity, chooses one of
them to sponsor and provide for economically. In Reid’s account he spoke of this
alternative chosen by a man who is childless. Childless or not, the extension of the
surname into succeeding generations is important enough to most men that this is an
attractive option for childless men with sufficient economic means to do so.
The relationship between the man and the child does not require that there be a
sexual relationship between the man and the child’s mother. The man registers the child
with the state, as the father. In most cases the woman does not transmit her surname to
her children anyway and the economic support she receives (as well as the assistance in
parenting, should she also receive that) is a great boon that does not necessarily impact on
her ability to have future sexual partners or even eventually to marry a different man.
Finally, not all Maroon family surnames are of equal status and value—internal
stratification impacting on transmission. Family names such as Rowe, Wright and Crosse
have been connected to elite positions in Accompong’s political structure and have had
powerful religious roles since the 1870s. Having these family names is a kind of cultural
capital that elevates a person out of the mass of Maroons and allies one with a variety of
powers, knowledge and privileges. Although they do not usually pass them on to their
children, women bearing these last names may retain them when they marry simply by
adding the surname of their husband after their own. In cases like the ones described
above where a man takes upon economic and parental responsibilities for child who is not
his biological offspring and then extends his family name to the child, he may preserve
the status value of the genitor’s family name by replacing the child’s first name with his
surname. Indeed, the example that Hansley Reid described as an example of this practice
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in which a man whose family name was Chambers took on a child named Peter Rowe
and extended his name to him. However, because Rowe is a high status surname, when
Chambers renamed the child he called him, not Peter Chambers, but Chambers Rowe.
Households
Households are the basis of the community and there are a variety of household
types based on economics, social characteristics and religion. “Households are units, the
members of which eat and dwell together as a rule. Normally those persons who
maintain a common domestic economy, and occupy common dwelling share common
productive resources and liabilities, but this need not always be the case.” (Smith
1962:13) I also found that there were a variety of household structures varying in social
responsible for its maintenance and reproduction through a division of labor based on sex
and age. The cultural patterns of the households were similar, although there were
differences in terms of newly acquired wealth displayed in the architecture of the home
and the contents as discussed in the economics chapter. The meal patterns differed in
terms of the quantity of food consumed, and where it was consumed as opposed the
different. The household structure varies in the ways in which it engages in reproduction,
economic, social and religious activities; access to and the utilization of land; and finally,
the legal status of its members. Household varied in size from one to fourteen individuals,
generational depth, and gender composition, and may also cluster in a yard.
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in Accompong Town. In the public and private domain, both males and females prepared
food, as there were quite a number of households of single males, with and without
children. In households with both parents, the female is responsible for childcare,
cooking and housekeeping. In single male-headed household, the male does all the
chores. In multigenerational households, the oldest female does all the cooking while the
adult daughters take care of their own children, including the laundry. Adult males also
do their own laundry. Women share childcare and hairdressing activities and children
help with the house chores and in the field. Those who own goats through the 4H
Households utilize strategic resources and labor and one such activity is sharing
labor on the farm. Traditional labor patterns included such arrangements as ‘morning
work’, ‘day-for-day’, ‘day work’ and ‘partner.’ These were all essentially forms of
reciprocal labor exchange, sometimes accompanied by gifts of food and drink. In this
labor pattern, younger men frequently worked for older men, but within the group
everyone took turns working on each other’s plots. However, as Accompong shifted
from agricultural practices to increase its production of cash crops, the traditional labor
Households with large numbers of adults between the ages of 15 and 44 are faced
with the situation where there is an excess labor pool without an economic structure to
support them. Households with individuals born in the 1930s, had between 10 and 16
children. Although the children are a reserved labor pool, the families did not have the
necessary income to increase farming capabilities. In the early stages of the children’s
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life cycle, they are removed from school to work in the fields, but as they age, they then
become a liability to the household in that there is insufficient labor to keep them
occupied and insufficient food to feed them. Therefore, they turn to migration as a means
of earning wages. Only 1 or 2 remained at home to maintain their land claim while the
others migrated either seasonally or long-term. Even if one does to send money back
home, their absence means that the meager resources do not have to be stretched. The
from the use of contraception to lower birth rates. There has been local success in national
family planning campaigns. My examination of medical records indicates that during the periodic
visits from a visiting medical team, contraceptives were given to women of childbearing age.
Prior to 1960 women gave birth to an average of sixteen children with four average deaths in
childhood per family. From 1960 to 1990, the decline in the birth rate was 3.24%. Child
mortality also declined. Between 1991 and 2001 the population dropped eight times more than in
the previous decade. During this period, the average number of births was 2.2 for each woman.
The replacement gross reproduction rate follows a similar trend, dropping first 6.65% from the
figure thirty years earlier, and then 28.49% from 1991 to 2001. The ratio of children to women
also declined precipitously, especially between 1991 and 2001 when it fell 29.21%.
Without remittances, most individuals in the village would not be able to survive.
One informant noted that she used to receive ₤15 per month from her father. The money
was used to pay the electricity and water bill, about JA$3000 per month for each utility
service. Another informant received money from his brother and sister in the United
States. He used this money, along with income earned from selling dasheen, to live.
Remittances are also used to pay for a child’s education, but the most visible
consequence of remittances is the construction of new homes and graves. The homes are
similar in style to large homes in other areas in Jamaica, including Moore Town.
However, they are unlike the architecture of the Suriname Maroons as discussed earlier in
in one location and eat regularly in another. A young man may live in one household and
sleep in another-either with other single males, or with a female with whom he is in a
visiting relationship. When one informant was asked where he lived, he responded: “Do
you want to know where I live, or where I sleep?” Children circulated between the
engaged in live-in domestic work outside of Accompong and returns home on weekends.
During the week, the children circulate between the maternal grandmother and an older
sibling.
generation, extended families, and nuclear households. The adults in nuclear households
headed households; 2 widows with adult children; 1 single widow; 1 widow with children
ages 2 through 20; 1 widow with a grandson; 1 single female; 16 households with single
males over 30 years old; 8 single males over 20 years old; 2 female headed households; 4
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nuclear households with adults under 30 years old and legally married; 4 males over 30
were often long termed and last well over 25 years. There were also 8 male-headed
households and 4 female-headed nuclear households with adults over 30 years of age.
There was one household that consisted of at least 5 males in their 30s and 40s who
Multigenerational households were all female headed. The single males in the
age range of 40 to 60 + years all had children that resided either in the village, or other
areas in Jamaica or abroad. The single males under 40 years of age all tended to work
together and share resources and may sleep in one house from time to time.
It is more difficult for older single men to change their status as most of the
women in their comparable age group usually have several children by other males, and
sometimes had their grandchildren living with them as well. One informant noted that he
wanted to marry the woman with whom he was having a relationship, but the woman
lived with two of her grown daughters and their children, in addition to the children of
another daughter who had migrated. “The children have no respect for me,” he said. In
the meantime, he continues to live alone and his five children with five different women
all live outside of the village with their respective mothers. Two male informants in their
40s and living in long term common-law relationships noted that “It was too expensive to
keep more than one woman. Having one woman and all four children in one household
was cheaper.”
household comprises 3 generations totaling fourteen individuals. Miss S has ten children
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but they don’t all live at home. The household includes Miss S, her common-law
husband, two adult daughters, two adult sons, five granddaughters, and three grandsons.
The oldest daughter lives in Montego Bay but her two children live with their
grandmother, but spend the summer with her. During the week, the children sometimes
sleep at the father’s house. Miss S’s oldest son lives in Kingston with his family. The
second oldest daughter has five children, two older girls and a boy with the same father,
and two younger children with another male who now resides in England. The youngest
daughter has one son of her own and is in a visiting relationship with the father of the
child who lives in Accompong. The males do not have any children yet, but are in
and sometimes are gone for periods of three weeks or more. While Miss S is the head of
household, the daughters take care of their own children. However, Miss S would
verbally discipline the children from time to time. As Miss S continues to age, the oldest
daughter at home is taking on more responsibilities and it is more than likely that she will
Miss S does all the cooking and shares the food to the males first, followed by the
children and then the women. She does the laundry for herself and her common-law
husband. Each of Miss S’ children does his/her own laundry and the grandchildren help
with the chores such as mopping and shining shoes. The girls mop the house, and
sometimes do the dishes while the boys clean the shoes. Both girls and boys tend their
goats obtained through the 4-H Program at school. Seven years later, the boys had left
school and were farmers. Miss S owns the property and her common-law husband (of
maroon heritage) had moved to Accompong from another community. In this house,
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money is coming in from all the children living at home, and from the older daughter
living in Montego Bay, and two of the children’s father who lived in England. Miss S
In Miss S’s case, the young adult males are home, but in other cases where their
parents are not in Accompong, the younger men are more likely to sleep with their
friends from time to time or stay at the houses of older, ailing single men in order to
ensure their safety. Older single men never go to the houses of younger men to sleep
Remittances play a big role in the everyday life of the individuals. Money is used
to buy clothing, school books, for payment of bills and to buy groceries. Remittances also
chapter, and later here. The daughter who lives in Montego Bay sends money and clothes
for her children and the father makes contributions when he is able to. The other
children’s father is living in England send remittances from time to time. Individuals
were rather reluctant to divulge the amount of remittances they received as they could
Born in 1938, Miss S, along with her first four children, stayed with her parents.
The other female siblings also remained at home. After Miss S’s mother died, her father
migrated to England and the eight other siblings also migrated. Eventually, Miss S’s
common law husband moved in and the couple had six more children. Her first four
children were each with a different male and the children carry the surnames of their
fathers.
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Miss S later moved into a house that was constructed next door to the house of her
parents and eventually the parents’ home was rebuilt from remittances sent home by the
father and other siblings. The house was a two-storey cement house, unlike the older
house that was one storey as described earlier in the economics chapter. Although this
situation sounds like family cooperation, it is fraught with conflict. The father returned
home after about 30 years and lived in the new house he built with help from the
daughters and their spouses. Ownership of the new home is constantly being challenged
by one of the daughter’s spouses who makes period visits and contributes to the general
maintenance. To compound the family dynamics, the father remarried a woman with
Another household is that of Mr. and Mrs. E. Mrs. E had eight adult children. (See
genealogy I, page 177) Of these eight, six have migrated to local surrounding
communities to support their parents. Mr. E is blind, suffers from hypertension and has
limited mobility. The remaining son does the farming along with his mother, while the
daughter takes care of both parents. In effect, the daughter has become the head of the
household.
Mrs. E. owns 25 acres of land inherited from her parents. Only one of her siblings
remained in the village and lives next door to her, sharing resources. They both live in a
single-storey wooden house. In addition, Mrs. E’s husband also has land he inherited
from his parents. Mrs. E, her sibling and her husband were all born in the late 1930s and
inherited land from their parents. All of Mr. E’s siblings are deceased.
The third household is that of Mr. John Wright (genealogy III), son of Colonel
Martin Luther Wright, John’s grandfather, Henry Ezekiel Wright and granduncle, Robert
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J. Wright were colonels, and his lineage is traced back to the 1800s. (See genealogy II,
page 178) This family has had tracts of land amounting to more than 100 acres going
back to the late 1800s. John lives alone since his father died a few years ago and his
John’s two brothers and their spouses live in the United States, another brother
live in Jamaica, while the sister and her family lives in Canada. John had migrated earlier
to Kingston, but later returned home. His nieces and nephews were born outside of
Accompong where their parents are residing. This migration pattern predates the 1960s,
indicating that out migration is not new, and that there was the economic means to
Mitchell (1991) and Cohen (2004) argued that families that are better off are the
ones most engaged in out migration. Poor families are not likely to migrate. If they do,
they migrate locally. One example of local migration is that of Dee. Dee left Accompong
at 18 years of age and went to Goshen in South Manchester, Jamaica where she was a
dressmaker. There, she was abused, so she left and went to Pepper. From Pepper, she
went to Prospect, where she continued making dresses and had a child with a non-
Maroon. While in Prospect, Dee had two more children with another non-Maroon.
During the fifteen years since she left Accompong, Dee’s mother died and left the
property for the first grandchild. This allowed Dee to return home with the three children.
At home, she has a house and land on which to farm and support her family since she
receives very little financial support from the children’s fathers. Recently, she set up a
small grocery store to supplement her farming income since income from dressmaking is
sporadic.
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Households of the colonels and those of the political administration resemble the
rest of the population. For example, one colonel lives with his wife. However, they both
have an adult child from previous relationships, each of whom lives independently of
them. The two adult children both have three children, each with a different male. Until
his death in early 2001, another colonel lived with his youngest son—this son now lives
alone, or sometimes shares his place with other single males. This colonel’s wife had died
several years before him and the other children migrated to the US and Canada. Another
colonel lived with his wife, son and a relative of the wife. Another previous colonel is
married with children and lives outside the village. Since many council members are
elderly, they live alone since their adult children are either dead or migrated to other
locations. For example, there were two males who were elderly and married. A few of
the older council members are legally married and did so in the 1930s after returning
Residence
St. Elizabeth; and Garlands in the parish of St. James. There are Maroons in the urban
areas of Kingston and Montego Bay. Maroons are also found in the United Kingdom,
United States and Canada. Polling Stations are set up in the Jamaican locations for
election of a new colonel going back to 1957 when voting replaced life term colonels. On
treaty day, Maroons come back to celebrate and the full-blooded males can cook food for
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the ancestors. The abeng blower goes to some of the nearby communities such as
Aberdeen, Whitehall, Windsor and Elderslie to blow the abeng whenever there is a death.
However, the Maroons are buried in the location where they were living before death.
Maroons living overseas do not vote for colonel although more recently they were
At the individual level, the majority of females remain at home with their
offspring before they move into their own homes later in life. Some males remain
at home, but most reside as single males, or several sharing a home. Children are
There are also a few non-Maroons living in Accompong Town, and “after 15
years, they are given maroon citizenship” (Smith and Cawley, 2001). However, this
privilege is not bestowed on teachers entering the village. Some non-Maroons are
entering as mates (some males and females prefer non-Maroons as partners), and others
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are those who admire the Maroons’ history. Some of these individuals purchased land in
All Maroons born in are eligible for land and ideally, land is inherited bilaterally.
Given the number of children a couple may have and the small size of the property, there
will be some children without land, once they leave. However, in the recent past,
individuals have returned home and bought land. Others that are better off hire kin to tend
their land while they are away. Therefore, the pattern of land inheritance is affected by
wealth and residence. Analysis indicates that access to land is unequal. Of the informants
interviewed, only one individual (whose father was a Maroon), who had lived outside the village
for some time, had returned to Accompong and was given 10 acres of land by a previous colonel.
As discussed previously, Miss S and her common-law husband both owned property that
the inherited from their parents. All of Miss S’ kin migrated, so she had the use of all the land for
her and her children that remained in Accompong. In the case of Dee, her children inherited the
land from their grandparents therefore she had access the land. In the third household, both Mr.
and Mrs. E inherited land from their parents. Mrs. E. had one sister who remained in Accompong
and lived next door to her and all the other siblings were either dead or had migrated, leaving the
land to both of them. As Mr. E’s siblings had all died, he inherited the land. The two children that
remain in Accompong are both from Mrs. E’s previous mates, but they have access to land from
their mother as well as their stepfather. Finally, Mr. Wright inherited land from his father, who
inherited land from his father before him. All John’s siblings migrated, leaving him all the land
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to farm. Should either of his siblings or their children return, they would have access to a portion
of the land. From time to time, John received money from his siblings.
Additionally, land is acquired through sales and as compensation for sponsoring funeral
costs. For example, two informants inherited land after sponsoring the funeral expenses
of a relative or friend. One individual inherited 15 acres and the other inherited a house
from one individual and a shop from another. The father of the first individual also
In some cases where a woman holding a large tract of land marries a man who
also has considerable land measuring 25 or more acres, the woman’s land is passed down
to the grandchild of her choice while the property of the husband passes on to the
household’s children. Two informants inherited land from their fathers as well as their
grandmother. One individual owned 70 acres of land and from time to time allowed kin
the farm on certain sections of his land. In cases where a child was accepted by a male
other than the biological father, that child inherits the property of the pater. During the
late 1930s when men were going off to war, their land was bequeathed to the child they
adopted. In two other cases, mother’s brother passed on his land to the sister’s child since
they themselves did not have any other kin. This pattern of inheritance results in unequal
distribution of land even for those who stay behind, but it also preserves the land holding
of the family since it prevents fragmentation. It also reveals that all descendants were not
As a result of all these factors, - (the low productivity of the land, a pattern of
unequal inheritance among large numbers of siblings, and the requirement of residence
despite much migration,) - there are a few cases where, there are no next of kin residing
in the village, the house and land have simply remained there unclaimed, and many more
cases of women and men who have no access to land and are renting, or squatting.
Take the case of Jim Brown (not his real name): He has four brothers and they all
inherited the 10 acres of land equally from their parents. Two of the brothers migrated
about 15 years ago to England, and the third brother five years ago. Jim himself left
Accompong seeking employment in Montego Bay, while the youngest brother remained
at home farming the land. After a few years, since he was unsuccessful in keeping a job,
Jim returned to Accompong without any capital. Upon his return, Jim had no house. The
property inherited from their parents was in the possession of his youngest brother and
his common-law wife, effectively ultimogeniture. Since Jim had no economic resources,
he ended up renting a shack owned by someone else for whom he is farming, and does
odd jobs around the village, including cooking for public events for other better off
relatives. In addition, Jim has two sons, eight and ten, to care for and who live alternately
with their grandmother and with him. Jim is waiting for his other brothers to send him
money so he too can migrate to England. Jim’s is not an isolated case. There are a
number of single men in this position. Ultimately, Jim’s children will inherit land from
him, and their mothers. Who eventually live on the property will depend on who remains
in Accompong. The migration pattern of Jim’s family mirrors that of other families,
resulting in only one or two individuals remaining to work the land, and in turn this
All the traditional healers’ roles are inherited through kinship. These include the
herbalists, obeah practitioners, midwives and bone setter, all involved in the earlier
village political system. However, the practice of traditional healing is falling by the
wayside as few of the younger generations are engaged in learning the practice.
of the healers such as the Chambers and Reids are closely related. While all the healers
are descendants of healers, they often described their ‘healing gift’ as acquired from God,
through a dream or vision. Science man ‘Jaffet’ Chambers described his healing lineage
to me, as well as how a vision led him to an important healing tool. “I got a vision one
night to go to Ole Town from Nanny. There, I found this crystal ball. I had it for nine
days when it light up like a bulb. I use the vision to heal people - look after people all
over the world. My father, uncle and great-grand uncle were herbalists...I learned from
my father” (James ‘Jaffet’ Chambers, 2001). Herbalists not only possess a healing gift,
but must know the properties of the herbs used for healing, and when to harvest the herb
Carlton Smith, an herbalist and adult leader of the Accompong Youth Group
shared a similar history of visions: “I was spiritual very early - had visions, but I did not
follow up on it. At fourteen, I could not sleep - I had a dream. Later that day, I left
Kingston for Manchester. There, I held my uncle’s hand who said I had come too late.
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Shortly after my uncle passed away” (Carlton Smith, 2001). Smith’s father, grandmother
and great-grand mother were healers. His great-grandmother was also a midwife.
The midwife, Constantia Foster did not receive her gift through a dream, but she
does dream when a woman is pregnant. That way, she is able to assist the woman very
early in the pregnancy. Ms. Foster’s mother, with whom she apprenticed, was also a
midwife. However, none of Ms. Foster’s daughters were apprenticing under her. The
other midwives have died without apprentices as well. Midwives are being replaced by
clinic records revealed that from 1989 to 2001 only three babies were delivered by the
local midwife in Accompong. Currently, there are currently no young women apprenticed
to the one midwife remaining active. Traditional Maroon midwifery may well fall by the
wayside on the road to modernity since kinship links can no longer provide a sure
channel for transmitting traditional knowledge and continuing the healing practices.
In the more extended segment quoted below from an interview with Adrian
observation and instruction, and divine dispensation in his assumption of the role of
healer.
My father had an accident in St. James and broke his leg. He went
to Montego Bay Hospital. For three weeks he could not walk. He broke
his leg again and reset it. I watch him as he took a long board and
measured from ankle to knee and clamped together the pieces,-back, front,
and two sides. He wrapped it with long pieces of cloth...kept moist with
cane vinegar with herbs. He kept cloth moist until foot healed as normal.
God who gave me the gift. (Adrian Foster 2001)
Adrian Foster, who was in his eighties, died recently and there is no one in line to
replace him.
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Kinship is also the basis for recruitment to the leadership roles in the various
groups. Only a few Maroons are able to complete higher education and return to a
teaching job within the community. Members of the families of past Colonels have been
pursuing education and assuming leadership within Accompong’s schools for some time.
The schools are currently under the leadership of members of the Cawley and Rowe
Harris Cawley’s father, Colonel Thomas J. Cawley, was closely related to the
United Church in 1938 and no doubt this relationship aided his son’s access to higher
education. Cawley holds several certificates in teacher training and theological training.
Cawley was a teacher in the elementary school before becoming its vice principal in
1982. Cawley was also the principal of the Basic School for a while before retiring due
to poor health. “I taught for about 30 years at the Basic School. While I was teaching, I
served at the United Church. During my period of service, I took seminars and various
courses until I was commissioned to become a pastor five years ago. In 1995, I retired
from teaching due to poor health and vision” (Harris Cawley, July 15, 2001). A relative
of Cawley’s wife who lives with them was also pursuing a degree at that time. Cawley’s
wife, the principal of the Basic School, was pursuing a BA in 2001 while her son was
studying for a science and technology degree. It must be emphasized how exceptional
Accompong Maroon children do not complete middle school and, even if they do, fewer
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still surmount the competitive national examination that could gain them admission into
one of the regional high schools to which they would then have to commute by bus.
Mr. Garth Rowe, the great-grandson of Colonel H. A. Rowe, as well as being the
scout master and middle school teacher, is clearly the choice for principal once the
There is one exception to this pattern of kinship ties to past colonels: Mr. Garth
Chambers. Chambers is the son of an obeah man and is not affiliated with the United
Church. Chambers was the acting principal of the Basic School during the period of my
fieldwork. He is a trained teacher, but must earn another CXC (Caribbean Examination
members of the families of past colonels ineligible for these roles. The younger
generation of the Wright and Peddie families lives away from the village or lack
leadership potential. Two of Colonel Martin Luther Wright’s sons live in the US and
Canada, respectively, and the one remaining in the community does not have the
education necessary to enter the educational system in a leadership role. Colonel Peddie
has only one daughter. She lives outside the community and possesses neither the
education nor character for a leadership role in the school system. As the case of Garth
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Chambers shows, while kinship resources have facilitated access to higher education and
educational leadership roles for some members of Accompong’s elite families, their
effects are countered by the importance of innate intellectual and leadership potential and
the fact that access to credentials recognized by the state does not itself depend upon a
Maroon colonels and their administrations as laid out on pages 219 - 220. There is a gap
between 1750 and 1870 but after 1870 it is pretty much continuous up to the present.
Cooper had a list of Accompong Town’s residents dared 1915-16. When one examines
this list, the recurrence of a small group of family surnames among colonels and village
administrators is clearly evident. Upon closer examination the kinship links among men
who have held the position of colonel since the 1870s become particularly striking.
First, let’s examine the Rowes: Henry D. Rowe was Colonel in the 1870s. In
1920, Henry Augustus Rowe was colonel, although we do not know what the relationship
between the two was. Esaso Rowe, a lieutenant under Colonel Henry Augustus Rowe
was also this colonel’s brother. Mann O. Rowe was also Henry Augustus Rowe’s brother
and later went on to declare himself Colonel in 1951. Edgar Rowe, a cousin of Colonel
Henry Augustus Rowe, joined the council assembled by Colonel Thomas Cawley (1938.)
Colonel Meredith Rowe (1993 – 1998) is the son of Mann O. Rowe, Colonel Sidney
Peddie (2001 – present) is the son of one of Henry Augustus Rowe’s sisters. In August
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2009, Norma Rowe Edwards ran for colonel. As the runner up in this election, she
When we turn to the Wrights, we see that Robert J. Wright was Colonel in 1896
following Henry D. Rowe. Robert J. Wright then was followed by his brother, Henry
Ezekiel Wright, who was Colonel from 1896 until 1920 (see genealogy chart II). Henry
Ezekiel Wright’s son, Martin Luther Wright, would become Colonel from 1967 to 1982
and then again from 1987 to 1993 (See genealogy II and III). There were also Wrights
An apparent exception that may prove the rule is the case of Isaac Miles, whose
tenure as Colonel remains controversial. Some Maroons maintain that he was never a
Colonel at all, while others state that he was a Colonel briefly in 1944, but only for two
weeks as he was not a Maroon. However, letters to the colonial secretary indicated that
Miles was colonel in 1897. In April of 1905, he was taken into custody for selling spirits,
practicing obeah, and assaulting an officer. Miles’s case was heard in Black River where
the case of obeah was dropped as the Acting Inspector General had no knowledge of
obeah. However, Miles was charged with selling spirits which was contraband at the
time. According Cooper’s notes, Miles was no longer alive in 1938, but he was listed as
Despite, the confusions as to when Miles served, Miles had connections: He was
the common-law husband of the daughter of a later colonel, Henry Ezekiel Wright. He
However, a quasi-kinship apprenticeship relation was not the same as the consanguinal
tie that legitimated succession in that era, nor was consensual cohabitation the same as a
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legal marriage. The Wright family may have favored Isaac Miles as Robert Wright’s
successor, and may even have been able to get him into office, but they couldn’t keep
him there very long once challenges to Miles’ legitimacy came up. In short order Isaac
Miles was forced out of office in favor of someone with a more legitimate claim: Henry
Ezekiel Wright.
When interviewed by the celebrated writer Morley Roberts Cole for the Gleaner
in 1927, Colonel Henry A. Rowe traced his lineage back to Accompong, showing how
the Rowes and the Wrights were closely related, and outlined his expectation of the
continuity of their rule into the future. Genealogy II (page 178) demonstrates the close
relationship between Rowe and Wright, who were two siblings, but different father.
Cole writes:
The genealogies I collected show that the Wrights and the Rowes are related, but
there is no way of tracing either of these families back to Accompong. Cole linked the
descent of the colonel to a Koromantyn system of matriarchy. “It must be noted that the
descent through these women counted. This suggests, I think, some curious system of
The year 1938 introduces a new family name into the succession of Colonels:
Cawley. By that point there had already been several years of dissatisfaction and conflict
with the previous administration and several factions were poised to take control. Colonel
Henry A. Rowe himself at resigned earlier in the year, but argued that no one would take
up the office as they could not read, nor even spell “Gleaner”, the newspaper of the time.
A 1938 article from the Jamaica Daily Gleaner reporting on this, describes one of the
factions, also names one of the conflicts, a land dispute. “A rival group led by Mother
Cawley, who is bedridden and her son James [Thomas] Cawley, seeking the honour, of
the colonelship, has for years been gaining popular favour, but their position was not
strong enough to demand an abdication, so they seized upon this disputable land as a
means of forcing one”(Gleaner, August 19, 1938). Thomas J. Cawley eventually did
force the reigning Colonel, Henry Augustus Rowe, to abdicate and became Colonel
himself in 1938 but it is instructive to examine why it is that Mother Cawley and Thomas
Although the Cawley family name is a new one among the succession of
Colonels, Thomas J. Cawley did not appear on the scene without important ‘cultural
capital’. First, T.J. Cawley’s mother was from the Wright family; his surname came from
his mother’s marriage to a non-Maroon. T.J. Cawley was also known as Thomas Crosse
Cawley. Crosse is a high status family name, too, and the Crosses had for several
generations intermarried with both the Wright and the Rowe families. To a certain extent
then, what the Gleaner reported upon were factions within the network of ruling elite
families as opposed to factions between elites and nonelite groups. The complicating
factor was, despite significant family links that T.J. Cawley had to the ruling elites
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through his mother, he did not have full blooded Maroon ancestry on both sides. As we
will see later, T.J. Cawley‘s seizure of power and the legitimization of it ultimately
administration in the 1920s and colonel in 1963. Walter Robinson’s son, Rupert, who
made several electoral bids for the office of Colonel but was never elected, was deputy
colonel under several Colonels. One author, Bev Carey, contends that Rupert Robinson is
the great grandson of Colonel H. A. Rowe (Carey 1997:359.) If this were so, it would
indicate that Walter Robinson could be within the Rowe family line also; and that, even
under their electoral system, kinship still controls access to the office of colonel by
restricting the range of viable candidates for election to males who can trace consanguine
Still another name that initially does not appear to have family links to the
1957 and was the first Colonel to be elected to the office as opposed to inheriting it.
There are no records that connect him consanguineally to the either of the elite families.
lines are that of the Fosters, a very old family line going back to the late 1880s. Williams
lived outside the village but the village residents were fed up with the old guard, and
The position of colonel, then, has been occupied by males who could trace
consanguinal ties on one or both sides to one or more of the elite families that had held
the position before. Within the pool of eligible males birth order is irrelevant but it is
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clear also that consanguineal kin ties are not enough by themselves to secure the position.
Prior to 1938, many of the colonels and the members of their political administrations
were also the major ancestral religious practitioners and obeah men, roles that conferred
prestige and authority of their own and, as we shall see, also tended to be transmitted
down family lines. For reigning colonels it is the character of each of his sons or other
male relatives of the succeeding generation that ultimately determines whether or not one
of them will be able to contend for the Colonel‘s position. Beyond this, the majority of
colonels have spent considerable time outside of Accompong before taking office and
this contact with the wider world beyond the village is a source of prestige that grants a
candidate ‘cultural capital’ that is important in the competition for the colonel’s post. The
colonel needs the ability to negotiate with the government and with foreign dignitaries,
experience that can only be gained outside the village. While the colonel gains prestige
and is assumed to possess valuable knowledge through his past contact with the world
None of the contributing attributes discussed above overwhelms the force of the
kinship tie; they merely add criteria for selecting among the males who are eligible
because they possess it. The present colonel, for example, lived in England for about 30
years, and had only recently returned to Jamaica, when he was solicited for the post and
convinced to run for election. Despite the fact that he had been abroad for thirty years,
and did know what had been occurring in the community all that time, the greatest
objection to his candidacy was the fact the he chose not to reside in Accompong when he
returned and was not living there at the time of his election campaign. The most
significant mitigating factors working in favor of his being elected to serve were the fact
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that he is the grandson of past Colonel R. A. Rowe, and that he is also married to a Rowe.
To cite another recent example, some Maroons have approached one of Martin Luther
Wright’s sons to return from the United States in order to undertake the position of
Colonel. That such an agreement is more than likely to create the same problems the
community is now faced with under the present Colonel Peddie does not appear to be
consequence of migration. For example, Captain Halliday was in office between 1920
through 1938. Halliday himself had migrated to Cuba and Panama, but returned in the
1920s. His father was also a captain in 1897. On Halliday’s death in 1938, his two sisters
had married out and were residing in Kingston, and the whereabouts of his daughters are
unknown.
Not all of Accompong’s political offices are so closely tied to kin relations or to
the village‘s elite families. In addition to the offices of the colonel and the council,
Federal House of Assembly and the judicial system. Although past colonels have been
part of the membership of the Council of Elders and the Federal House of Assembly,
access to these positions does not seem to be controlled by kinship ties. Nonetheless, it is
through the strategic use of kin relations, and the accumulation of locally significant
‘cultural capital,’ that Accompong’s elite families have been able to maintain a hold on
village’s dominant positions of power for the past hundred and forty years.
Accompong Political Administration 1895 B 1920 James A. Briam, Captain
N. Anderson, Captain
1739 - 1750 Cudjoe, Colonel Isaac Miles, Captain
James Wright, Lieutenant
1750 Accompong, Colonel Thomas Rowe, Sergeant
Robert Watson, Private
Austin, Colonel John Gillett, Private
White, Colonel Isaac Peddie, Private
George Gullier, Constable
1870 H. O. Rowe, Colonel Jhos Collie, Constable
Robert James McLeod
1920 B 1938 Henry Augustus Rowe, Colonel
1878 Foster, Major Walter James Robertson, Major
J. C. Halliday, Captain
Dec. 1896 Robert J. Wright, Colonel Esaso Rowe, Lieutenant; 12 Constables
1967 - - 1982 Martell (Martin Luther) Wright, Colonel 2001 Avis Rowe, Secretary and Minister of Health
(3 terms) Sylvia Salmon, Minister of Health
Clifford Foster, Minister of Religion
1982 B 1987 Harris N. Cawley, Colonel Hutchinson, Officer
Samuel Anderson, Deputy Colonel Ornel Rowe, Officer
Man O. Rowe, Secretary of State and Historian
1987 B 1993 Martin Luther Wright, Colonel
2005 B 2007 Sidney Peddie, Colonel
1993 Harris N. Cawley, Colonel Harris N. Cawley, Deputy Colonel
1993 B 1998 Meridith (Meredie) Rowe, Colonel 2009 Ferron Williams, Colonel
Norma Rowe Edwards, Deputy Colonel
1998 B 2005 Sidney Peddie, Colonel
Rupert Robertson, Deputy Colonel
Summary
This analysis of the kinship and household of Accompong highlights the existing
emic and etic perspective on endogamy and marriages. Accompong Maroons view non-
legal cohabitation as marriage. The lack of an economic infrastructure results in high rate
of migration similar to the Guyanese and Suriname Maroons, which ultimately affects the
kinship and household structure as the group practice exogamous relationships and those
Maroons is linked to their female ancestors who escaped slavery as opposed to migration.
In Accompong, migrants are both males and females, with and without familial
responsibilities and the bonds between individuals remain intact for some families with
return migration, remittances and visits. Consanguinity and kinship are important for
political office.
Mating patterns are complex, and this no doubt, adds to the factionalism among
the colonels. The adoption of children and naming patterns further adds to the complexity
of family dynamics. For Maroons, consanguinity is important and the group follows the
‘one drop rule’ in determining who is and is not a Maroon. The number of legal
marriages is low, and marriages usually occur late in life when a male has acquired the
means to build a house for his wife, and desires to ‘make things right with God’ before
death. Overall, the majority of Maroons live outside the state’s legal system where births,
marriages and deaths are recorded for less than 10% of the population. Women are still
entering the community as mates at higher numbers than males are entering. Maroon
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males are also having children with non-Maroon females outside the village. Males who
enter tend to be better off than the average Maroon male, providing them some type of
security and therefore making them more attractive than poorer Maroon males. Some
males assume parental responsibility for their offspring while others do not. Overall, the
mother-child bond is an important one. Other males go the additional lengths to take on
the responsibility of children that are not their own. There is a clear hierarchy of kinship
in the community with women choosing the pater of a child and passing on the family
name.
particular kinship lines throughout the history of the community despite interruption
between 1938 and 1957 and change from inheritance to election. However, this is
changing with migration and death of the older generations where indigenous knowledge
is lost. Attempts to ensure the passage of knowledge from one generation to the other
have failed as laid out in the following chapter. Individuals in political office also have
access to higher education, and in turn have taken administrative and teaching in the
educational domain.
household age and their roles change. For example, a young male may be engaged in
relationship. Similarly, a female may live at home with her children until she moves into
her own house with a male partner, or remain at home through the death of her own
parents and then becomes the head of household. Children circulate between kin
households. Young men earning a steady income are more likely to be in a stable, long
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term relationship as opposed to single males with limited financial means. Some
village. However, it could become more pronounced as there are a few women who are
having children with the white Americans coming in and building the guesthouses.
Christianity and assimilation was rejected by the South American Maroons well
into the 20th century as opposed to the Accompong Maroons where Christianity was
present in the early 19th century. Hence, there are more African survivals such as names
and African religions among the South American Maroons. And Christian ministers
pushed for legal unions among the Accompong Maroons. I conclude that the South
American Maroons are more African in their kinship practices than the Accompong
Maroons.
Chapter VI
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Introduction
groups, formal and informal, that provide the community “some hierarchic patterns of
integration” (Smith 1956:309), and improve welfare. These groups are: Senior Citizens’
Group, Healers’ Group, Cultural Group, Tour Guide Group, and Youth Group along with
the national system that molds people, first as students later as citizens and finally as
potential leaders. Such a system may either transmute or perpetuate a status quo. These
schools are Jamaican government schools, and as such, act to perpetuate the social
stratification of the country and the community and can be found in Moore Town and
children are enculturated into a state system that takes no account of their “differential
status,” something that suggests that their “difference” may be best analyzed in terms of
The other informal groups are social in nature with an economic component.
Membership in some of these groups is determined by a “gift” from God inherited from
parents, while in others are voluntary. Membership in the voluntary groups tends to
overlap. Some of the groups described here are recent parts of Accompong Town’s social
and international agencies. The formation of these groups by outside agencies again
highlights the dependency of the Accompong Maroons. All the organizations serve to
improve the welfare and standard of living of the community. These groups have a
president, treasurer and a secretary and minutes are recorded. The leadership of each
deal in survival value. Some of them seem to go through continuous successions of death
and re-birth without any increase of effectiveness. Attendance is also often depressingly
low.” (Smith 1956:305) His description is similar to what I found. The majority of the
groups with the exception of the schools were formed in response to specific projects and
have long since fallen apart. Attendance is low, and meetings often poorly attended.
Community Council, and one or two special craft or project groups linked
in with the welfare agency…
In Accompong, one of the Maroon teachers headed the scouts, and the Parent-
Teachers’ Association while the school ran the 4-H program. The last Welfare Office
stationed in the village died in 1957 shortly after the first election of a colonel. The
colonel’s wife keeps a very low profile in the village and is not involved in any of the
organizations or church. The Cultural Group and the Healers’ Group was forged as a
First, I will examine the social stratification of the village, and followed by the
groups that through which individuals are able to become socially mobile. The groups
are: Senior Citizens’ Group, Healers’ Group, Cultural Group, Tour Guide Group, Youth
Group. No one has examined the social groups of Accompong. Similarly, there are no
comparable data on the formal and informal organizations of South American Maroons.
However, we do know that their schools are all run by religious organizations and do not
Social Stratification
These include the following: kinship system, the political system with historical
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succession to the political office of colonel; familial concentration of other offices in the
kinship and various social groups and the educational system; socio-economic strata
based on occupation, income, ‘cultural capital’, foodways, wealth, access to land, and the
house furnishings; and the religious institutions--formal and informal. What is significant
is that all these measures reinforce each other strongly, and reveal an obvious and
longstanding pattern of stratification in a community where one would not expect to find
Dunham’s (1946) study was the only to give a fleeting glimpse of the
stratification of the village. From her we learn that “the colonel lives just outside the
village, on his own personal property. This, I believe, gives him a slight feeling of
superiority. He is a Rowe, and the Rowes have held chieftain more than once, and have
always been a little more acquainted with the outside world than the rest of the Maroons”
(Dunham 1946:7).
of stratification and segmentation...in class and wealth variables and power and
influence.” Four sectors are identified in the Accompong, —a small public sector, a petty
commodity sector made up of small farmers, another consisting of petty traders with
In Accompong, the top stratum has wealth, symbolic power and influence within
the village as they control political, educational and religious offices. These individuals
are the colonels and their immediate family members. Those in the educational system
are paid by the state, and earn additional income from farming, and have access to
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additional goods through the religious institution and political affiliations. Members of
this stratum have several family members living abroad, and they themselves have
travelled abroad. These positions are maintained through control of access to land and
political office, out-migration to increase wealth, and prestige and what Bourdieu (1984)
copy of the treaty, and an amicable relationship with the Jamaican head of state, or other
outsiders, such as university professors and researchers. Few researchers discuss their
relationship with their research subjects in terms of the financial benefits they provide.
Accompong Maroons rely on the researcher for additional income long after the period of
study to pay for funerals. Having “foreign” money provides families with additional
“cultural capital” and influence. Wealth is acquired from jobs held during the period of
migration. An individual with 25 acres or more of land who has not spent at least ten
years outside the village in steady occupation is worse off than an individual with the
same amount of land who accumulated a savings while working outside the village.
Smith (1956) noted that head teachers “exercises a virtual monopoly of these
advisory functions with respect to the needs of the citizens…The teacher’s area of power
therefore spreads outward from the school to different levels of community life, both
formally through the associations, and informally through his personal influence and
knowledge”(Smith 1956:308). In Accompong, the head teacher was an outsider, and the
local Justice of the Peace. She did not participate in any of the groups; however, her
mortuary obligations, meal patterns, food preparation, cooking methods, where food is
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consumed, as well as the securing and storing of food. Families in the top segment of the
village are able to cook indoors on gas cookers and store their food in refrigerators. They
are also able to purchase food outside of the village on a weekly basis as opposed to the
meal-by-meal basis of those in the lower segment. Those in the middle maintain the old
fire hearth that they revert to when money is not available to replace the gas for the stove.
In the kinship system, a distinction is made between pater and genitor, which
exclude males from lower income brackets access to their offspring via a woman’s de
facto ability to choose a higher-status surname for her baby. The families producing the
colonels sometimes have children with each other. See genealogy II, page 178 where we
In the late 1930s, the colonels and their kinsmen continued to control access to
land, and controlled the means of production in they held the contract with colonial
government to cut timber, owned the few shops and collected taxes from the villagers.
The colonels also owned the three mills that were used to press sugar cane and charging a
fee for its use. During WWII, some Maroons traveled to England and served in the
teachers and administrators), minister of religion, retired returnees, and they control non-
governmental aid, earnings from land sale and leases, tourism, earn income from farming
and the sale of goods and services. The previous colonel had a pension from a former
British working class job. (A working class pension from Britain goes a long way in
Accompong.) The present colonel is a police detective and lives outside of Accompong.
The men and women in the top tier of the socio-economic stratum hire younger kinsmen
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to oversee their farms. Members in these groups are successful farmers. The colonel, like
other Maroon colonels in Suriname and Guyana, still continues to earn a stipend from the
that are better off send their children to the US, England and Canada where they are able
to further accumulate capital and return home upon retirement, continuing the cycle.
Although return migrants are bringing in money, there is little or no trickling down
economics. The elite use the concept of kinship to exploit the labor of the poor who are
paid with food and/or used clothing along with the promise of money depending on the
income from Treaty Day celebration in January. The result is a group that remains in
power, displaying their new found wealth, with the lower classes never able to achieve
any capital.
The second stratum has wealth, and little local power and influence. Some of
these individuals are engaged in the social groups, formal and informal. Others in this
group were older men who are retired, and set up shop with kinfolks engaged in the day
to day running of the business. They also have farms being worked by kinfolks. Because
of age, and limited mobility, these individuals are not engaged in the public life of the
village. However, they control credit and local employment opportunities. Other
individuals are successful farmers who may or may not be involved in the production of
illegal cash crops, teachers, healers, construction workers, painters, loggers, rope makers,
The third stratum is engaged in farming and odd jobs from time to time. Some
members at this level have a very tenuous hold on their position. As discussed earlier in
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the economic chapter, this group maintains outdoor cooking areas as they do not always
Those involved in the growing of illegal cash crops offer wage labor and their
own wealth is rapidly increasing. Although their wealth is increasing, their income is
subjected to periodic loss when the crops are destroyed by the Jamaican militia. As early
as 1956, Maroons have been growing marijuana and on March 19th, 1956, Man O Rowe
was charged with having “three and one-half sacks, in a carton, and in two paper parcels,
and as well, ganja seeds” (The Jamaica Law Report 1956-60). (Man O Rowe was one of
the self declared colonels during the period of 1938-1957, and later declared himself
“Secretary of State”.) In March 1964, a reporter from the Gleaner was told that the
village used to plant marijuana. Although the crops have been grown over the past 50
plus years, the income has fluctuated. The successful young men in this category flaunt
their newfound wealth through conspicuous consumption and are not interested in
The fourth and poorest stratum may or may not be engaged in farming; some are
shopkeepers and are engaged in other low end jobs. Some in this group have no access to
land since the land they inherited can no longer be divided to support the number of
children there are, or work the farm of an absentee owner, or absentee shop owner. There
are even a few individuals who are homeless. With the recent increase in land sales and
leases, it is more than likely that the level of homelessness will increase. Men are more
visibly homeless and landless than women, since women may continue to live at home
with their parents for a long time. Some shopkeepers live in a small room that is a part of
the shop, or of the house of an absentee owner. Men in this group have no access to any
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children they may have sired. Although access to land is based on an ideology of
communal land tenure, as demonstrated earlier, in practice not everyone has access to
land.
As an example of the economic extremes separating the top and bottom tiers, is
demonstrated in the architectural style of the home along with furnishings and the
foodways. The new homes constructed from cement all belong to individuals in the first
and second strata while those in the third own the older, wooden structures.
mobility. However, very few have access to education beyond the elementary level
because of its high cost. In order to pursue higher education, one must leave the village.
Once the educational training is completed, there are very few jobs to return to in
Accompong as was the case with two previous colonels. Their kinfolks have been
Younger adult men with cash are able to command more and better labor than the few
older farmers who still depend upon traditional labor arrangements or are able to recruit
labor only from within their households. For younger Maroons with minimal education
the picture looks pretty bleak at this point. Income earned from subsistence agriculture is
insufficient for them to support themselves while Accompong remains on the periphery
of the periphery of the world market. This is a worldwide phenomenon that results in
mass migration.
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Education
Accompong’s schools are the same as those of the other Jamaican Maroon
communities and part of the larger Jamaican educational system administered by the
government since the 1820s and does not represent resistance to the colonial
administration. The Jamaican educational system is patterned after the British system,
although there have been some changes in the last ten years.
In the late 1930s Dunham noted: “After Acomin= out@of school, the average
Maroon young boy will enjoy several years of apprenticeship. This means that he will
continue to help his mother carry bananas, sugar cane, and ginger to market”(Dunham
1940:121).
Education in Jamaica is available at four levels-- the basic level which consists of
nursery school, pre-K and kindergarten, the primary level that includes grades one
through six with an agricultural component through the 4-H program that teaches life
skills. The third educational level may be called the All Age School, where the students
are in grades 7 through 9. And the fourth level is secondary school. There are various
types of secondary schools: comprehensive high schools, private schools, trade and
vocational training schools, and technical high schools. In the intermediate level, there is
traditional high school or sixth form (grade twelve and thirteen) which prepares one for
agriculture, science and technology, a theological college, schools of nursing, and schools
Economic means and examination results determine a route from one level to
examinations govern the transitions from the primary to secondary, and secondary to
tertiary levels. Strong academic high schools have high prestige and provide a direct
The Jamaican Constitution does not recognize a separation between church and
state, so all Accompong schools, while government-funded, are affiliated with the United
Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman and most of the schoolteachers are members of
this church as well. In Accompong, there are three schools: the Basic School,
Accompong Primary School, and the Junior High School. The Basic School comprises
pre-K and kindergarten levels; the primary and junior high school are elementary schools.
These schools are not different, however much they want to be, from other schools in
neighboring communities and their teachers receive the same state-mandated training as
other Jamaican teachers. The curriculum is the same although it includes the role of the
Thompson (1938) noted that a school was present in Moore Town in the late
1930s with most of the teachers of Maroon descent. Almost forty years later, in the
1970s, the school’s headmaster was Colonel C. L. G. Harris. (Cohen 1973) Colonel
Harris was headmaster for almost thirty years before he retired. The school system
consisted only of kindergarten through ninth grade. “For those children who wished to
continue their schooling, there are a variety of secondary schools available, but outside
Moore Town: High Schools; Comprehensive Schools; Technical High Schools; Trade
and Vocational Schools” (Cohen 1973:65). Presently, the town also has a middle school.
Schools among the Surinamese Maroons are also church affiliated with an
resisted the schools and Western religion for a long period of time. “The Djuka resistance
to Christianization lay at the root of the trouble which arose when the Moravian Brothers
tried to establish a Christian school (with support of the authorities). The Government put
an end to the attempt and blamed its failure of sabotage on the part of the Djukas, without
recognizing the true cause” (de Groot 1969:79). Attempts to educate the Djukas between
1935 and 1969 failed. The Djukas objected to the schools because they felt that the
children would leave the community and never return. Indeed, those who left almost
More recently, Bilby (1989) argued that the young Aluku Maroons of French
Guiana passed through the French school system having learnt only the bare minimum
Bilby also argues that the French educational system must be adapted to
meet the needs of Aluku and that Alukus fluent in both cultures must help the
others.
If the Aluku are to become full and equal participants in the larger
society of French Guiana, then policies affecting the process of integration
must give careful consideration to their special status. Most importantly,
the Aluku themselves should be educated in what is at stake, and should
have a say in how this process is to be achieved. The alternative - to
exclude them from the planning of policies that affect them, and to ignore
their cultural specificity - can only hinder integration and contribute to
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The position of the Aluku is significantly different from that of the Jamaican
Maroons. Some Jamaican Maroons have been able to complete higher education and
return to become teachers. Hence, the number of Maroon teachers has increased. In
Accompong, the only traditional system to learn is farming and the ethnomedical system.
According to Acting Principal Garth Chambers, the Basic School “first met in the
United Church before a separate building was built” (Garth Chambers, July 2, 2001).
This practice of meeting in the United Church’s building continued until only very
recently. Although the Basic School was initiated by a non-Maroon living in the village
in the late 1930s, the school’s administration is now all Maroon. According to Katherine
Dunham, Mrs. Allen, the outsider, Aopened a kindergarten for children at penny-ha=penny
a week” (Dunham 1940:122). In the 1990s, the school expanded and a pre-K section was
added in 1997. In an interview with Garth Chambers, a teacher in the Accompong school
fees and JA$20 for lunch. In addition to the fee, the children must wear
uniforms, another expense. The ages of the students range from 3 years
and 8 months, to 6 years before they graduate to the first grade. (Garth
Chambers: July 30, 2001).
In 2001 the principal of the Basic School was on leave in order to complete her
bachelor’s degree and Mr. Chambers acted in her absence. The other teacher, Darcie
Huggins, had not yet been formally trained and also served in the capacity of school
cook. In 2008, Ms. Huggins was no longer employed as an assistant teacher as she
On July 2, 2001, nine students graduated from the Basic School. The ceremony
was scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm, but began fifty minutes later. The five girls and four
boys graduating from the Basic School were going on to Accompong’s primary school.
The ceremony began with the children marching down the aisle of the United Church to
music. A boy was paired up with a girl, and one girl was on her own in the back. The
children were dressed in red robes, with yellow piping around the yoke. Mrs. Cawley,
the Mistress of Ceremonies, was most upset that the ceremonies did not start on time
C3:00 PM. As the children walked down, cameras flashed while whispers and gestures
The event began with the song APraise the Lord@, followed by reading from
Ephesians 1 and 3, then prayers. The words were read out loud in order for the audience
Mrs. Rowe, the Chairperson and teacher of the first grade, noted that the
ceremony was not a graduation because it was only the beginning of formal education.
She called on the parents to encourage the children to study and to groom them to
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become productive citizens. She said it was the duty of the parents to teach their
children.
This was followed by a recitation entitled: AA Child Learns,@ and then a song.
The graduates were joined by a few of the children who would be graduating the
following year. In her talk, manners were stressed by Mrs. Cawley. The twins Ramon
and Remon Rowe (known as Alikkle man and big man”) sang their ABC. Camesha
Colonel Peddie brought greetings to the graduates and the guests. He stressed the
importance of basic education as the cradle of any community. He said that the parents,
much more than the government, were responsible for the education of the children. He
talked about the frightening experience of a child entering school at the age of seven
years without prior school background. The colonel hoped that there were a few leaders
amongst the graduates, including a prime minister. He called for the support of the
parents, in particularly the fathers who did not show up at PTA meetings. The colonel
felt that they did not show up because they were ignorant, or that they did not want to pay
an extra $5. He continued to note that the times were changing, and that computers were
necessary to keep up with the times. The noise level increased during the colonel=s
In the colonel’s speech, we see that not only is he looking (to the class) for leaders
within the community, but also for a leader of the country, in the person of a prime
minister. This highlights and acknowledges the prime minister as the head of state, rather
Mrs. Rowe reminded the parents that basic school was a community school. She
called for contributions of fathers to school, and noted that there were only a few fathers
who attended the Basic School Committee meetings. The children then sang a song,
school made by Mrs. Rowe. The Teacher=s Report was presented by Mr. Chambers,
Acting Principal.
Basic School Graduation, July 2, 2001 (Acting Principal Garth Chambers &
Darcie Huggins along with the graduates)
In 2001, the primary and elementary school served 179 children, including
children from neighboring communities. There was one principal and nine teachers
(four of them non-Maroons from outside the community), the remaining staff of three
administrators, three watchmen; two cleaners and one cook were all Maroons.
240
community and had been there for over thirty-five years. She noted that Athe teacher-to-
teacher relationship is good and the teachers from outside the community usually stay for
a long time, rather than moving to another post@ (Mrs. Harris, 2001). With the exception
The curriculum is Jamaican and includes the role of the Maroons in the history of
the country as indicated by a chart of the curriculum hung on the wall of the classroom
science, social science, language arts, art and craft, and mathematics. The poster
examined the culture of the Maroons and included information on the foods eaten,
On one of the walls of the classroom, there were pictures of the abeng, a drawing
of Cudjoe, a copy of the treaty, the early structure of the political system, foods that
Maroons ate and key historical dates. The early structure was that of colonel, major and
captain. The following names where listed as colonels: Kojo, Accompong, Austin,
Wright, H. N. Cawley, Meridie Rowe and Sidney Peddie 1 . Foods that Maroons usually
ate included: land crab, cocoon, wild hogs, pigeons, cassava, sugar cane, yam and
1663 a full pardon and freedom from slavery was offered to the Maroons by
the English
1733 Well armed camps placed near to Maroon hide-outs.
1734 200 Indians brought over from Mosquito Coast to hunt Maroons
1
The order of colonels listed above differs from that in the socio-political chapter. Most Maroons noted
that some of the individuals listed above were not colonels.
241
During my visit to the school, I was asked by the Principal Harris to inform the
ninth grade students of the reason for my being in Accompong, and some details about
anthropology. I spoke about the four fields of anthropology, and that I was studying the
culture of the Maroons. When talking about archaeology, I used Jamaica’s Maime
Seville site as an example of the use of history to tell about the life of Africans. I also
explained about the steps necessary to study anthropology in answer to a question I was
asked.
The children wanted to know where else beside Accompong I studied. I told
them I had studied in Chiapas, Mexico. They then asked about the differences between
the Indians in Chiapas and Maroons. The teacher, Mr. Parkinson, then enquired about the
relationship between different ethnic groups of students in the university in the United
States.
speak in Spanish for them after they found I could speak Spanish. I asked if they learned
any Kromanti songs in school, or at home. A few of the children said they learnt them at
home or at a funeral.
There were nine girls and five boys in the class seated two per bench at a desk.
The girls sat next to each other and the boys likewise. There was a computer at the front,
in the left hand corner of the room where some of the children were working when the
teacher and I entered the room. The door and window is on the right side of the room.
There were charts hung up around the room. The teacher sat in the back of the classroom
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during my presentation. At the end of the presentation, one girl from the front row stood
and came up to the front of the room to thank me, and expressed the hope that there
The middle school is also home to the Aberdeen Scout Troop and membership is
open to all boys and girls, twelve years and up. In practice, however, membership is
much more limited because only a small number of students are able to purchase scout
uniforms and pay for scouting activities inside and outside the community. Children
from neighboring villages who attend school in Accompong also participate in the
scouting program. At the time of my fieldwork, the troop was led by the social studies
teacher in Accompong’s middle school, Mr. Garfield Rowe, and had an enrollment of 30
students.
There is pride and prestige attached to scouting. The scout uniform is a navy
blue skirt and blouse or navy blue pants and shirt with the scout insignia of the fleur-de-
lis worn above the right breast and an international navy blue neckerchief with red and
white piping. The scout troop meets on Wednesdays after school and on that day children
belonging to the troop wear their scout uniforms to school instead of the school uniform
shared with their schoolmates on other school days. The normal school uniform is much
The school in Accompong also has a 4-H club. The 4-H Club is an extension of
the national agricultural program through the Jamaica Agricultural Society. The 4-H club
began in the 1940s and the programs for youngsters “formed the catalyst for a new breed
time when there was constant deterioration of recreational and social amenities in rural
areas” (www.jamaica4h.com). The 4-H Club is part of the Jamaican educational system
and is open to both girls and boys. All the 4-H Club’s activities send the message that
Among other things, the 4-H Club provides students with goats and teaches them
how to care for the animals and maintain their health. The Canadian Fund began
sponsoring the 4-H Club’s goat program in 1985. Since individuals or families own only
small numbers of goats, and an even smaller number of cattle, it is possible for a family
to increase its stock of animals through their participation this program, something that
makes it very popular. During the school term, students have to bring their goats to
school for health inspections. It was quite a sight to behold the large number of children
who took their goats to school on June 14, 2001. The older goats were tied, and a child
held on to the rope, running behind the goat. In cases where the goat had kids, the kids
The cost of elementary education starts from $5000JA for fees, $1000 for rental
of books and the additional cost of uniforms, costs which limit access to education. For
those attending school outside the community, there is an additional cost for
transportation since the Jamaican government does not subsidize transportation in rural
areas. Education is out of reach for Maroons who are impoverished. In US dollars, this
amounts to $60 per year and therefore not every family can afford to send its children to
elementary school. In addition, very few continue on to tertiary level education due to
Other Levels
At the tertiary level, only a small number of students were presently pursuing
education, a total of five individuals: one female attending beauty school, and two males
and two females in college. Beyond this figure, there is no other information on the
school system. The following figures and graphs (pages 244-246) are based on data from
the 2001 Jamaican National Census. These figures include information from neighboring
villages as well as Accompong itself. From a total of 1052 individuals, forty five percent
completed the primary levels, consisting of 165 females, and 260 males. At the
secondary level, forty six percent or 222 females and 266 males completed school. The
figures also show that more males than females complete elementary school. As we
move up the educational ladder, the number of individuals pursuing higher education
decreased significantly and the number is extremely low, at one percent. At the
university level, there were three females and one male; and four females and four males
at the tertiary level. (See table 3 and figures 5 and 6) This again is a function of
stratification. Even when schooling is free – and it isn’t here – there are still opportunity
costs. Although Accompong may be poorer than other areas of rural Jamaica, in principle
Gender Pre-Primary Primary Secondary University Other Other Not None Total
Tertiary Stated
Social Groups
years of age. The group provides its members with assistance in securing social services
from the Jamaican government and sponsors and/or participates in social activities. The
leaders of Senior Citizens’ Group (i.e. its Secretary, Treasurer and President), are not
themselves seniors but are younger Council members assigned to work with the group.
Another task of the leaders is to visit the house-bound elderly. Mr. Harris, the chair of
the Senior Citizens’ group, visits the Custos of St. Elizabeth Parish and, when necessary,
goes to Kingston in order to negotiate with the social security system in order to file for
benefits for many of the members; because Maroons don’t pay taxes, or are engaged with
the state system, they are not able to receive social security.
I attended a meeting of the Senior Citizens’ Group on June 18, 2001. According
to the community’s notice board the meeting was scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm but, like
all meetings in Accompong, it did not start on time. The meeting got underway at 5:45
PM and was chaired by Mr. Barry Harris. Present were three women and four men, –
Winny Crosse Smith, Avis Rowe (a council member who recorded minutes of the
meeting), Clifford Foster, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Currie and another unidentified male and
The meeting was an emergency meeting because there was no quorum at the
previous week’s meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the group’s
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participation in the Senior Citizens’ Cultural Day event in Santa Cruz coming up on June
21. Activities planned included display of various arts and crafts, performances, along
with a Miss Golden Age beauty pageant. Chairman Harris noted that the cultural day
would include exhibits from seniors in all the towns and villages in the parish of St.
Elizabeth, and that the day’s winners would later participate in the national exhibition at
the agricultural fair in Kingston. Crafts for exhibition included: crochet, knitting,
It was noted that the scout troop would participate in the event along with the
June 21 to take the groups to Santa Cruz, free of charge. During the meeting, the chair
asked me if I had any suggestions or advice for the group. Since I was an outsider, I
declined to comment.
On the day of the trip I boarded the bus with the scout troop and the Senior
Citizens’ Group to participate in the Cultural Day activities in Santa Cruz along with
other neighboring groups. At 8:35 AM., the bus left Accompong fully loaded. During
the ride, the group sang church songs and there was drumming as well. Once at the
grounds, the day was full with events. The only break was between 1:00 and 2:15 PM for
lunch. Some of the senior citizens from Accompong had made fruit wines (ginger,
gongo, mango, rice and rose apple) and jellies to enter in the contests. At the end of the
day, the winners were announced. However, none of the Maroon women won any prize,
but they were able to sell their produce before returning home. At the senior citizen day
event, the Maroons were not treated any differently did than the groups from other
neighboring groups.
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Healers’ Group
along with three health aides. The traditional healers include a number of herbalists, a
bone setter, two midwives, and an ‘obeah’ or ‘science’ man. One of the herbalist is also
an health aides; the other two aides work with a traveling nurse’s aide who circulates
among other rural communities in the area and assists the medical teams that visit
Accompong periodically. The objective of the group was to provide education and
management in health care that would strengthen maroon traditional medical and
agricultural systems. The Healers’ Group has an economic component to it since the
sacred or secular, or a mixture of both...They share the basic cultural values and world
view of the community in which they live, including beliefs about the origin, significance
fall into the category of ‘sacred.’ Their work is closely related to Maroon ancestral cult
practices and to specialized religious or magical knowledge passed on by kin who were
M.G. Smith (1965) in writing about rural Jamaican communities noted that the
“local herbal and magical specialists enjoy a high degree of freedom from local
competition by the clergy as well as from the physicians” (Smith 1965:180). While this
is true as far as it goes, it doesn’t accurately describe a situation in which some traditional
healers have joined their competitors to some degree. The relationship between
251
traditional healers and both the clergy and biomedical practitioners in Accompong can
which have their own healing practices and practitioners, have some traditional healers
among their members. Indeed, some of the traditional healers hold high positions such as
deacon in the local Christian churches and combine Christianity with traditional healing.
Carlton Smith, for example, is a deacon of the Seventh Day Baptist Church, combines
traditional healing with Christianity and would pray over an herb before cutting and using
it. The bonesetter, Adrian Foster was also a deacon of the Seventh Day Baptist Church.
There are even traditional healers who are members of the United Church, after the 1938
cosmological break, the most highly regarded of them all. Furthermore, the Christian
practitioners possess a level of prestige that is much higher than that accorded to the
Accompong’s herbalists, Mrs. Sylvia Salmon, was also trained by the state as a health
aide. This woman works with the government’s traveling nurse’s aide who circulates
among rural communities in the area and visits once a month; she also assists the
volunteer medical teams that visit Accompong three times a year. None of the healers are
engaged in healing as a fulltime occupation and the amount of income gained from
healing varied from practitioner to practitioner. There are no set fees; competition exists
among the kinds of different healers; and some of them are better off than others. The
healers are viewed as more effective than that provided by the biomedical system, and
little competition from biomedical practitioners but also because their work as healers is
252
viewed as being distinctively Maroon. People travel from other areas in the immediate
surroundings to seek the assistance of Maroon healers because of their reputations, and
treat the sick and, at the same time, embody traditional Maroon knowledge, culture and
values.
While kinship links no longer provide a reliable pool of recruits for traditional
healing roles, the roles themselves still retain both their practical and their symbolic
importance. The national government provides little in the way of health services to the
unreliable; and the people are poor and cannot easily afford to travel long distances to
urban health facilities whose user fees are beyond their means. Often traditional medicine
is the only medicine available to them. But knowledge not transmitted is knowledge lost,
and Maroons fear the loss of traditional healers in a situation in which there is nothing
forthcoming with which to replace them. Nonetheless, because of traditional healing link
to ancestral cult beliefs and practices, and Maroons’ national reputations as healers and
heritage and cultural identity. Despite this image, traditional healers can be found
Rather than relying on now fragile kinship links to recruit aspirants to the
traditional healer roles, Accompong healers have attempted to organize cooperatively and
recruit youth from beyond their own individual family lines through the formation of a
Healers’ Group. Traditional herbalists are the most prominent members of the Healers’
Group. The work of the Healers’ Group was an attempt to maintain traditional Maroon
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medicine as a resource capable of rooting future generations in their past as well as being
a possible avenue for entrepreneurship in the present, whether in the form of the
effort has been made to teach traditional healing practices to the younger generation,
it has not been successful so far and the medical practices are still falling by the wayside.
Prior to 1993, the healers operated independently and serviced different segments
of the community. However, the healers formed an ad hoc group titled ‘The Healers’
Group’ in 1993 as part of The Maroon Health Project, a traditional medicine and
coordinated by the Center for Natural and Traditional Medicines then based in
younger generation of Maroons by working closely with the Youth Group. Together the
two groups planted a garden of the most commonly used local medicinal herbs behind
Accompong’s community center “as a resource for education and herbal supply for clinic
use. The upkeep is promoted by a youth and elder co-operation and monthly work
The Youth and Healers’ Groups were assisted by a group of Americans including
coordinator and co-director of The Center for Natural and Traditional Medicines; and
Farika Birhan, writer and cultural worker. The Healers’ Group was involved in marketing
their knowledge and herbs as a “product” for consumption through an Herbal Garden
2001, the garden had fallen into disuse. The Herbal Garden Project was discontinued in
2008 due to infighting among the group members. Melvin Currie, declared deputy
colonel, maintained this land belonged to him, and wanted a large portion of the profits
without doing any work. There were other individuals who did not want to do any work
but enjoy the profits. Given that there has been very little in the way of tourism in the
In addition to the work done locally as part of the Maroon Health Project, three
males (Lawrence Rowe, Carlton Smith and Shadrock Blackwell) were chosen to travel to
the US for additional training. Smith and Blackwell were traditional medicine
practitioners while Rowe was an apprentice and member of the Youth Group. The
training included work with solar energy, potable water systems, herbal farming, raw
foods preparation, and natural products processing. While they were in the United States
Smith, Blackwell and Rowe offered symposia on Maroon culture and health care.
Photovoltaics” programs. At the end of this program, Smith and Blackwell interned at
Peace in the Valley Herb Farm in Hedgeville, West Virginia and learned organic and
Delights of the Garden Restaurant and Green City Market and Deli, both near
Washington, D.C., to learn raw foods preparation and presentation. Lawrence Rowe
wished to study at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland and was given the
opportunity to prepare for the SAT exam before he returned to Accompong. Eventually,
Rowe returned to the United States to pursue higher education, but has difficulties and
Once back in Accompong, the three were responsible, along with a team from
CNTM, for teaching others in the village how to transform their traditional lifestyle into a
self-sustaining cycle of life that would allow the Accompong community to grow and
safeguard its abundant natural resources, while preserving the culture (Brandon, personal
communication.) The new technologies were never taken up in Accompong and this
These problems all failed for several reasons. One, there is no infrastructure to
support these projects once the funding organizations pull out. Two, organizations
operate on the premise that the Maroons are communal as opposed to individualistic.
Three, the raw foods project was unsuitable since the Maroons’ diet consist of high starch
tuber roots that cannot be eaten raw. Most importantly, the level of education is low, and
therefore people lack the vision to see far into the future. Based on the level of poverty,
The Cultural Group represents the Accompong Maroons at various local, national
and international cultural events where it presents traditional Maroon music and dance to
audiences. Members of this group are all adults. Like the Youth and Healers’ Groups,
Accompong’s Cultural Group was formed in the early 1990s in response to growing
national and international interest in Maroon history and culture. Following the
increased opportunities for travel have made competition for membership in the Cultural
The Moore Town Maroons also have a Cultural Group that travels throughout the
island and internationally to perform. As a community, the Moore Town Maroons are
better off economically than the Accompong Maroons and, as a result, take part in more
international trips. Prestige and status was gained from the travels and sometimes the two
communities in competition with each other to travel. The Moore Town Maroons also
participated in the Folklife Festival, along with other Maroons from Suriname and French
Guiana. Occasionally the Accompong Cultural Group performs with the Moore Town
Maroons but there has been no international travel in the past ten years.
Being in the Cultural Group can be a demanding commitment in ways that have
little to do with art. In order to travel abroad with the Cultural Group one needs to have a
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passport which, in turn, requires possession of a birth certificate. To own either of these
documents your parents had to have the means to register you at birth and pay the
appropriate fee. Securing a birth certificate later in life is a very cumbersome process.
Doing so requires that the application form be filled out in triplicate, with three witnesses
at least ten years older than the applicant testifying to having knowledge of the birth.
These forms must be signed in front of a Justice of the Peace. Additional required
information includes the names of parents and grandparents, school records and a
baptismal certificate. If the parents and grandparents are deceased, their death certificates
must also be provided. The cost to file the necessary documents, $2000JA, represents a
substantial outlay of funds. Needless to say, very few people living in Accompong own a
birth certificate. What this means is that competition for opportunities to travel with the
Cultural Group depends as much on economic wherewithal and the possession of travel
During my stay in Accompong, the Cultural Group was scheduled to travel to the
United States during the last week in July 2001 and return on August 1. In preparation
for the trip, six females and four males traveled to Kingston to apply for visas in early
July. The group was accompanied by Farika Birhan who, acting as Cultural Liaison, was
negotiating to take the group to the US. Two of the males had been in an earlier group
that had traveled to Canada and the United States in 1992. Arrangements changed; the
trip was postponed until the end of August; and the entourage was to include ten Maroons
from Moore Town. Eventually, the entire trip was cancelled due to lack of funds on the
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part of the sponsors. Since then, no foreign trips have been made by the Accompong
group.
I have no expertise on dance forms so I can’t say whether or not the dances
performed by the Jamaican Maroons are fundamentally different from the remainder of
the folk dances in Jamaica. Also, no one has compared the dance forms.
heritage tourism there. At the same time as TPDCo views heritage tourism in
Accompong as a mode of economic development, it also sees maroon history and culture
as a “product” to be sold. The group is headed by three presidents and a secretary, and
functions under the auspices of the Accompong Council’s minister of culture. Forty
While the tour guides are supposed to be under the minister of culture, in 2001
there were no guidelines or rules governing the relationship between them, a situation
that sometimes led to arguments over the monies generated by tours. For example, in
After the tourists left, I watched a loud argument erupt when several individuals wanted
to know how much money was collected and who received money. One individual
claimed that $600US was paid, while another claimed that only $300US was paid, and
that the money was divided up among three individuals: the colonel and deputy colonel
and the tour guide. Although the argument continued for a while, there was no proof of
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who gained from the tour. No policy of the council stated whether or not the minister of
culture was entitled to a percentage of the money made from a tour or if the money went
into some kind of community fund. In practice, for the most part, the money collected
from tour groups stayed with the guide who had actually conducted the tour. Before
TPDCo began training tour guides, anyone residing in Accompong could conduct a tour
of the village. This function is now concentrated in the hands of a few individuals, not all
A tour of Accompong costs between $20 and $25US per person. This is more
than it costs to visit other historic sites and buildings in Jamaica. For the Maroons, a visit
to the sacred and historical sites is comparable to a pilgrimage. Individual tourists and
tour groups pay the tour guides directly so competition for a position in the Tour Guide
Group, and among those inside the group, is very intense. One individual, Mark Wright,
tended to dominate the tour business. He ran the café located at the crossroads entering
the community and would take over tourists as they came in by first selling them
In addition to the fees they pay to tour guides, visiting tourists, shocked by the
bleakness of rural poverty, sometimes gave out money to whoever approached them or
was standing nearby. (One such scene reminded me of a similar scene in San Cristobal
de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico where a busload of tourists was mobbed by the local
people looking for handouts.) As a result, a few young men contrive to dominate among
these bystanders by spending much of their time hanging around the crossroads and at the
café in order to meet tourists the minute they enter the community and perhaps beg some
The tour focuses on visits to the historic sites of the town, the grave sites of past
Maroon leaders, Kindah, the United Church, the Basic and Elementary Schools and an
arduous five-mile climb uphill to Peace Cave where the peace treaty was signed. Whether
or not tour groups stopped at the herbal garden depended on who the tour guide was.
There might also be other stops during the tour depending on the guide’s knowledge. If
there has been advance notice of the visit of a large tour group, they were provided with
food at the conclusion of the tour for an additional fee. Tour guides’ knowledge of
Maroon history and the uses of medicinal plants varied a great deal. During a TDPCo
tour led by Melvin Currie, a senior council member, Currie stopped at an herbal garden
he claimed was on his property where he pointed out some herbs and discussed their uses,
training them to use Standard Jamaican English, rather than the Creole Accompong
Maroons normally use. TPDCo also promotes certain versions of Maroon history it
During one of the walking tours with TPDCo, a conflict emerged over whether
Cudjoe or Juan de Bolas should be the focal figure for Accompong Maroon history and it
was clear that some of the history was being changed. A statue of Cudjoe had been
erected and unveiled in Accompong in 1980. A newspaper account of the event appearing
at the time clearly identified the statue as representing Cudjoe. “A monument to a great
Jamaican Maroon was unveiled recently. The monument was built in memory of Cudjoe.
He was a well known freedom fighter who led slaves against the English”(The Daily
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Gleaner, January 14, 1980). In 1999, when I first visited Accompong, this statue stood in
front of a monument in the town square and everyone asked identified it as Cudjoe. At
some point between 2000 and 2001 the statue was moved from the front of the village to
a place near the Kindah tree located in the village’s rear. In addition, the statue was no
longer identified as Cudjoe, but as Juan de Bolas, leader of the Spanish Maroons. TPDCo
has also attempted to link the early Maroons to Islam and this, among other things may
have affected the way in which they prefer to have the killing of the pig served during the
Treaty Day celebrations described. (One could make the argument that, since Moslems
did not eat pork, how the pig was killed is irrelevant.)
On one TPDCo tour that I attended, - the one led by Council member Melvin
Currie that I described earlier, - when Currie described how the pig slaughter took place,
a TPDCo representative interrupted him and countered his description by stating that the
pig was not stabbed in the jugular vein but killed in a humane manner after the utterance
of prayers. (In point of fact, Maroons usually do dispatch pigs by stabbing them in the
jugular vein with a knife and letting them bleed out until they die.) The TPDCo
representative was trying to present to the tour group a sanitized version of the event, one
she viewed as ‘politically correct’ and more palatable to visitors unused to Maroon
practices. On another occasion one member of the TPDCo team managing the
development of Accompong a heritage tourism product recounted a dream she had that
told her that visits to Maroon leaders’ graves should no longer be part of the tour.
TPDCo is not alone in its worries about standardizing tour guides’ presentations.
Some community members concerned about TPDCo’s cultural and historical innovations
also complained that not all the tour guides were telling the correct history of the
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community, while some were not even going to the correct historic sites to narrate it.
Their fears are indeed justified. I took four tours with different individuals, and none of
Youth Group
This group was formed in April 1993 along with the Healers’ Group as part of
The Maroon Health Project. Members of this group vary in age from teenagers to young
adults but are primarily young adult males and a few females beyond school age with few
responsibilities and primarily children of elite families. Some members of the group have
developed a strong agricultural focus and are working with the Member of Parliament for
the area on various agricultural schemes. This group also appears to serves as a bridge for
young adults to move into various roles in the council, and even become colonel. For
example, both Harris Cawley and Meredith Rowe were leaders of the Youth Group at
different times before becoming colonel. The majority of the members in this group are
also in the Tour Guide Group. Leadership is loose, with different individuals taking the
lead in the various projects depending on their interests. There is nothing distinctive
about this group, and like the other groups formed in the 1990s, they have fallen by the
wayside.
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Summary
as well as being adaptive strategies for ensuring economic success and minimizing losses.
The schools in Accompong’s are part of the national educational system. Nevertheless,
about half the teachers in the schools are Maroons, particularly Maroons from the kinship
networks of past colonels. The small number of non-Maroons holding teaching positions
in the village has lived there for extended periods of time, indicating not only their
acceptance of the Maroons, but also the Maroons’ acceptance of them. The Basic School,
begun by an outsider, has since become entirely Maroon run but financed by the
American religious organization, Food for the Poor . The result is that for the first two
years of schooling, young Maroons are taught by Maroon teachers. Similarly, the
teachers and the principal of the elementary school were non-Maroons until the 1980s
Higher education provides a route for upward mobility in most countries and this
is true in Accompong, but only a small percentage of the population attends school
beyond the primary level. Children of families who cannot afford to pay for education
will have to farm or leave the community, seeking employment elsewhere. However,
while in school, children receive lunch and goats, along with animal husbandry training,
all of which adds to a family’s well being. The few Accompong Maroons who pursue
higher education are unlikely to return to the village unless there is a teaching position or
some other job with a steady salary from the Jamaican state waiting for them. In
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Accompong the educational system perpetuates the social stratification of the country and
the community.
The schools in the Jamaican Maroons are that of the state and have been a part of
the fabric of these communities from very early on in the nineteenth century based on
their request. The educational system of the Surinamese and French Guianese Maroons is
also church-run with a forced assimilation policy. Despite this, the South American
Maroons resisted assimilation and education that was linked with the church until the 20th
century. The younger generations of the South Maroon groups are not learning the
traditional ways and are experiencing anomie. There is not much in the way of
There is nothing that makes the Cultural Groups, Healers’ Groups, Senior
Citizens’ Group or the Youth Group in terms of practices that are distinctively Maroon.
For example, traditional healers are found through rural Jamaica and in some urban areas
but have not formed a group. These groups were formed through outside influence that
fell apart when the agencies left. The Moore Town Maroons have a Cultural Group that
participate in Treaty Day activities in Accompong Town and have traveled to the Untied
The Youth Group move Maroons from one generation of offices to the next and
from one office to another, as a form of age grading. Membership in the groups is
voluntary, and age-specific. Group membership between the Youth Group and the Tour
Guide Group overlaps and there is an agricultural thrust to the Youth Group. Modernity
community is vulnerable because there is not enough income to pay for the Western
medical care that is replacing the traditional system. Free medical care from international
Small numbers of individuals are members of several groups, and the groups as a
whole serve to improve the community’s welfare and agricultural practices. Members of
these groups are representative of Accompong’s middle class. They also serve as brokers
between the community and the national government. One example is the leader of the
Senior Citizens’ Group who helps the elderly to obtain governmental assistance with
medical coverage. Basically, older Maroons did not receive government social services
and they do not have the means to travel to the nearby town and apply for these services.
Some individuals hold administrative positions in the Women’s Group, Senior Citizens
Group, and members of the council, while their children belong to the Scout Troop, the
Youth Group, and the 4-H Group. The 4-H and Scout groups are found island-wide.
Although other Maroon and non-Maroon communities are engaged in tourism, they do
Introduction
Examination of the religious institutions of the Accompong Maroons reveals that they
are a part of the wider Jamaican religious institutions with only minimal differences. As a
means of demonstrating difference, the Accompong Maroons perform their Myal ritual to
commemorate the signing of the peace treaty and the birthday of their past heroic leaders,
the Djuka and Saramaka Maroons of South American Maroons indicates that there are vast
differences between them. The only religious system they have in common is obeah, but
analysis of obeah as practiced by the Djukas of Suriname reveals that the two systems are in
structurally different.
The earliest account of the Accompong Maroons‘ religious life is described by the
19th century British historian Byron Edwards. Although the early descriptions emphasized
were that of African origins, the Accompong Maroons soon adopted some aspects of
Christianity shortly after religion arrived in Jamaica. Edwards described various Maroon
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deities. ‗Accompong‘ was a name for the God of the Heavens, not sacrificed to but praised
and thanked. Assarci was god of the earth receiving libations and first fruits offerings. Ipboa
was the sea god to whom a hog was sacrificed upon the arrival of delayed trade ships on the
coast. Obboney, a malicious deity, was the author of all evil whose anger could only be
averted by human sacrifice of captives or slaves. In addition to these deities, each family had
a ‗peculiar tutelary saint‘ who was supposed to have been originally a human being and first
founder of their family. The anniversary of the burial of this figure was venerated at the
grave site by all of his descendants with the oldest man offering up praises to Accompong
and the other deities then sacrificing a cock or goat and spilling its blood upon the grave.
(Edwards 1807:85-86) While the deities were described as maroon deities of African
origins, the Maroons were not engaged in naval trade. Therefore the deities probably would
have taken on new meanings of which there is no information. Following Edwards, there
were no other accounts until the twentieth century; by then things had changed considerably.
What Edwards described in the 19th century seems like a kind of neo-African cult
group with a strong component of ancestor worship. When Joseph went to Accompong in the
1930s, he found myal, obeah and the Presbyterian Church. Nonetheless he still quotes
Edwards‘ description of the deity Accompong, noting that Accompong was the ―God of the
Heavens, the Creator of all things, and a deity of infinite goodness‖ (Joseph 1938:383.)
However, Joseph then goes on to complicate Edward‘s attribution of the deity‘s name by
three arguments: By giving the name an Ashanti origin he first argues that Accompong is not
really the deity‘s name but is merely an appellation or primary title assigned to it. ―The
Supreme Being among the Ashanti is Nyame, and his primary title is Nyankopon, meaning
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Nyame alone, great one.‖ Secondly, Joseph then noted that Nyankopon is not only a primary
title of the Supreme Being but is also a personal day name that could be given to any male
child born on the appropriate day of the week. And lastly, the name Accompong is a
corruption of the original Ashanti name, the result of the ―white man‘s effort to transliterate
the spoken Nyankopon heard from the early slaves‖ (Joseph 1938: 383.)
During Dunham‘s visit, she also found myal, obeah and Presbyterianism, noting that
there was no Revival group in Accompong. Only two Maroons were Revivalists: ―Father
Gillett and the Colonel‘s (H. A. Rowe) daughter‖ (Dunham 1946:74). Then colonel, H. A.
Rowe was actively discouraging Revivalists from setting up meetings in Accompong and
tried to restrict the practice of obeah, despite - (or perhaps because of) - Rowe being an
Hurston (1938) argued that there were no difference between the Maroon and the
larger Jamaican population. In her observation of nine night celebrations, she noted that the
nine night celebrations was found island wide with variation from parish to parish. Dunham
(1946) argued that the nine nights celebrations were on the decline. I found that the nine
night celebrations were still celebrated, but varied by the class and religion of the deceased.
However, although the younger adults attended the celebrations, they did not participate in
the rituals themselves. Therefore, it is possible that the ritual will be discontinued when the
elderly die. Similarly, the younger generations did not participate in the ancestral offering on
In the 1980s, Galloway once again quoted Edward‘s description of Accompong and
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the other deities among the Maroons. But in addition, she found the following churches:
Zion Church, Seventh Day Baptist Church, Ta-Ta Denue Assembly of God Church, New
Testament Assembly of God Church, and the United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman.
Galloway was told that obeah practice had disappeared with the death of the older Maroons.
However, others noted that while there were no longer any obeah practitioners in the village,
there were still people to whom one could turn for advice when they were sick.
Galloway noted that the United Church was part of a system that included churches in
St. Elizabeth parish presided over by a Rev. King who did not reside in Accompong but
came in to the village on the third Sunday of each month but spent most his time at the main
church in the neighboring community of Retirement. There were Sunday services, church
school, Watch Night New Year‘s Eve service but no youth programs. The church building
itself doubled as the village‘s primary school and most of the teaching staff for the church
was the same as for the primary school. During my research, the school had its own building
According to Galloway, Ta-Ta Denue Assemblies of God aka Assemblies of God and
Ta-Ta Denue Assemblies of God was pastored by Rev. James Rowe, then the only native
church minister residing in Accompong. There was a Sunday evening fellowship, a youth
program and a midweek service. ―Rowe has been at the church approximately five years. He
claims to be a ‗self-educated‘ man. The church‘s previous pastor chose him for this
leadership role.‖ (Galloway 1981:175) This church held services on Wednesday and Friday
mornings at 6:00 AM and had a strong youth program. At that time, Colonel Martin Luther
Kopytoff (1987) found that shortly before emancipation in 1825, the Church
Missionary Society (CMS), an arm of the Anglican Church, began working in Jamaica
spreading Christianity to the free and enslaved and later to free Blacks. In 1827, CMS
established a center in Moore Town, and a year later, in Accompong. ―The Maroons valued
the association with the Established Church, which in their minds, was closely associated
with the power of the colonial government…When in 1839, the CMS permanently withdrew
its catechist at Accompong after ten years of frustrating and relatively unrewarding labor, the
Maroons complained of being left to the Baptists who were then working nearby‖(Kopytoff
1987:470). Other religions later took up work in Accompong, although the ministers did not
live in the village. In the 1870s the Church of Scotland was established. Other Jamaican
(1987:475) described the ancestral religion as arranged in five tiers with Accompong, the
Supreme Being at the top. At the second level is a different Accompong, the leader and
founder of the village, along with his siblings—Cudjoe, Nanny, Cuffee and Quaco. At this
level, Accompong is referred to as ―Town Master‖ and the siblings as ―Old People‖. The
third level comprised the spirits of great obeah men and women, and the fourth and fifth tiers
consisted of the spirits of the immediate dead. Ultimately the Maroons came to believe in the
In 1938 Thomas J. Cawley challenged colonel and obeahman, Henry A. Rowe, and
seized the office of colonel. Cawley used the Maroon ideology of ‗Town Master‘ to argue
that ‗Town Master‘ was displeased with the actions of the obeah practitioners who were
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using obeah to control the Maroons and for personal economic gains. Cawley destroyed the
hut that had been built on Accompong‘s grave and used by obeah practitioners and where the
Spirit possession and interactions with the spirit in daily life of the Accompong
Maroons are in similar to the Moore Town Maroons of Jamaica, and to the Aluku Maroons
of Guyana. Interactions with the spirits are conscious and unconscious. For Accompong,
spirit possession takes place at the grave of their ancestors, while in Moore Town, the scene
is the central cemetery and among the Aluku, the site is the central village shrine of the clan.
Among the Accompong and Moore Town Maroons, spirit possession takes place during
Kopytoff (1987) argued that ―[T]he ideological change – the ascendance of the
Christian God – in turn, led to social changes. Because the spirits functioned to enhance
community integration, provide social controls, and impose sanctions, the undermining of
their power weakened the consensus on which traditional political authority in the
community ultimately rested, and hastened processes of social change already underway in
In reference to the annual myal ritual, Kopytoff (1987) describes this as a ritual of
integration.
People telling them what was happening in the community and receiving
instructions from them. The dancing was held in front of a ritual hut that had
been built on top of Accompong‘s grave. (Kopytoff 1987:476)
indicated that the hut over Accompong‘s grave was a shrine which individuals visited
seeking redress from injustices done to them while obeah practitioners visited the shrine to
gain more powers. In studies of the Cottica Djuka Maroons of Suriname conducted by
Kobeen (1967), he found that ―each village has a shrine to the ancestors (faga-tiki) where
libations are made on occasions of illness or misfortune, or before starting on some important
undertaking, such as leaving the village for some length of time. The ancestors make no
distinctions: they will help a stranger who lives in the village and makes them an offering,
Besson‘s (1997) analysis of the myal ritual on Treaty Day differs from that of
Kopytoff (1987). Besson argues that the ritual is one of separation, transition and
In the Myal Dance, which is performed around this tree (Kindah), the
drummers and abeng-blower are male; while chosen maroon women are
perceived to be possessed by the spirits of the male ancestor-heroes. This
spirit possession is enacted directly beneath the Kindah Tree, highlighting the
central role of scarce but precious women in reproducing the maroon polity.
The symbol of the Kindah Tree therefore incorporates both the generational
links and the complementary male and female principles perpetuating the
corporate community and embedded in its enduring system of descent,
kinship, marriage and affinity. (Besson 1997:217).
Besson (1997) further argued that there is a relationship between the Presbyterian
Church and the Rastafarians in Accompong that accounts for the change in date of treaty day
The 6th January is the date of Epiphany. Given the presence of a Presbyterian
church in Accompong since the late nineteenth century, the choice of the 6th
January to symbolize Cudjoe‘s birthday and the ending of the War may
represent an appropriation of this Christian festival … In addition, this date
is said by some Rastafarians to be the birthday of Jesus Christ (with the 7th
of January being Christmas Day), a tradition which, in view of the growing
presence of Rastafari in Accompong. (Besson 1997:216)
conscious decision of participation in capitalism. So much so, the date was changed to
January 6th to capitalize on tourists and families returning for the Christmas holidays.
December and January are peak vacation time for most Caribbean countries because it is
warm, as opposed to colder northern areas. The few Rastafarians in Accompong are
marginal in the village and have no influence on the politics of the community to change the
date of largest public event with historical symbolism. In addition, Chevannes (1995) argues
that the Rastafarians originated from the Revivalists and practiced many of their rituals and
This analysis of the myal ritual on Treaty Day is more complex than either Kopytoff‘s
(1987) or Besson‘s (1997). I argue here that Accompong was not immune to the external
global political, economic, social and religious changes that were occurring in the 1930s and
that these changes played a role in the shift in the Maroon social order and its African-based
religious cosmology. It is in relation to these larger scale social currents we can best
understand the processes of social change Kopytoff describes as ―already underway in the
community.‖ Contrary to Price‘s (1979:30) assertion that ―with rare freedom to extrapolate
African ideas and adapt them to changing circumstance, maroon groups include what are in
many respects both the most meaningfully African and the most truly ‗alive‘ of all Afro-
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The ritual on Treaty Day highlights the hierarchical structures and the paradox of
dependency of the village, adaptation and accommodation, despite its rhetoric of resistance
and rebellion; the incorporation of sacred geography and the continued tax exemption claim.
In the performance of the ritual, there is a tension between an unconscious African practice
exclusion, incorporation and accommodation takes place. First, Maroons are separated from
non-Maroons then Maroons are separated by gender, and finally, full-blood males vs. other
Maroon males. Only full-blooded Maroon males are allowed to cook, and partake in the
communal ancestral meal. Later on, older females are permitted to help in the serving of the
food. Kojo‘s treaty is incorporated in the Accompong Maroon oral history, along with
certain geographic locations that highlight the Maroon Wars and distinguish the Maroons
forms ranging from African-derived cults to more orthodox forms of Christianity similar to
those seen elsewhere in Jamaica with varying involvement of the state in the religions.
Religion functions as a means of interacting with the spirits, obtaining spiritual knowledge,
ensuring spiritual and material well being and protection from misfortune, and maintaining
social control. Ancestors are venerated and libations are made frequently in addition to an
annual sacrifice. Religion also promotes and maintains social stratification. Beginning in the
late 1970 and 1980s, the number of Christian denominations increased significantly. All the
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Christian churches found in Accompong are found throughout the island and are branches of
international churches and they hold revival meetings in the summer with visiting personnel.
Beginning in the late 1970 and 1980s, the number of Christian denominations increased
significantly.
Among most Maroons, there are no rigid distinctions among the religious
practitioners and their affiliations. While individuals may have formal membership in a
particular church that is not to say that they don=t cross religious boundaries, depending on
the circumstances. For example, during revival meetings held in public spaces, many attend
with no regard to the sponsoring church, since a revival meeting provides community
members the opportunity to gather and meet outsiders, and obtain resources that could result
1987), the religious institutions now found in Accompong community fall under the
categories of revivalistic churches (Zion Church and Pocomania), ancestral cults (Myal),
politico-religious cults (Rastafari) and Afro-Christian churches (the Seventh Day Baptists,
Ta-Ta Denue Assembly of God, New Testament Assembly of God and the United Church of
Jamaica.). This is not to say that individual Maroons do not move across and between these
categories; it is just that when they do so they leave and enter distinct class and status zones
and distinct forms of ritual practice. Variants of these same religious forms occur throughout
rural Jamaica as well as in the cities and often differ in little other than certain details from
their counterparts in Accompong. Although there is some evidence that one may have existed
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Simpson‘s category of neo-African cult. Even though various Christian religions have been
practiced in Accompong for some time, ancestral cult practices were dominant until 1938 the
decisive shift in Maroon religious cosmology occurred. Despite this shift, ancestral practices
are still visible in everyday life, at wakes and on Treaty Day when ancestral offerings are
made.
There is a distinct status hierarchy among the churches in Accompong with the
United Church of Jamaica on the top and Rastafarians at the bottom. The Seventh Baptist
Church follows the United Church, and a few members of the colonels‘ families are members
of this church. Although the United Church has a higher status than the other religions, it
There are no boundaries between religion, magic, witchcraft, and healing. ―In many
between people and nature, and between people and the supernatural world. A disturbance of
any of these may manifest itself by physical or emotional symptoms‖ (Helman 2000:84).
Kin-based traditional healers such as the herbalists, bone setter, midwives, the abeng blower
and obeah practitioners all obtain their spiritual knowledge from the spirits and used it to
heal the sick, maintain relationships between people, nature and the supernatural world.
Medicines used all occur in the natural world and are harvested at certain times of the year
and under special conditions. For example, some herbs are picked at midnight during a full
moon.
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Ancestral Cult
Myal
Myal was the dominant form of religion developed by African slaves in Jamaica
before their exposure to Christianity, and so is one of the first indigenous Afro-Jamaican
religions. There was no dogma or orthodoxy in Myal belief. Neither is there a centralized
organization. According to Edward Seaga (1969) the word Myal comes from the Hausa word
‗maya‘ meaning sorcerer, intoxication or return (Seaga 1969:4). But Myal is usually
translated as meaning ―spirit‖, and also refers to justice, fair administration and to the healing
religious movement. To a far greater extent than most people realize, Myal and its later
manifestation, Revival, have shaped the worldview of the Jamaican people, helping them to
forge an identity and a culture by subversive participation in the wider polity (Chevannes
1995:21)
What is now the celebration of Treaty Day began as an annual myal ritual and
offering made to the Supreme Being, Nyankopon, and other ―First Time Maroons.‖ The shift
from an African cosmology to one of Christianity following the political, social and
economic upheaval in 1938 resulted in the suspension of the celebration for a few years.
When it resumed, its focus had shifted from Accompong to Kojo, who signed the treaty with
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the British, and other Maroon warriors, including Nanny. Since the Accompong Maroons
have appropriated the 1739 treaty signed by Kojo, this is incorporated into their oral history
Not only did the focus of the celebrations shift, but the date of Treaty Day changed as
well. The Maroon‘s peace treaty was actually signed on February 24th; corresponding to
March 1st on the old calendar. The 1938 annual celebration of the bicentennial of the treaty
signing, was attended by the Governor General and other colonial officials on March 1st. The
celebration of the treaty signing now takes place on January 6th, the Day of Epiphany in the
Christian calendar, and an important holiday throughout Jamaica. This timing allows the
community to profit from tourism related to the Christmas holidays reflecting the
one is told this is the birthday of Kojo, or the birthday of Accompong, or the signing of the
treaty. In 1978, Colonel M. L. Wright, speaking to the Gleaner reporter, noted that the
celebrations commemorated Kojo‘s birthday. In 1994, Colonel Meredith Rowe also noted
that the celebration commemorated Kojo‘s birthday and called for a two-day celebrations and
noted: ―Making it a two-day affair will allow for more events and more focus on the two-fold
purpose of the celebration: to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty and to mark our
hero, Kojo‘s birthday‖ (Gleaner, January 6, 1994:3 & 11). However, there are no records of
Accompong‘s or Kojo‘s birth, and it seems unlikely that January 6th was either of their
birthdays. In other words, the event serves to commemorate and enact an origin myth.
Although the celebration was resumed under Christian hegemony, there is still a
continuing tension between Christianity and those aspects of the event rooted in African
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cosmology. On the evening of January 5, 1999, while the United Church was having a
special church service, other events, very different in character, were occurring outdoors at
Parade where the middle school is located. Each group was preparing for the next day‘s
events but did so separately. While members of the United Church sat in pews, read the Bible
and prayed, the women and men that gathered together outside the middle school at about
10:00 p.m. sang, danced and performed libations to ancestral spirits. Although no one speaks
the language or understands the meanings of the words any more, the older women down at
the middle school, some of them wearing colorful, red-patterned skirts, and white blouses,
their heads tied with brightly colored cloths, led songs in Kromantee. The singing of these
African style call and response chants continued well into the night and picked up again early
the following morning. On that day, there was more singing and dancing as preparations
The United Church‘s service and the dance ritual played out at Parade could not be
more different. In the past they stood starkly and symbolically opposed to each other. Only
in 2006 did the church services in the United Church officially become a part of the Treaty
The late Colonel Martin Luther Wright has succinctly summarized the events of
Treaty Day during which time offerings are made to the ancestors.
Wright continues:
It is during the preparation for the visit to the sacred grounds, that the
sprinkling of the sacred grounds with rum and the pouring of libation takes
place. During that time there is preparation of the food to be carried to feed
the spirits of the Maroon heroes. The food includes pork as the meat and
boiled yam. At the graves of the heroes, in addition to pouring libation
(which among the Accompong Maroons is basically the sprinkling of rum
over the sacred grounds) food is thrown around the area. A tense moment
comes at the place when the visiting Maroons must have a period of spiritual
communication with their ancestors but must be preceded by a long period of
silence and meditation--what among them is referred to as a >reasoning
session.= The return to the Kindah Tree is made by following what is known
as the >Old Town Path.= (Wright 1997:69).
Everyday food of yams, chicken, pork and plantains are fed to the ancestors. On
this day, the foods are assigned added value in order to transform them from profane to
sacred. The black pig and red rooster slaughtered are male, and prepared without salt.
The yams and plantains are boiled without salt, and must also be male.
At Ole Town the visiting party makes a food offering, the abeng blower summons
the ancestors by blowing his horn, and spirit possession takes place at their graves. Since
non-Maroons are prohibited from participating in the food offering that takes place at the
graves in Old Town, I visited the site of the offering the morning after the celebrations.
Remains of cooked pork, plantain and yellow yams were still visible on banana leaves
atop a stand near the ritual hut located over the ancestors‘ graves.
This Myal ritual in the form of a communal meal is used to venerate Maroon
ancestors. The communal meal symbolically affirms present day Maroon males= connection
to the male warrior heroes of their ancestral past while maintaining gender and ethnic
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boundaries that exclude women and non-Maroons from participating in the ritual. The rules
for participation in the ancestral offering even draw a distinction within the group of all
Maroon males, since it is only >full-blooded= Maroon males that can be present to make the
offering and communicate with the ancestral spirits at their Old Town graves on that day;
even >full-blooded= Accompong Maroons living in other parts of the country are allowed to
Following rituals at Kindah and Ole Town, a procession then moved to the town
square where various dignitaries and invited guests listened to speeches and musical
performances. During the celebrations of January 1999, the procession was led by Colonel
Sidney Peddie, with Hansley Reid (Rupee), the town crier, blowing the abeng. The abeng
blower was covered in the vine leaves of the cacoon, as a reminder of the camouflage worn
The activities at the town square are the most public and the most secular parts of the
day=s formal events. They were essentially a series of political speeches, sometimes
interspersed with musical selections from visiting ensembles, or performances from the
Kindah Tree
In 2001, it appeared that the practice of Myal was on the decline. When one
informant was asked if Myal is still practiced, he responded by saying that it was in decline
but noted that the abeng player was instrumental in conjuring up the spirits during Treaty
Day celebrations. In addition to conjuring spirits, sometimes spirit possession of one or more
individuals takes place and therefore caution should be taken when conjuring the spirits.
―There is only one person still know Cudjoe that know to give the myal. It‘s the abeng
player1 because he has to direct the message right round and round. He is the one that takes
them out there. So he cannot let everyone into difficulties because, then, who will release
him?@(Carlton Smith 2001) This information was substantiated by the abeng blower himself:
I have to just stop and look and see when [how to see certain motion
and when time] I blow the abeng and when time I stop blow and when I listen
and I hear the voice of Captain Cudjoe and Nanny say unto me: tell them to
1
The abeng player is regarded as a great science man.
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sprinkle sugar and water over those people to get their release out of that
myal. Cause we dealt with rum, sugar water and clear water. The more rum
you use, the more spirit come down on you. And the more you blow the
abeng when you are in negromantee is that more negromantee hold them
down. So you have to know to discharge the spirit of the abeng sound and
you have to know when to compel them because if you want a person from
Whitehall and you blow and get him, you must know what you go and got
him for. When you finish with him you must know for to tell him that you
finish with him so that he can have you dismiss him. (Hansley Reid 2001)
In the above passage, the word ―negromantee‖ is used to mean that one is spiritually
possessed. Informants noted that individuals under Myal spiritual possession can speak, but
they did not speak from themselves, but from the spirit. AWhen people they talking, they are
not talking of their own head. The spirit that dancing, them tell you what to say@(Reid 2001).
Obeah/ Science
Caribbean. Although the white planters sought to eliminate the practice through a series of
laws beginning is 1781, it remains in practice underground to this day. The term obeah
derives from the Twi/Akan word ―obayifo@ meaning sorcerer. In Jamaica there seems to
have been a particular appeal to Akan magic which may have led to adoption of Akan sorcery
practices beyond the Akan group. Deriving initially from Fanti/Ashanti magical traditions,
Obeah has evolved over the centuries in contact with non-Akan African influences, such as
Myal, as well as other non-African influences, the most important of these being European
Christianity and magic. Members of ethnic groups other than the Akan were often highly
regarded as practitioners of obeah in the past (Alleyne 1988, Barrett 1976, Ryman 1984,
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Curtin 1970). In Accompong, the obeah practitioners claim the ethnic status of Congo
Maroons. Obeah tradition tends to overlap or merge with Myal and needs to be considered in
relationship to it. Many scholars consider the relationship between Myal and Obeah to be
In Obeah ideology, both the Christian God and Devil are significant figures and some
of the present day practitioners clearly utilize some European magic and occultism. The
Devil is a complex and ambivalent figure in Obeah. As the chief practitioner of magic the
Devil is the master of magic both good and bad. Rather than being resolutely evil, the Devil
is regarded as a resolutely powerful being. The Devil is thought to give Obeah people their
powers to invoke the dead, to practice malign magic, to become a night flying spirit, and to
receive any of a number of familiar spirits in the form of animalsBin essence, the power of
system. It is also a system of social control and, since practitioners sell their services, and a
tool for economic advancement. There are no organized obeah groups and the practitioner is
a sole individual, male or female, hired for a specific purpose. Obeah practitioners are adept
at herbal medicine, can bring supernatural threat to bear to control people=s behavior, and are
hired to help clients gain social and economic goals in societies where any individual=s gain
is always achieved through someone else=s loss,Ba zero-sum game that is common in peasant
societies. Accompong is well known for having obeah practitioners and individuals come
from far and wide to seek their services. APeople from all over come to see me,BCanada, US
Duppies figure prominently among the Maroons and other Jamaicans and are said to
be used by obeah practitioners. Duppies are ―A spiritual aspect of the self that remains in the
grave after death. If the proper funeral rites are not done, the shadow becomes a duppy, a
dispossessed, dissatisfied ghost that brings misfortune upon the community, mainly but not
solely through illness. The Devil afflicts mainly sinful people. God can also visit sickness
upon a person as punishment for wrong doing, especially for knowingly and intentionally
During the period of fieldwork in 2001, I interviewed one of the obeah men, James
Chambers, who asked that I place an advertisement in the newspaper in order to inform an
international audience that he was capable of curing cancer, diabetes and high blood
pressure. I was asked to bring a bottle of rum and before the session began, the obeah man
took some rum and poured it in his hands and rubbed his hands over his face. During the
interview, the Obeah practitioner said: ―Read this here, read it out loud. I would like to set
you up with something to prosper‖ (Chambers, 2001). I was handed the banned book
entitled The Mysteries of the 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses, published by L. W.
deLaurence2 and asked to read ―Seal to Prosper in Business.‖ However, I read the passage
silently as I was unsure what would happen if I read it out loud. I was most uncomfortable
since I was in uncharted waters. In addition, a charm to be placed over my doorway which
would prevent harm, and bring good luck was made. Book of Moses, along with herbs and
oils such as olive oil and balm oil, were used. Other paraphernalia included red and blue
2
de Laurence Company published various books on the occult, including the
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses which were banned.
286
candles and a small crystal ball. The obeah man then recited the same passage out loud.
Here, the charm works both waysBpreventing harm and providing good luck. One could
argue that the absence of bad luck results in the presence of good luck in terms of one=s
outlook in life. In addition to using the Mysteries of the 8th, 9th and 10th Book of Moses, the
Bible, by way of the Book of Psalms is also used. ―There is Psalms for home, for luck,
Psalms for good and all many of evil and Psalms to heal people‖ (Chambers, 2001).
Chambers argued that the one thing he was not capable of doing was giving life, this
power was reserved for God himself. When asked if he went to school in Accompong,
Chambers said no: ―My parents did not have it to send me to school at that time. We were
Here, we see obeah being used to perform magic, witchcraft and healing while
utilizing Christian paraphernalia, albeit, paraphernalia that has been banned by Christian
leaders.
In his work on the Moore Town Maroons during the 1930s, Thompson argued that
they were against obeah. ―They say they are entirely against the practice of Obeahism, in
fact they are afraid of it, and claim that if any of their race mingles with such abomination
and thereby becomes entangled, they have nothing to do than to leave him to die a victim
to his wickedness‖ (Thompson 1938:478). We don‘t know how accurate this statement is
since Obeah was banned, and no one would readily admits to an outsider that they were
performing Obeah. In addition, there are no new studies on obeah practices in Moore
Town.
In small villages, funerary obligations are an ideal place to examine community and
familial obligations, religious rituals, rites and social stratification because as in life, so in
death, the position of an individual‘s life is visible. At the Nine Nights celebration, one can
see the interactions of the living with the spirits of the dead. It is important that the spirit of
the dead is laid to rest so that it cannot return, result in misfortune for the remainder of the
family, nor be manipulated for witchcraft. Hurston (1938) found no difference in the nine
nights practice in Accompong compared to other parts of the island. She argued that the nine
nights was an African survival found throughout the island with some variation from parish
to parish and across class. Dunham also found that the nine night ritual was in the decline
but there was still belief in duppies. ―The Maroons do not take the ninth night very seriously,
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I was fortunate to observe the rituals of death of individuals in both the lower and
highest strata of the village – both different in nature than that described by Hurston. The
first description that follows is that of the nine night ritual which took place on June 9, 2001
along with the Revival ritual, the second took place in July. The individual for whom the first
nine night was being held was extremely poor, never left the village and his relatives lived
locally and in nearby villages. The second ‗ninth night‘ was for Levi Rowe, a prominent
Previously, celebrations were held for nine nights after the death of an individual.
However, the length of time between death and burial has changed. This is also true of when
the nine night celebrations take place. The difference in time is due to the fact that many
families now have relatives living in Jamaica, the Caribbean, US, Canada, and England, and
must wait for them to return home. There is also an economic factor since one must provide
a feast for the entire community during this period. Nor is it is feasible to take eight or nine
days off from work for such activities, nor feed the whole community for that length of time.
The nine night celebration which takes place from the day of death is
not practiced anymore, but the celebration is still referred to as nine night.
Burials used to take place on the second day after death and counting began
on the day of death. It changed due to work schedule and delayed burial.
However, because people have to go to work, celebrations are now held on
weekends. Celebrations begin about 7:00 PM with playing of dominoes and
cards, followed by singing and other activities at 10:00 PM. until morning.
Bodies are now kept at the morgue in Santa Cruz. Before, the nose and other
orifices used to be stuffed with coffee beans. (Mark Wright: June 9, 2001).
Cruz for two or three weeks so that relatives from far off in Jamaica or from
overseas can have time to get to Accompong for the funeral. Before that,
however, they used to be able to preserve the body here for three or four days
before burial. They would do this by sinking a zinc shaft in the ground and
putting in ice. They would stuff the orifices (ears, nose, anus, and eyes) with
native coffee and cotton, place the body in the zinc shaft and pour more ice
on top of it. There would be an exit hose to let out the water and the ice
could be continuously replaced. The water was spread out on the land.
At the first celebration, the dress was casual with some people wearing T-shirts,
shorts, caps, sport shirts; and some of the older women had tied their heads. It was difficult
to determine the number of people since some came and stayed, while others stayed only a
short time. However, only individuals of the middle and lower strata of the village attended.
A tent was erected outside near the home of the deceased. In the middle of the tent
was a pole, with a table next to it. The table was covered with a white lace table cloth, a
white plate with salt, and one with sugar was placed on top, along with a bible, a hymn book,
a glass of water, and a bottle of Wray and Nephew white, over proof rum. Later, the rum was
removed from the table top and placed under the table. Some of the white rum was poured
on the ground under the table to ‗seal the ground.‘ When I enquired about the purpose of the
salt on the table, an informant noted that ―a pinch of salt was necessary to invoke the spirit of
the dead. Sugar was also present just in case the spirit required something sweet.‖ (Mark
Wright, 2001)
Outside on the street, there were some parked cars with large speakers set up on the
roadside. Loud dancehall and reggae music was playing as a number of young adults were
290
hanging out on the cars and enjoying the music. This activity was also part of the
celebrations while the younger children were watching a kung-fu movie on the television
A female officiant took rum from the bottle, poured some in her hands, wiped it over
her face and behind her neck, and then smelled both hands. After completing this, the woman
sat at the table and leafed through the hymn book, choosing hymns and calling out their titles.
Some people objected to the selections so an elderly man offered up some other suggestions
to which people were more amenable. Next, another woman read from the Bible.
Following this, some rum was passed around in a cup from which we all drank.
Some rum was then passed around so that the other women immediately surrounding the
table could have some to rub over their faces. More singing followed, under the direction of
the women. The pace of the hymns was very slow. Another distribution of rum to drink was
made. Following this, the older men took over from the females who had been leading the
There was a libation from an elderly male who stood at the table and led the group of
men in prayer before lining out--calling out-- new songs from a different hymn book than
that used earlier. Next, the obeah practitioner offered a prayer for the deceased and for the
living. More hymns were lined out by the male officiant. More prayers were offered and the
female officiant joined the males at the table. Next, another distribution of rum was made.
The group was later joined by an elderly woman and man with two frame drums, who
had traveled from Aberdeen where they lived. With this new addition, the songs grew
livelier and dancing took place around the table in a counter clock wise manner. One lively
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song was ―Walk Holy.‖ The song went like this: ―Walk holy, walk holy. Walk holy oh
―Walk Holy‖ was sung several times with a mixed female and male group singing
ring shout and dancing counter clock wise around the table. As the singing got livelier, there
was banging on the table. At 11:50 PM, chicken foot soup was served, and there was a lull
in the dancing and singing. The singing and dance later resumed until the early morning.
The second ‗nine night‘ took place on July 28, 2001 by which time the deceased‘s
family members had arrived from England and the United States. The guest list was a who‘s
who of Accompong, including present and past colonels. The atmosphere was one of a big
party with a lavish spread of food and drink. Individual cups with rum or soda were served
and there was also beer. There was a table with some men playing dominoes, but there was
no table set up in the middle. Chairs were set up outside for people to sit around. The Revival
ritual was absent. The funeral took place the following day at the Seventh Day Baptist
Church. There were about twenty vehicles and seven minivans filled with people from all
over the island who came for the funeral. Following the service, the abeng blower blew as the
funeral procession made its way to the cemetery. The abeng blower was flanked by the
current colonel, Sideney Peddie and Past Colonel Harris N. Cawley along with the officiating
minister. Next in line was the vehicle carrying the deceased, followed by the immediate
The ‗nine-night‘ ritual was also performed in Moore Town in the 1930s. Thompson
noted that ―They have a strong belief in the power of the departed dead, and are keen
In Moore Town, the traditional religion is known as Kromanti Play and is similar to
The fete-man in Moore Town that cultivates the relationship between the spirits of
the ancestors and living is similar to the abeng blower in Accompong. The ritual is also
In Moore Town, burials are located in a centralized location which the fete-man
visits, making offerings, caring for the burial site and fulfilling other obligations asked by
the spirits. In Accompong, the cemetery is centralized, although there are other burial
grounds and yard burials. Rituals take place at the older burial plots of the Maroon warriors.
Unlike the Jamaican Maroons, the Aluku Maroons of South America interacted
with the spirits of the ancestors at a central shrine of their clan, as opposed to a cemetery.
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Among the South American Maroons, funeral rituals are more complex, and last
much longer than among the Jamaican Maroons. ―Funerals constitute the single most
complex ritual event. Spanning a period of many months and involving hundreds, or even
thousands of people, they unite the world of the living with that of the dead through
specialized ritual practices. These practices include carrying the coffin on two men‘s heads
in a rite of divination, numerous other esoteric rites, and extensive singing, dancing, and
In Accompong, Moore Town and the Aluku of Guyana, Maroons all participate in
spiritual possession, although the sites of the rituals differ for each group. In Accompong,
spirit possession takes place at the grave of the ancestors while in Moore Town, possession
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takes place at the central cemetery, and the Aluku‘s, at the clan‘s shrine.
Revival
Zion Churc
The Zion Church in Accompong falls under the category of Pocomania and is headed
by a Maroon woman. The church=s physical structure can be identified by the blue and
yellow flags flying high above the building, and a table in the center of the yard along with a
white basin of water, and four clear bottles of water at the table‘s four corners. Each flag has
a white cross in the middle. The yard is filled with the various types of crotons3 used in some
Inside the building, the symbols of Pocomania are all visible and composed on an
altar. There were two tables. The one in the center was covered with a white tablecloth; in
the middle was a white enamel basin filled with water. There were four clear bottles of
water , one at each corner of the table. On the left side of the table, between two bottles, was
a jar with flowers. On the right side, opposite the flowers, there was a candlestick with three
white candles in it. On the second table, located towards the back, there was another basin of
3
Croton flavens: a small tree with yellowish leaves used for decorative purposes.
295
Zion Church
water, a container with some pieces of croton, hymn books, and an open Bible. These tables
The center and other spots located around the edge of the ground, are
of significance in Pukkumina. The spirits of deceased persons who work
with the Abands that operates on that site, reside at these spots. In Zion,
spirits usually do not reside at the Aground@ because the Zion pantheon gives
far less recognition to human spirits, and more to the heavenly or biblical
host.
During the service, the minister wore a measuring tape around her neck, and a yellow
pencil in her hair. There were nine adults, one child, and my family present—a total of 13
individuals. The members got up and circled the table, dancing and singing. One person
would dance around alone, or hook hands with another and turn around three times in one
direction, and three times in another direction. I was given a tambourine to play. Each
In addition to dancing and singing, there was a calling up of the spirits. The spirits
came as was indicated by one woman Aspeaking in tongues.@ AZionists call possession
Areceiving messages@ from the spirits; in Pukkumina the possessed Atravel@ in the spirit
world. In Zion, only the leaders or others who hold high position in the groups are expected
to understand the messages they are supposed to have received @(Seaga 1969:8). During the
service, a young woman who lived with the spiritual leader recorded the session. The service
was quite lively and different from anything I had ever attended and participated in.
All the members of the church were related, and the houses I had seen earlier that had
4
There are various spelling of this word.
297
white crosses painted on their door belonged to these individuals. All these individuals were
Thursday nights that attract many international visitors. However, in Accompong Town,
Rastafarian religion falls into the category of a political religious cult and combines
social protest and religious doctrine. The Rastafarian movement developed in Jamaica in the
1930s in response to the continued colonial system of social, cultural, and economic
oppression one hundred years after emancipation. The landless and small cultivator class of
peasants was protesting their landless situation, and the burden of excess rent and taxation
precursor. They hold the belief that they and all Africans in the Diaspora are but exiles in
>Babylon=, destined to be delivered out of captivity and return to >Zion=, or Africa, the land of
our ancestors, or Ethiopia, the seat of Jah, Ras Tafari himself (Emperor Haile Selassie=s pre-
coronation name.) Rastafarians believe that Emperor Haile Selassie I was the living God.
He is referred to as >King of Kings, Lord of Lords, conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah,
Elect of God and Light of the world=, all titles used in the Bible to refer to God. Repatriation
is one of the cornerstones of Rastafari belief (Chevannes 1995:1). Rastafarians are known
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for their uncombed locks and beards, resulting in dred locks, the use of the Chillum pipe with
We don=t know whether or not Rastafari developed in Accompong during the period
of its formation. However, the idea of repatriation would not fit into the Maroon ideology as
they fought and defeated the British, earning freedom and land.
individuals. There are only a few Rastafarian males in Accompong but all the symbols of
Rastafari can be found in Accompong; as well as through much of Jamaica. For example,
one of the grocery stores has a black, red, and green flag, and the Lion of Judah painted on
the storefront with the words ALion of Judah@ painted over the inner doorway.
Practitioners of Rastafarians are at the bottom of the social hierarchy in the village
without a political voice. There are only a few Rastafarian women and the men live alone.
However, their children do visit them and sometimes for a few weeks with.
Afro-Christian Churches
The United Church of Jamaica and the Grand Cayman is the dominant church and the
Church. In December 1965 the Protestant Church of Jamaica and the Congregational Union
of Jamaica joined to form The United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Later on
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December 13, 1992, the Disciples of Christ in Jamaica joined the first two churches.
(www.answers.com)
The elementary and basic schools are affiliated with this church and all students and
teachers are encouraged to attend this church on a regular basis. Although the lines are
blurred in reference to religious affiliations, there are a few devout members of the United
Church who draw the line at participating in myal rituals and the practice of obeah which
I visited this church during a communion and baptismal service and was invited to
church in order to participate, and I was not.) Although church attendance by schoolchildren
and teachers is encouraged, there were only 16 adults (including five teachers and the
principal), 27 children and 7 young adults present during the morning service—a total of 50
individuals. The large number of children can be attributed to the fact that it was a youth
service where the youths lead the Bible readings and singing. Pastor Cawley delivered the
confused with Seventh Day Adventist. This group meets on Saturday afternoons and on the
day I visited, attendance was 10 adults and 10 children—a total of 20 individuals, most of
whom were related. The deacon of this church was Carlton Smith, a Maroon traditional
healer. Another deacon was Adrian Foster, bone setter and town Minister of Justice. Seventh
Day Baptists consider liberty of thought under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be essential
encourage the study and discussion of Scripture and first opened in Accompong on March
12, 1951.
informants, earlier in the late 1990s, an outsider was granted permission to enter the
community and set up the Ta-Ta Denue Church. A few years after the building was
constructed, and before it could be fully furnished, the preacher was evicted from the
community and the church continued under local leadership. Leadership positions held by
non-Maroons are not tolerated for extended periods. On the day I attended service, there
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were 12 adults and 13 thirteen children present. Of the adults, only 4 were in the 30 40 age
The Assembly of God is a Pentecostal church, and its pastor, Mr. Dixon, and Deacon
Sam Anderson, were both Maroons. There were fourteen women and six men (four old and
two young), ten children and one baby at the service I attended.
Mr. Dixon began the sermon in Standard English then quickly shifted to Creole, then
back to English. The service was high in energy and low in verbal content, consisting mostly
of Hallelujahs and praising God in the form of call and response for half an hour at a time.
Some of the women were dancing and ‗catching the spirit‘ as indicated by jerking
movements and speaking in tongues. The church‘s guitar player said prayers, and read from
the Bible. During the prayers, the congregation prayed individually, and out loud, resulting in
There is very little data on the religious practices and ideology of the South American
Maroons making comparison difficult. The South American Maroons remained more
isolated culturally and geographically from the coastal settlements than did the Accompong
Maroons, and they were more steadfastly opposed to Christianity and education that were
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Shortly after the peace treaty was signed with the Saramaka Maroons, the Moravians
from Germany arrived in Suriname, and a few went into Maroon territory. However, after
five decades of frustration, they left. Other missionaries later returned in the mid 19th century
Marawai Maroons becoming Moravians. The Roman Catholics followed in the 20th century,
―During the 1980s and 1990s, newer evangelical churches have had some impact
among all Maroon groups. Nevertheless, today the great majority of Maroons continue to
practice the non-Christian Maroon religions forged by their runaway slave ancestors.‖(Price
2001:337). Price (2001:335) also writes that the South American Maroons compartmentalize
difference between what George Simpson calls a ‗neo-African‘ religion and what he
describes as an ‗ancestral cult.‘ A more specific focus on the phenomenon of obeah (also
obia,) - which appears in both religious systems, - shows the difference between obia in the
context of a neo-African religion that is the dominant and central religious system for the
society in which it occurs and obeah as an aspect of an ancestral cult that has become
marginalized and socially peripheral because Christianity has usurped the center and become
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the dominant religion. This comparison is based on description of the Djuka by de Groot
(1969) in the late 1960s. Discussions with Dr. George Brandon who visited the Saramaka
Maroons in 1998, reveal that obeah among the Saramaka is an individual practice, and
evidence can be found on one‘s home and person. This is different from what is found in
The structure of obeah as practiced among the Accompong Maroons differs from
obeah practiced among the Djukas in the following ways: its structure and relationship to the
administration of the village and civil government; the training and role of the priests; ritual
practices; the relationship between the practitioner and the deities; hierarchy of deities with
African names and human characteristics; the intermediaries between living people and gods;
and the structure of the ancestors. The following table is a wider comparison of the two
forms of obeah.
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Priests’ duties: (1) benediction, (1) Libation at most; also bush bath; no
purification and exoneration from exoneration for witchcraft; (2) no oracle
witchcraft; (2) Assisting people whose of this kind, divination through dreams,
problems required them to consult the water scrying, picking a page at random
oracle (such as, to find the cause of a from the Bible, cards; (3) not lodged in a
death,); (3) special purifications such as group of traditional healers.
disposing of those punished by the Great
God because of their witchcraft or other
violations of divine law.
Performs mourning rites; arranges the Mourning rites and funerals arranged by
funeral, ascertains cause of death, family of the deceased. They have no
attends to the relationship between the role in determining cause of death.
living and the dead.
Because of their evil intents, wisiman Same but obeah man may be a sorceror
(witches) are the opposite of obiaman. for pay as well as healer
(de Groot 1969:24)
Supreme deity: Nana, Nana Kediampon, Present but brought under the umbrella
Njakompon. Aloof, distant, has no cult of the Christian concept which for the
group. Requires prayers and sacrifice. most part has replaced it.
Below Gran Gadu and Gedeunsu, there Once possessed a small pantheon of
are a number of lesser malevolent and deities. No longer does.
beneficent deities. These also possess
their respective priests. During
possession the deities can be consulted
for advice.
307
The place of people after death (i.e. as Place and character of people after death
jorkas) depends upon their life and status depends upon life before death and also
before death. After burial the spirit proper performance of funeral rites.
leaving the body retains the character the
deceased had when alive.
Granjorkas: people who played a The war leaders of the first time
prominent role in life, led exemplary Maroons, people such as Cudjo, Nanny
life, ‘praised by the gods.’ After their and Accompong. Below the great
deaths, these jorkas have the ear of the deceased obeah adepts.
gods in that the gods attend seriously to
their petitions.
Jorkas: ordinary people, decent but not Ordinary people who have been buried
distinguished in any way. properly, especially the relatively recent
dead.
Takru jorkas: these are people who were Duppies: Duppies: ancestral spirits (also
evil doers while alive and consequently called shadows or wandering spirits.) A
continue to pester the living by keeping spiritual aspect of the self that remains in
on doing evil after they have died. the grave after death. If the proper
funeral rites are not done, the shadow
becomes a duppy, a dispossessed,
dissatisfied ghost that brings misfortune
upon the community, mainly but not
solely through illness.
Vengeance from gods and spirits takes Duppies cause some illnesses. The Devil
the form of illness, insanity, loss of a afflicts mainly sinful people. God can
child, crop failure, accidents and death. also visit sickness upon a person as
(de Groot 1969:27-28) punishment for wrong doing, especially
for knowingly and intentionally causing
harm to others.
308
structure of the village, civil government and the justice system. In Accompong, the link
between the administrative structure of the village and the justice was severed in 1938
with the rise of a Christian ideology. Djuka had oracles, priests and specialized funeral
priests, coffin makers and grave diggers, none of which could be found in Accompong.
Accompong Maroons are carried out of the village by an undertaker from a nearby town
for preparation before burial. Once the body is ready for burial, it is returned to the village
the Djuka, while the duppy is found throughout Jamaica. In Accompong, the is the abeng
blower who is in attendance at the grave digging and the internment, but he does not
arrange the funeral, perform mourning rites, or ascertain the cause of death. Did obeah
practices among the Accompong Maroons look like that practiced by the Djukas before
Summary
The Accompong Maroons sought Christian groups shortly after religion arrived on
the island in the early nineteenth century although they continued to practice various forms of
political upheaval as did the wider Jamaica and the Caribbean as a whole. However, there are
no evidence to suggest that Rastafarian came to Accompong as it did in the wider Jamaica in
309
The South American Maroons differ in the degree of their conversion to Christianity
as they resisted Christianity and Christian education much longer than the Accompong
Maroons. There are also differences in the religions relationship to the administrative
structure of the village, civil government and the role in the life of the community.
shows stark differences in the structure, ritual practice and leadership. These differences
could be the result of legal sanction against obeah in Jamaica. In Accompong, obeah, and
Christianity have commingled so much that obeah practitioners use Christian paraphernalia
in their rituals. Obeah practiced in Accompong is similar to that found island-wide. This
comparison of the Accompong Maroons with that of the South American Maroons reveal
Beginning in the late 1970 and 1980s, the number of Christian denominations
increased significantly and they can all be found throughout the island and are branches of
international churches and they hold revival meetings in the summer with visiting personnel.
By the late 1990s, Maroons, both male and female had taken on leadership positions in many
of the churches. Similarly, Christianity increased among the South American Maroons.
Although Dunham (1946) argued that the nine nights celebrations were on the decline I
found that the ‗nine nights‘ were still in effect, but varied by social status and religion of the
deceased. However, it is possible that the nine night ritual will be discontinued, or revived as
a means to indicate differences between the Accompong Maroons and wider Jamaica. The
practice of holding ‗nine nights‘ rituals in Accompong is similar to those practiced by non-
310
Maroons in the wider Jamaica. Both the Jamaican Maroons and the South American
Maroons experience spirit possession and interaction with the spirit in their daily life.
Church attendance in Accompong is predominately the old and the very young. The
few young adults sin the village does not attend church on a regular basis. Denominational
church attendance is based on kinship and social stratification. Maroons of high social
status, teachers and some students attend the United Church. Although Rastafarians do not
have a place of worship, a few of the men can be seen in the mornings engaged in spiritual
readings.
Chapter VIII
EPILOGUE
Accompong Maroons are compared with other New World Maroons such as those of
Suriname and Guyana, the Accompong Maroons differ in their legal and political history,
institutions of kinship and land tenure, land, language, religion, economy, ecology, dress,
architecture, and names. Jamaican Maroons are also phenotypically similar to other
Jamaicans while the South American Maroons differ from the larger population. There
are only a few rural Jamaican communities that are phenotypically different than the
wider Jamaicans. The Accompong Maroons and the other Jamaican Maroons land
holdings have a distinctive border while there are no borders for the South American
Maroons land holdings. However, what Mintz (1985) refers to as the “institution of
migration” along with remittances supports at the same time impacting the household,
kinship relationships and social structure of all the various Maroon and non-maroon
communities. Accompong Maroons are similar to South American Maroons and other
312
Jamaican Maroons in that there is the use of the abeng that dates back to the 17th century,
and to Africa. In effect, the Accompong Maroons are maroons in name only—a
pseudomorph.
type economies and societies were developed among the population that settled the hills
as squatters, freeholders, or with mission assistance.” However, the legal and political
history of the Accompong Maroons differs from the wider Jamaican society; nonetheless,
the culture of the Accompong Maroon village is similar to that of other Jamaican
Maroons and Jamaican peasants. Although the group holds land communally, at the
individual level land becomes de facto individuated, similar to other Jamaicans and
peoples of the wider Caribbean. The foodways, religion, language, dress, architecture and
names are similar to other Jamaicans. The economy is similar to other rural Jamaican
Caribbean island nations. Examination of the foodways reveals similarities at both the
surface and deep levels with that of wider Jamaica. The Accompong Maroons differ
from other Jamaicans in their ideology and self-concept, in some important ritual
symbols such as the abeng, and in the food symbolisms exhibited on one day--Treaty Day
during the communal meal served at the end of the myal ritual.
I have highlighted the serious economic crisis and impoverished condition of the
Accompong Maroons, the institutionalized dependency, and the absence of a state system
that resulted from marronage. Reliance on an ideology based in the 18th century only
further exacerbates this economic crisis. As argued by Appadurai (1996), Clifford (1997)
and Hannerz (1998), the impact of global interconnectedness, flows of goods and ideas
313
and center-periphery articulations can be seen in Accompong Town. Slocum and Thomas
(2003) urged researchers “to trace the global in the local, thus illustrating the benefits of
local area analyses for understanding global dynamics” (Slocum and Thomas 2003:553).
In Accompong, one clearly sees the penetration of capitalist relations of production into
the periphery. Maroons may have escaped to freedom and existed on the margins of the
margins ever since, but they have still been impacted by the center, or core of the global
system.
Besson 1997; DeGroot 1969; and Price 1974 have examined the effects of
examination of the Accompong Maroons has also revealed the impact of migration on
laborers in the household that must be supported even though they bring in no money.
Households then face dwindling productive resources, while the cost of consumption and
the cost of socialization for upward mobility through education continue to increase.
“Rooting and uprooting” (Maurer 1997) takes place when unemployed household
members who migrate and send remittances ensure the survival of the household
members at home, increasing their chances for social mobility. In this way migration
allocates household labor more productively and at the same time reduces the
Some men and a few women who emigrate return after several years with a
pension or other forms of ‘cultural capital’ are more likely than others to become
significant political figures. The economic and political benefits of successful migration
are felt even when migration is local, as can be seen in the case of two of recent colonels
314
who migrated from Accompong to Montego Bay and eventually became detectives
within the Jamaica Police Force. At the same time that the strategy of emigration results
in increased social mobility for some households and individuals, it results in downward
mobility for others. Households unable to support migration of some of their members
become increasingly poorer and marginalized because although they have more laborers,
there is insufficient income to increase agricultural production that would in turn increase
the put of products for the market. Although they have more laborers, there are
Dirks and Kerns (1977) and a number of feminist scholars have argued that
mating patterns are also strategies for adapting to limited economic opportunities among
certain Caribbean societies. I found that in the case of Accompong, people’s choices
often represent their selection of the lesser of two evils. In choosing a higher status male
for example, a woman also attaches herself to someone who is more likely to emigrate
than lower status males. This ensures that the woman and any child born from the union
can expect some remittances from abroad (however small they may be), as well as having
access to the child’s father’s land, but it also means that man will not be present to work
his farmland himself. However, from the males’ prospective, on his return, he will have
access to land immediately without having to purchase any in order to establish residence
in the village. More studies on the Maroon Diaspora needs to be carried out. For example,
do Maroons live in clustered communities in the United States, Canada and England?
How do Maroons who lived for 30 or forty years overseas return home and assume a
maroon identity?
Besson 1987, Lowenthal 1961; and Olwig-Fog 1997 have argued that land in the
315
Caribbean has more symbolic value than economic value for the individual. If that was
ever true it certainly is not any more, at least at the community level. At the community
level the economic value of land is rapidly increasing and exceeding its symbolic value
and, as we have seen, this affects mating patterns. The increase in economic value of land
number of land sales and leases. From all indications, the increase in land sales has not
Like Harris (1987:72) who argued that “attention must be paid to the possibility
of differences between etic and emic versions of foodways,” I found that this
Salt use in Accompong did not follow Levi-Strauss’s (1977) binary category of
sacred/profane where the total absence of salt is the opposite of the presence of salt.
Rather, a little salt behaves the same as no salt. A taboo is placed on the presence of salt
during rituals where the spirits are being summoned and where it is believed that the
spirit of the recent dead must fly back to Africa. This finding was similar to that noted by
Chevannes (1995) among the Rastafarians and Revivalists and among the BaKongo by
Schuler (1980) in the wider Jamaica, and by Littlewood (1993) in Europe. Clearly, there
is a need for more study and comparison on the use of salt in rituals in the Caribbean.
Gift exchanges in the form of food or labor were observed in the examination of
mortuary obligations supporting Raymond Firth’s (1934), and Mauss’ (1967) works.
However, as wage labor increases, gift exchanges are being replaced. Food as a status
marker as argued by Douglas (1975, 1984 & 1997), Dumont (1970), (Bourdieu 1984),
316
Social Change
This dissertation has described the changes that have occurred within
Accompong’s political, educational, economic and religious institutions, its kinship and
land tenure patterns, and its foodways system. Some of these changes were due to
external political, social and economic forces; others were caused by internal ones. The
world systems, and the Accompong Maroons’ role within it, have changed significantly
since the days of the Maroon Wars but what has remained constant is the Maroons’
conception of themselves and their ideological link to marronage. They view themselves
as an endogamous and egalitarian group that holds land communally and as a state within
a state with special rights and privileges setting them apart from ordinary Jamaicans. The
founding symbol and charter for Maroon identity is the 1739 peace treaty signed by the
Trelawny Maroons and the British to end the Maroon Wars. Recently, the Accompong
Maroons have referred to themselves as the ‘Trelawney Town Maroons of the Sovereign
State of Accompong in St. Elizabeth.’ This shift in name clearly indicates that some of
the Accompong Maroons are reading what has been written about them and that they are
Accompong Maroons had no treat, but a legislative act and so they have
appropriated the treaty that the British signed with the Trelawney Maroons, a treaty not
signed with them, as their own, including its land claim integrated in the ‘ritual of
rebellion’ dramatized on Treaty Day and anchored in their sacred geography and
317
differ from that of the British. For the Maroons the treaty is sacred and the blood oath
taken at the treaty’s signing, they argue, rendered it unchangeable and eternally binding
between the signatories. Although the institution of marronage was abolished along with
slavery, Maroons continue to demand certain rights and privileges they enjoyed under
marronage. Although Maroons argue that the treaty is sacred and cannot be changed,
empirically, only two of the twelve articles of the 1739 Treaty are still in place: the
absence of a market, and communal property. Even so, communal property is fast eroding
history of rebellion and resistance, in fact they have accommodated to Jamaican society
and been assimilated into it. When the British made peace with the Maroons their treaty
made no provisions for the Maroon community’s internal administration. Instead the
into the service of maintaining the slave regime by capturing runaway slaves and
suppressing slave rebellions. Against the treaty provisions that clearly institutionalize a
relation of political dependence between the Maroons and the central government,
Maroons argue that the treaty granted them independence along with “special rights and
privileges” and continue to claim exemption from Jamaican laws. None of this actually
in the structure of the relations between the Jamaican and British governments resulted in
increasing integration of Accompong’s political system into the state apparatus, but not
318
without tension. The colonel’s position changed from a status characterized by both
prestige and authority to one that possessed prestige but without any real authority. Early
colonels were military and religious leaders with access to spiritual powers, especially
through the use of obeah, and linked obeah and ancestor veneration to social control. The
colonel, who was once exalted as a warrior, has become an administrator. The colonel,
instead of being a head of state, is a middleman to the central government so much so that
two colonels resigned their position when caught between their people and the colonial
government in the 19th century. The length of time a colonel spends in office went from
The mechanism for choosing a colonel went from a treaty succession rule to
exclusion rules via kinship immediately after the signing of the treaty, to seizure and self
restricted pool of kinship groups through elections. During this period of turmoil, the
colonial government was repeatedly called upon by the Maroons, to settle the internal
conflict. In 1957 the election of Maroon colonels was integrated under the umbrella of
and were engaged in the daily life of the villagers until 1957.
In order for the Maroons to continue the claim that forms one of the basis of their
identity, their political system must appear to be autonomous. The Maroon colonel is now
including the United Nations and NGOs, while not being able to represent Accompong at
the level of the Jamaican state. Repeated calls to be included in the state have been
ignored.
319
Maroons vis-à-vis the Jamaican government became even more fraught with complex
contradictions. The British government assured the Maroons that they would remain
autonomous and self-governed, but made no provisions for their economic or political
independence. More recently, Colonel Peddie has told the Gleaner that he will be seeking
to petition the UN and the Jamaican government for recognition as an independent state.
He said “he will be working with the Maroon secretariat to formalize documents which
In 1938 a break in the African cosmology occurred that resulted in the hegemonic
ascendancy of Christianity and of Christians as colonels. Moral and social control was no
longer maintained through the manipulation of the spirit of the war leader Accompong
who, in the form of Town Master, used to police the village. Although ancestor
veneration is still practiced, the impact and prestige previously held by obeah men and
women has lessened. Within Accompong the United Church is the most prestigious, has
the closest connections to the state government, and is in a superior hierarchical position
vis-à-vis the Zion Church which is more African-oriented. Christian churches provide the
community with additional material resources and its formal education it also provides
the individual the opportunity for social mobility. Formal and informal memberships in
religious institutions were not fixed, but shift situationally. Despite the hegemony of
consciously and unconsciously on a daily basis and are most visible on Treaty Day with
During the last half of the twentieth century the leadership of the educational
320
system in the village changed from one with only non-Maroon teachers and
administrators to one where half the teaching staff are Maroons with a few Maroon
administrators, and the leadership at the Basic School level is in the hands of Maroons.
Maroon ascendance to these positions has been dependent on levels of higher education
only obtainable outside the village as well as the possession of credentials recognized and
Where integration into the state system has occurred, its effect has been to
decouple residence and birth in Accompong Town from being an Accompong Maroon,
throwing into question the criteria for deciding who is a Maroon and who is not. It used
be that if you were born in the village from Maroon parents you were a Maroon. Now,
thanks to the extension of government health services into nearby towns, more than 97
percent of Accompong Maroon births take place outside the village. The health services
have also contributed to lower birth rates with the increased use of contraceptives. Lower
birth, higher rates of migration and increased reproduction with non-Maroons have
resulted in lower population rates. In turn, anyone living in Accompong Town for more
than 15 years is granted “maroon citizenship” and a ‘one-drop maroon blood’ in effect
The economic base of the village has changed from hunting and raiding along
remittances, clandestine cash crops, earned income from leasing of land to global
shifting from one based on the agricultural cycle with ground provisions as its core, to
321
early 1990s to aid in the transfer of traditional health knowledge to the younger
generations failed. With this shift it is likely that the Maroons are likely to face increased
the periphery of the world system, I have demonstrated the penetration of capitalist
relations of production into the core of the community’s social structure. However, the
increase in private property versus communal property coupled with land sales and leases
in the past eight years will soon erode communal property totally,--a move the Maroons
have resisted for over one hundred and fifty years. The Accompong Maroons, whose
identity is so deeply enmeshed with the history of which they are so proud, must now
determine whether or not they want to sell that history, becoming busboys and waiters in
Accompong but what one observes on the ground frequently contradicts these values.
The communalism that is such an important Maroon value is contradicted by the facts of
endemic factionalism and the inequalities that exist in the system of land tenure, incomes
and the possession of obeah power. While the position of colonel circulated within the
orbit of a small number of families, the colonels and their kin-based networks also gained
educational systems within the village. In the early post-treaty period, factions would
splinter and move off to another area; without free access to land, this is no longer
322
possible. Instead, the endemic factionalism has impeded the receipt of additional land,
and the economic development of the community. Individuals are pitted against their
families, and families compete against each other for control of the scarce resources of
land, money, political power and prestige. Despite its poverty and egalitarian ideology, I
must conclude that Accompong is socially stratified and that, as the community
participates more and more in migration and global tourism, stratification will only
identity. Local, national and international non-governmental organizations must take into
consideration the social structure of the village and the lack of technological and what
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Boston College Press.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph
1998 Culture on the Edges: Creolization in the Plantation Context. Plantation
Society in the Americas Vol. V(1):8-28.
Turner, Victor
1967 The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press.
Wagley, Charles
1960 Plantation-America: A Culture Sphere, in Caribbean Studies: A Symposium.
V. Rubin, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Williams, Joseph J.
1938 The Maroons of Jamaica. In Anthropological Series of the Boston College
Graduate School. Vol. III, No. 4. Chestnut Hills, MA: Boston College Press.
Zips, Werner
1999 Black Rebels: African Caribbean Freedom Fighters in Jamaica.
Translatedfrom German by Shelly L. Frisch. Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers
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Maroon Community of Accompong. Journal of Legal Pluralism and
Unofficial Law, 40:89-121.
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in Jamaica. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 37-38:279-305.
Websites
Accompong Maroons To Elect A New Leaser: Brief Controversy Surrounds this election.
331
The Cockpit Country of Jamaica and the Threats Posed by Bauxite Mining
http://www.jamaicacaves.org/cockpit-country-bauxite-mining.htm, accessed March 30,
2007.
Jamaican Ackee
http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm:1104/lectures/ackee.html, accessed December 16,
2007.
Parish Information
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Tourism Digest
2005 Developing Accompong as a Prototype of Community-based Attraction.
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TPDCo. Trains Accompong Maroons in Craft, Tour Guiding Skills and Team Jamai
www.eyegrid.com/mandevilleweekly, accessed June 7, 2004.
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Driberg, Tom
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Newspaper Articles
Cummings, Mark
2005 Maroons revamping election rules. Jamaica Observer, January 11.
Evans, Teino
2003 Maroons seek redress from C&W, Digicel. Sunday Gleaner, November 2.
Gardner, Claudia
2006 Casino proposal angers Maroons objection to foreign investors.
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2006 Maroons not capitalizing on tourism.
www.HospitalityJamaica.com, accessed March 2, 2006.
Harris, Melville
2005 Maroon Foundation set for Accompong. Jamaica Observer, January 6.
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19.
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Myers, Garfield
2007 Maroons prepared to die for Cockpit, says Colonel Peddie. Jamaica Observer,
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2005 Protests planned for Accompong today. Jamaica Observer, December 22.
Sanford, Roy
2004 The Maroon challenge – Peddie to tackle road, water and unemployment.
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Silver, Janet
2004 Maroons want better roads, water supply. Jamaica Gleaner, January 8.
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13.
Wilkinson, Burke
1951 Bauxite in the Cockpits. Daily Glenaer, June 15:8.
Williams, Petre
335
APPENDIX I
337
APPENDIX II
An act to repeal the several laws of this island relating to maroons, and to appoint
commissioners to allot the lands belonging to the several maroon townships and
proper that the maroons of this island should be relieved from the disabilities
under which they labour in consequence of the operation of the several acts of
this island now in force: Be it enacted, that from and after the passing of this
[act] the twelfth of George and second, chapter five, passed in the year one
thousand seven hundred and thirty nine: the thirteenth George the second,
chapter eight, passed in one thousand seven hundred and forty; the fourteenth
George the second, chapter seven, passed in one thousand seven hundred and
forty one; the thirty-first George the second, chapter nine, passed in one
thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight; the tenth of George the third, chapter
five, passed in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine; the thirty-second
of George the third, chapter four, passed in one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-one; the thirty-sixth George the third, chapter thirty-four, passed in one
thousand seven hundred and ninety-six; the thirty-eighth George the third,
338
the forty-fifth George the third, chapter thirty-one, passed in one thousand
eight hundred and five; the forty-six George the third, chapter nineteenth,
passed in one thousand eight hundred and five; the forty-ninth George the
third, chapter twenty-two, passed in one thousand eight hundred and nine, and
the second William the fourth, chapter thirty-four, passed in one thousand
eight hundred and thirty-two, and all other acts, and parts of acts, relating to,
or affecting the maroons, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed, and
II. And be it enacted, That the maroons shall be entitled to and enjoy all the
as the same are enjoyed by any other of her majesty’s subjects in this island.
III. And whereas it is expedient that the several tracts of land allotted to the
several maroon towns, and now enjoyed by the maroons, should resumed by
enacted, That all and every the lands heretofore allotted and granted unto or
for the use and behoof of the maroons shall be, and the same are hereby
declared to be, revested in her most gracious majesty, her heirs and
mentioned.
IV. And be it enacted, That the members of assembly for the time being, and also
the custos, unless he be one of the members, and then the next senior
magistrate (who shall not be such member, and who shall be resident in the
339
parish) of the several parisher in which any maroon town or settlement shall
be established, shall be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for the
purpose of granting, conveying, and allotting the several lands belonging to,
or now used and enjoyed by, the maroons of each such respective township or
application for a grant, conveyance, and allotment of any such land, within the
V. And be it enacted, That every maroon, of full age, shall be at liberty to apply
shall be situate, who shall, and they are hereby required to grant, convey, and
allot two acres to each such maroon, to and for the sole and absolute use of
himself or herself, and his or her heirs and ensigns, and also where such party
illegitimate, a further quantity of one acre for each such child or grandchild:
Provided, that in the event of there being more than one application for land
on behalf of any such child or grand-child, no more than one acre of land shall
be granted or allotted for the same child or grand-child, and such grant and
allotment shall in such case be made to the person who, in the opinion of the
VI. And be it enacted, That every such maroon, desirous of procuring any such
grant, conveyance, and allotment, shall, at his or her expense in all respects,
procure a survey to be had and made of the land he or she shall be desirous to
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grant, convey, and allot such land to such maroon, to be held by his or her
absolutely in fee simple, in the form or to the effect following, that is to say:
Jamaica, ss.
appointed to grant, convey, and allot lands to maroons for the parish of
do hereby grant, convey, and allot unto his heirs and assigns, all and every the
diagram thereof hereunto annexed, To hold such lands with their and every of
In witness whereof we have hereto act and affixed our hands and seals,
unless there shall be annexed thereto a plot or diagram of the land intended to
VII And be it enacted, That in case any dispute shall arise between parties
lawful for the commissioners, or any tow of them, to determine such disputes,
and to grant and convey the land in dispute to such one of the parties as they,
VII And be it enacted, That the present superintendents of maroon towns shall
severally be entitled to the use and occupation of the several houses at such
towns or settlements, and ten acres of land annexed to the same, until the first
day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, if they shall
respectively so long live; and shall also be entitled to receive a salary of two
hundred pounds for the same period, to be paid quarterly by the receiver-
general, upon the order of any two or more commissioners of the parish, and
upon the expiration of that period, or the death of any such superintendent,
whichever shall first happen, such house and land shall vest in the said
commissioners, for the use of the public of this island; and the said
superintendent shall, during such period, be aiding and assisting to the said
commissioners in such manner and so long as they, or any two of them, shall
from time to time direct in the allotment of lands, and carrying this act into
execution; and in case any of the said superintendents shall fail so to do, it
shall be lawful for the said commissioners to withhold the order for the
payment of the whole or any part of the said sum of two hundred pounds, in
their discretion.
IX And be it enacted, That the commissioners of each such parish shall grant,
convey, and allot to the bishop of the said island and his successors, four acres
of land in each such townships for the site of a chapel and school and burial
342
ground, but nothing herein contained shall be construed or held to bind the
public of this island, or the justices and vestry of any such parish, to erect or
school, it shall be lawful for the bishop of this island for the time being to
sanction and approve thereof, upon such terms and conditions as shall be
mutually agreed upon between such bishop and the person or persons so
contributing; and the bishop for the time being shall make such order and
regulation for the attendance at such church, and the celebration of divine
and carrying on of any such school as he shall think fit, with liberty to alter
X And be it further enacted, That at the expiration of twelve months all lands
in the several maroon towns not taken up, shall be held by the before named
each or any of the said townships, shall not be sufficient to give to each of the
said maroons, the quantity of land hereinbefore provided for, then and in such
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case the said commissioners are hereby authorized to divide the said land in
such proportions as to them shall seem fit, regard being held to the proportions
APPENDIX III
The names listed below were recorded by Archibald Cooper (1938-9). There were the names of
full-blooded Accompng Maroons. The record was kept by Charles Reid who made a bid to
become colonel in the late 1930s. Names from the back of Reid’s copy of the treaty, probable
date: 1915-16
Introduction
This chapter examines the foodways of the Accompong Maroons. Why food?
Food is fundamental to every culture, individual, household, and economy. The foodways
of any cultural group is always the last to change, so food would indicated the similarities
and differences between the wider Jamaicans, other Jamaican Maroons and the South
American Maroons.
In the 1930s Dunham wrote: “I selected a half dozen plantains, a cabbage, and a
dozen green-coated mangoes at Maggotty market…There was no granulated sugar for the
cake, and none could be had nearer than Maggotty; so I must go for it immediately”
(Dunham 1946: 92-3 and 96). In addition to store bought food, Maroons were purchasing
produce such as plantains, mangoes and cabbage from the market, instead of growing
them. In addition to purchasing shop food, fresh meat was not consumed on a regular
peasant farmers.
347
Cooper (n.d.) wrote: “The village can be characterized as peasant, without
Europe and America, and it obtains the cash money to buy these goods through the sale
commodity market. It is the dependence of these people upon the larger world system of
production, distribution, exchange and consumption that is perhaps the primary reason
Kopytoff argued that “while “jerk pork” is distinctively Maroon, the other dishes
are part of a wider Jamaican heritage” (Kopytoff 1977:143). While jerk pork might have
been distinctively Maroon, this is no longer the case. In the late 1930s, the Maroons lost
the wild pigs they were hunting to deforestation. In addition, with the global marketing of
‘jerk’ as a sauce as opposed to a method of cooking, jerk foods are now consumed
throughout the island but none were served during the period of research in Accompong.
During the 2001 Jerk Festival in Port Antonio, a national event, the Accompong Maroons
which is more prized than the “shop food” now encroaching on the maroon economy,”
however the author did not describe the Maroons’ foodways in great detail for
“shop food” was highly prized in everyday situations and had long been used since the
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1930s, as indicated by Dunham (1946). “Store-bought” food is despised on Treaty Day as
mentioned by several informants. While the foods prepared on Treaty Day are meant to
advantage to serve cheap foods grown locally as it would be impossible for the
community to purchase “shop food” for a large audience numbering over 500.
Accompong Maroons argue that their foodways are different from the general
Jamaican population. However, my study indicates that the foodways of the Accompong
Maroons actually are quite similar to the rest of Jamaicans, including the Moore Town
Maroons. The differences, besides the poverty of basic foodstuffs, were in the added
symbolic values placed on particular food items during the ancestral offerings on Treaty
Day to distinguish Maroons from non-Maroons, and venerate their male ancestors. Here,
As will be explained salt is taboo during rituals where spirits are being summoned
and where it is believed that the spirits of the recent dead must fly back to Africa. The
restriction of salt is seen not just among the Accompong and Moore Town Maroons, but
also among Accompong’s Rastafarians and Revivalists. Chevannes (1995) also found the
salt taboo among the Rastafarians and Revivalist in wider Jamaica. Schuler (1980) found
a similar taboo among the BaKongo in Jamaica and among African descendants in
nineteenth and twentieth century Cuba. Littlewood (1993), (quoted in Chevannes (1995)),
recognizes that the association of salt with the “spirit world” is also common in Europe.
This similarity across various ethnic groups could be the adaptation of an African
response to their new lives in far off countries. Salt does not follow Levi-Strauss’s (1977)
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binary category ‘sacred/profane’ where the total absence of salt is the opposite of too
much salt, rather, there is a mid point. Contrary to Mary Douglas (1975) binary category
of meals and drinks, or liquid and solid, this dichotomy was blurred in Accompong.
Clearly, there is a need for more study on the use of salt in the Caribbean.
Despite the limited data on the diets of the Surinamese and Guyanese Maroons,
there is enough evidence to suggest that the Accompong Maroon diet is different. Price
(1975) asserted that the diet of each of the Maroon groups—Saramaka, Djuka
(Tapanahoni and Cottica), Matawai, Kwinti, Aluku and the Paramaka differed, and that
they differed from the larger Surinamese and French Guianese populations.
distinctions are made between Ashanti, Congo and Koromantee, reflected in burial
patterns, there are no distinctions with the exception of economic position, reflected in
the diet. Within the community socio-economic status is displayed in terms of the
definition of a meal, meal patterns, food preparation, where food is consumed and
mortuary obligations.
The diet of peasant farmers is dominated by a staple crop, usually high in bulk,
and low in nutrients. In the case of Accompong, the staple crop is tuber vegetables
Another core food item is rice, which is store-bought. “By the 1970s rice was rightly
called one of Jamaica’s “staple foods”. Like corn, almost all of it imported, and the
350
decline in local production was even more dramatic” (Higman 2008:232). In the early
1960s, twenty one percent of rice consumed in Jamaica came from local fields. In the 21st
century, all the rice is imported. Some rice also comes to Accompong with food aid
packages from Food for the Poor. The core foods are served with one or two flavor fringe
in the form of fish, meat, chicken and other vegetables. Over ninety-five percent of all the
meat or fish is store bought, and canned or salted. Occasionally an animal is slaughtered
and the meat sold. Animals are slaughtered locally. Goat is the most popular meat and
beef is highly prized. Although pigs are slaughtered to feed the ancestors on Treaty Day,
many Maroons did not eat pork and this meat is served infrequently.
bought foods are visible daily in every meal from the purchasing of a packet of powdered
coconut milk marketed by Grace Foods instead of grating a coconut to produce milk for
cooking rice. It is cheaper to purchase a small packet of coconut powder than to grate a
coconut in order to cook rice on a daily basis. However, fresh coconut milk was used in
large-scale cooking such as that for the Basic School graduation where it is more
economical. The ingredients of a soup made with ground provisions and pumpkin grown
locally have chicken feet and a packet of soup mix that is store bought. In addition to the
reconstitute the powdered milk as opposed to pulling the coconut from the tree, removing
the husk, and then the shell before grating the nut to obtain the milk. Here, we can see the
modernity penetrating the daily lives of those on the periphery of the periphery of the
world systems.
351
Because of the lack of or limited access to refrigeration, salted or canned meats
and fish are consumed in greater quantities than fresh meat or fish in Accompong Town.
No fresh milk is consumed, although a large number of families own goats. Only a small
number of individuals own cattle. The milk used is imported, and either condensed,
evaporated or powdered. These items also hark back to the days of the early formation of
There are a variety of fruits grown and eaten when in season. The children on a
whole take more advantage of the fruits. Some of the fruits are also used to make wine
and preserves while most rot under the trees. The same fruits are seen throughout the
island on trees, roadside stands, and in the supermarkets. Some of the fruits have been
canned and marketed by Grace Foods, located in Kingston, for an international market.
However, the Maroons are not in any way engaged in such production.
The most common drinks served with lunch or dinner, are Kool-Aid or a drink
made from bottled syrup, or soda. These drinks are all high in sugar with little nutritional
value. Although fruits were plentiful during the period of the research, they were not
utilized to the fullest extent as large quantities rotted on the trees or under the trees. Only
a few women make wine, jam and jelly, but little fruit juice. Drinks for meal time are all
labeled “tea”, and vary from tea, coffee, ground kola nut, or ‘bush’ tea. ‘Bush’ tea may
be susumba, mint, or ginger tea. With the bush teas, the categories of food as medicine
consume more bush tea than store bought tea. There are also a high consumption of
functional drinks such as Supligen, Milo, Ovaltine, and Horlicks that are vitamin
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enriched, but cost more than sugary drinks.
Meal Patterns
Douglas (1975) contrasted meals with drinks, arguing that “meals contrast with
drinks in the relation between solids and liquids. Meals are a mixture of solid foods
between food and drinks is blurred. A soda, functional drink, coconut water, a drink of
rum or any other alcoholic beverage may replace a meal just as easily as a sandwich,
ground provisions, a piece of bread, or a piece of cane. After observing several workmen
drinking a shot of rum or bottle of soda at lunch time, I enquired if they were going for
lunch, and if so, what were they going to eat? They responded that they already had their
lunch—a soda or drink of rum. When pressed further, they noted that a drink or soda was
At the lower end of the social segment of the town it is difficult to discern meal
patterns. I found that even though I had money to buy food, I was ‘disciplined by
hunger,’ (Mintz 1994) as there was very little food available for purchase in the village
and the diet lacked adequate proportions of green vegetables I was accustomed to. One
informant told me: “I have 10 children, and cannot always feed them. Sometimes, I went
without food and fed the children oatmeal.” At the middle and top of the social pyramid
of the population, meal patterns are more clearly defined and two meals per day are
usually eaten, and maybe a snack in between. More rice compared to ground provisions
353
is also consumed among this group. However, in some cases the distinctions between
what foods are served for breakfast and dinner are blurred. The meals during the week
were also patterned, as are feasts and life cycle events during the year.
Lunch is whatever is available and may be any of the following: a piece of bun
(sweet bread), corn pudding, crackers and processed cheese, fruits, a piece of bread,
roasted corn, sweet potato pudding, a piece of cane sugar, jelly coconut, coconut water,
soft drink, or white rum. School children were served lunch at school, for a small fee.
School lunch was the same items consumed at home, and consisted of rice and stew
beans; or porridge, or sandwiches made from potted meat or Vienna sausage. Unlike the
adults, the majority of the children took full advantage of the various fruits seasonally
Food served for the primary school graduation was potted meat sandwich for the
parents and guests, while the children had ice cream. Here, ice cream served as a special
treat for the children and a distinction was being made between children=s food and adult
food. Potted meat sandwiches were also served to the grave-diggers of a member of the
elite family.
Meals are consumed either in the yard as an extension of the house, or inside the
house at a dining table or sitting on the bed. Again, this depends on the socio-economic
position of the family. Families at the top of the socio-economic class have dining tables
where meals are consumed. Others at the lower end eat in the yard, or sitting on the bed.
Children were more likely than adults to eat outside in the yard.
I did not eat in Moore Town during my visits there in 1999 and 2001, but
354
conversations with Moore Town Maroons and a survey of the shop confirmed that the
items that form the basis of the diet were similar to the Accompong Maroons. In the
1970s, we learn from Cohen (1973) about the diet of the Moore Town Maroons. The
core of the diet was formed from a variety of roots, tubers, rice and peas and starchy
items which included a variety of yams, breadfruit, bananas (ripe and green, raw and
cooked). These foods are flavored with little animal and fish protein which included
crawfish, beef, pork, fowl or mutton. One difference we see in Moore Town is crawfish
that can be accounted for since Moore Town is nearer to streams and rivers than
Accompong.
Crops of the Djuka of Suriname are different from that found in Jamaica. They
include “bitter cassava, rice, bananas, bacoven, root-crops, maize, groundnuts, sugar-
cane, tobacco, pepper, gourds, and fruit trees” (de Groot 1969:34). According to
Mitrasing (1979), who studied the Boni Maroons of Suriname, the manioc or cassava is
the staple crop. Manioc was never a staple in Jamaica as it is a lowland crop. There is
also some local production of sweet potatoes, plantains, yams, peppers, okra, sugar-cane,
cotton, peas, beans, peanuts, corn and rice. Hunting and fishing provide protein sources to
supplement the mainly vegetarian diet of the Djuka of Suriname (de Groot 1977).
Food Aid
economic development, the diet is shifting from one based on store bought food
355
supplemented with agricultural produce to one dependent on foreign food aid. In a three-
month period of June through August of 2001, there were four distributions of food aid.
One distribution came through the council and was stored at the community center; a
second through the United Church and housed at the minister’s house; the third through
the Basic School for the children; and the fourth through Zion Church. Members of the
Zion Church were asked to make a donation toward the food aid, a surcharge that limited
the ability of some of them to participate. The Zion Church is the church most closely
tied to African religion and one can speculate that the food aid organization was pushing
Foods distributed included cut string beans, pinto beans, black beans, potato,
gongo beans in brine solution and tomato sauce, all in six-pound cans, plus a twenty-five
pound bag of rice and Carb Solution (a low carbohydrate diet drink). The rice distributed
through the Council was considered inferior by some of the women because it was
broken grain rice, a rice that cooks up into a thick mushy glob.
The disparity between the top and bottom tiers of the village although seen on a
daily basis, was most pronounced during the distribution of food items. The top tier of
the community was the families of the colonels and council members. Individuals were
required to bring their own containers for the food ration. However, the majority of the
people were unable to provide adequate containers for the food. Lack of proper storage
containers suggests that food is not stored for any length of time and that individuals did
not have the money to invest in storage containers. Because of the extreme heat, foods do
not last longer than one or two days. In Accompong and the rest of Jamaica, one pays an
356
extra 5 cents for a plastic bag to take home one’s purchase. These bags are then recycled
as a cost saving mechanism. Therefore, on the day of the distribution, some individuals
brought used plastic bags while others did not have a bag at all. Some of the bags were
unclean and had holes in them. People were asked to line up and then continue down the
line to collect the various items. Council members who were serving scooped a small
quantity of each of the various food items —tomato sauce, potatoes, string beans, and
black beans in the same bag. Using recycled plastic bags often resulted in food pouring
out onto the floor. No sympathy was shown for those without proper containers, i.e. the
majority of individuals on the line. People were told that if they did not have a bag, or
did not line up in a straight line, they would not be served. The poor were treated as if
they were to blame for their condition. In addition to people being treated badly, various
food items were all combined in the same bag. This series of events prompted me to go
and buy some small plastic bags and help in the distribution to ensure everyone got some
food in clean containers and with each item in separate bags. Later, after everyone had
been served, food was placed aside for those who could not make it to the community
During this food distribution, individuals at the top tier of the socio-economic
segment benefited the most. They had access to the food before the distribution date, and
took away whole cans of beans, potatoes, tomato sauce and sacks of rice. In addition,
their refrigerators made it convenient for them to store the remainder of the food.
However, even those with refrigerators, are still subject to irregular electricity often
resulting in spoilage. For those at the bottom, the food distribution revealed that they
357
were at the mercy of those who were better off. The food aid was only short term solution
for the poor who were most in need. If the goal of food-aid is to alleviate hunger, then
this type of distribution, one that takes place once every three weeks or so, --is only a
stop-gap gesture, a band-aid. People were forced to eat the food as soon as possible to
avoid spoilage; if this was not done, eating spoiled food could lead to food poisoning and
Food distribution through the Basic School took place monthly and was of better
quality and in larger quantities. I observed each child receive five pounds of whole grain
rice and corn meal. This donation suggests that there was an added incentive for parents
to send their children to school. Observation of the food distribution done through the
church revealed that the items they gave out were similar to those distributed through the
council. It was evident from the distributions of food that the sponsoring organizations
had very little knowledge of the communities they were helping and that they had
particular goals. The food was distributed in six-pound cans necessitating distribution of
smaller quantities to each individual. From an economic standpoint, it is cheaper for food
organizations to donate food in bulk quantities. However, from a practical point of view,
on the receiving end poorer families would have been better off had they been given
several 12 ounce or 1 pound cans of food they could use on a need basis with little
spoilage and waste. Food aid organizations and policy makers must first know about the
Food for the Poor is a Christian organization therefore its primary goal is to
358
promote education and religion. Interestingly, Food for the Poor is also an American
organization for alleviating poverty in Central America and the Caribbean. Yet, the
American control of market prices on foodstuffs exported from these very countries
results in poverty. However, their efforts in Accompong are only a band aid on a huge,
long term wound and not in line with the First World’s goal of eradicating hunger. In
1974, First World countries came together at the World Food Conference and recognized
that hunger was a global issue and declared that access to food was a human rights issue
and “every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and
A goal was set to eradicate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition within a decade.
More than 30 years later, the problems of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition have
increased. The 1995 Unites States Department of Agriculture report noted that nine
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean “fall into the category of low-income food-
deficit countries” where “children under the age of five suffer from acute or chronic
Food Preparation
well as the level of technological adaptation. Cooking methods also correlate with
housing type and cookers. Cooking outdoors, the simplest method of cooking is seen
throughout the Caribbean and Mexico among the lower classes. With the increase in
359
wealth, new technology is first adopted by the upper classes, serving as an indicator of
wealth and sophistication before it trickles down to the lower class. Among the middle
class one can see the use of both the new and the old methods of food preparation.
In his study of Tepoztlan, Lewis (1951) also examined cooking methods, stove
types and other household furniture. He discovered that individuals in the lower sector of
the society used a fire hearth, while “the brasero, a raised clay stove with two or three
charcoal-burning iron grates on top, is generally still found only in better-to-do homes
and is used sparingly or only for preparing fiesta meals” (Lewis 1951:184).
In 1996 and 1997 when I studied in San Cristobal de las Casas and several
neighboring villages in Chiapas, Mexico, the same pattern of cooking methods was
observed. The majority of indigenous peoples and lower class Mestizos also cooked
outdoors. A few of the middle class Mestizos had gas cookers but when they were
cooking tamales, they would construct an outdoor fire, arguing that the tamales did not
In Accompong, the middle and top social segments of the community use gas
stoves indoors while the lower strata use the fire hearth outdoors. Use of gas stoves
corresponds to individuals who have houses with large single function rooms and indoor
and Kopytoff (1977:143) who all found outdoor cooking as the only place for food
preparation. This indicates that the economy of the town has grown over the past
seventy years with the accumulation of status items such as stoves and the huge cement
houses described earlier. At the middle segment of the community the gas stove may or
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may not have an oven and in some cases, a two-burner tabletop stove. At the top of the
economic strata the stoves have four-burners and an oven. The gas stoves rely on butane
gas in tanks that last about six weeks to two months before they have to be replenished.
Some individuals in the middle sector who use a gas cooker, are forced to revert to the
fire hearth when the gas runs out and they don’t have money to replenish the tank. This
A makeshift fire hearth is used for large scale cooking for large events. (See
photos on page 289 and 301.) For example, although the Basic School has a kitchen,
food preparation for the graduation ceremonies was done outdoors on a makeshift fire
hearth set up on the ground because a larger amount of food had to be prepared to serve
both the children and their parents. Pieces of wood were placed on the ground between
two cement blocks. The wood was lit with matches after kerosene had been poured on it.
Food prepared for the TDPCo visitors was also prepared outdoors. Individuals who cook
outdoors expressed their preferences for different types of firewood to give a desired taste
for particular foods. “Dried wood give chicken a golden color and nice taste” (Marlene
Huggins, 2001). Cooking outdoors is still common; the community has not become
Baking is done outdoors over a makeshift fire hearth constructed on the ground as
described above. A large cast iron pot is then placed over the fire on the cement blocks
for support. The cake or pudding, in its baking pan, is then placed inside the large pot. A
sheet of zinc is placed on top of the pot and more fire is placed on top. The fire placed on
top is usually in the form of coal, since the heat needs to be regulated. The result is fire
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on the top and fire on the bottom. The intensity of that is regulated by the amount of fire
placed in either location. This same method is followed for a fire hearth located next to
the house.
In the 1970s, Moore Town Maroons were also cooking over a fire hearth; in
addition, some of the Moore Town Maroons had kerosene burners. “Cooking is done in a
the main residence. Kerosene burners or stone hearths using wood or charcoal provide the
fire needed for the parathion of food. The anthropologist was impressed with a baking
technique, in which a greased kettle filled with cake batter was first placed on the
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kerosene burner. Atop the kettle was set a sheet of tin, upon which was placed burning
charcoal and wood chips, this to provide heat from the top. The simulated oven produced
Mortuary Obligations
In the ‘The Sociological Study of Native Diet,” Raymond Firth (1934) argued that
studies of the diet in small scale African societies must also examine mortuary
obligations. Since Accompong is a small scale society, I followed Firth’s advice when
presented with two wakes during the research period. Death is an important occasion in
the life cycle of any group; it provides an opportunity to recreate group identity and
cohesion, and reestablishes the relationship between humans and the deities, as well as
between humans and humans. The examination of two funerals provided an opportunity
to highlight the differences in class positions found in the village. I saw both gift
exchanges and market economy at work in work patterns and mortuary obligations.
Douglas (1990) noted that “the gift cycle echoes Adam Smith’s invisible hand: gift
complements market in so far as it operates where the latter is absent. Like the market it
supplies each individual with the personal incentives for collaboration in the pattern of
exchanges. Gifts are given in a context of public drama, with nothing secret about them”
(Douglas 1990:XIV).
night celebrations, and sometimes gravediggers are fed. The ability to meet these
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obligations is dependent on one’s financial assets. Because more and more Maroons
have migrated, nine night celebrations take place over a longer period of time for those
who can afford it beginning from the time of death until the day of burial. For the lower
Here, I will describe strategies families employed. The foods prepared and served at the
two wakes are representative of the extreme levels of social stratification in Accompong
Town. The first wake is that of Levi Rowe, a man closely tied to the elite families
producing the village’s colonels and having considerable land holdings; the second is that
of L. M. Rowe, who despite his last name has no close political linkage and very little
land.
Families must carefully examine their finances and the resources they have
available to cover burial expenses. In the extreme scenario where a family cannot meet its
obligations kin or friends take on the obligations but in turn claim the deceased person’s
land or other resources. I learned of several cases where an individual inherited land or
Families who can afford hired help do so during a wake. Cooks are paid and any
food available is shared with them. In some cases, the cooks are paid only with food.
For example, if a cow or goat is slaughtered, the cooks earn a foot, the liver and a pound
of meat. The individual who cleans the internal organs is rewarded with the intestines
The diversion of food to hired help therefore results in less food being available
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for sharing with the community as a whole. The cooks themselves are young men
responsible for the slaughtering and cleaning of any animals, in addition to preparing the
food for the wake and the gravediggers. Because better-off families serve an additional
meal after the interment it is possible for the food preparation to take place over a two-
week period.
The first wake was that of Levi Rowe, brother of Colonel Henry A. Rowe who
was in office from 1920 to 1938. The celebrations took place over eleven days. During
this period, cooks were hired to slaughter a cow and five goats to go along with five 10-
pound boxes of chicken. In order to purchase this much chicken, one had to go to Santa
Cruz, the nearest town, where the price per pound is $55JA. The rate of exchange in
2001 was JA$60 or $65 to US$1. Food was served every night and the night before the
funeral was the largest celebration. Food was also served after the interment to all who
attended the funeral. Funeral goers came in several buses and cars and totaled over two
hundred. In addition, the men hired to dig the grave were fed with potted meat
Soup and dinner were served at about 11:00 PM each night with an interval of
half an hour between the distribution of the soup and the main meal. The soup was made
from the tripe of the cow, pumpkin, ground provisions and spinners (small flour
dumplings). The meal was white rice, cole slaw, and a choice of stewed beef, chicken or
goat. There were bottles of beer, several visible bottles of rum, and each individual was
The meal served after the interment of the body was a choice of rice and beans or
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white rice, cole slaw and a choice of stewed meat–chicken, goat or beef. Drinks served
were kool-aid and white rum. Foods served at this wake were plentiful. This first wake
alliance as argued by Sahlins (1972). The higher governing class provided a feast over
The second wake was that of L. M. Rowe, someone at the very low end of the
socio-economic spectrum. In this case, there was only one night of celebrations, and
family members prepared the food themselves as opposed to hiring cooks. The wake got
under way at about 10:00 PM and a small cup of soup was served at 11:30 PM. The soup
was prepared with chicken feet, pumpkin and spinners. Chicken feet sell for $35 JA per
pound as opposed to $55 per pound for chicken pieces. Chicken feet also produce a
different type of soup from that made with chicken pieces. The feet of the chicken,
consisting mostly of cartilage and tenders, produce a gelatin when cooked, resulting in a
very thick soup. The main meal of rice and beans, cole slaw and stewed goat was served
at 1:00 AM.
Since everyone had to be fed, time was used as an advantage in the distribution of
food. By serving the food late, some people would have already have left, resulting in
more food to go around for those remaining. The alcohol was served in a communal
container rather than individual containers. This way, the host family had control over
the amount of alcohol consumed. The food for this wake was prepared by the immediate
family as opposed to hired cooks, thereby lowering the cost of the obligations.
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Ancestral Offering
In the ancestral offering in Accompong, the absence of salt and the presence of
rum figure prominently. Everyday foods of yams, chicken, pork and plantains are
prepared without salt and fed to the Maroon ancestors. On this day, the foods are
assigned added symbolic value to transform from profane to sacred. The yams and
plantains, pig and rooster are male. In addition, the pig must be black, and the rooster
red.
“The term ‘sacred’ food is used here to refer to those foodstuffs the use of which
is validated by religious beliefs, while foodstuffs expressly forbidden by the religion can
be termed ‘profane.’… The sacred/profane dichotomy applies to much more than food,
since it is usually part of a wider moral framework including dress, behavior, speech and
certain ritual actions, such as regular prayers, or ritual bathing and other rites of
provisions became sacred foods in religious contexts that are African derived. In
The animals are slaughtered and cleaned differently from the remainder of the
year. The abeng blower, Rupee Hansley Reid, described this to me:
The slaughtering of a pig I observed during fieldwork was different from that
described above as hot water instead of rum was used to remove the hair from the pig.
The late Colonel Wright describes what takes place during the offering.
It is during the preparation for the visit to the sacred grounds, that
the sprinkling of the sacred grounds with rum and the pouring of libation
takes place. During that time there is preparation of the food to be carried
to feed the spirits of the Maroon heroes. The food includes pork as the
meat and boiled yam. At the graves of the heroes, in addition to pouring
libation (which among the Accompong Maroons is basically the sprinkling
of rum over the sacred grounds) food is thrown around the area. A tense
moment comes at the place when the visiting Maroons must have a period
of spiritual communication with their ancestors but must be preceded by a
long period of silence and meditation--what among them is referred to as a
>reasoning session.= The return to the Kindah Tree is made by following
what is known as the >Old Town Path.= (Wright 1997:69).
Since non-Maroons are prohibited from participating in the food offering that
takes place at the graves in Old Town, I visited the site of the offering the morning after
the celebrations. Remains of cooked pork, plantain and yellow yams were still visible on
banana leaves atop a stand near the ritual hut located over the ancestors’ graves.
Preparation of the food for this ancestral offering takes place at a large outdoor
fire under the Kindah tree (We are family), the site of the signing of the peace treaty.
Once the food is cooked, it is then taken out to Old Town where the graves of the
ancestors are located, and placed on banana leaves on top of a stand that sits over
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Accompong’s grave. A portion of food remains behind at the Kindah Tree where it will
be consumed later.
Once the ancestors are fed, the party returns to Kindah where other Maroons and
guests may join in the consumption of the meal. In this section of the ritual, elderly
females are permitted to help serve the food. The consumption of the food confers good
luck for the remainder of the year. The food is served on banana or fish leaves and eaten
with the fingers. An emphasis is placed on minimizing the use of store-bought food and
utensils, allowing for intensifying the relationship with the natural world. According to
one informant, >The food is served on a piece of banana leaf, or on another leaf called fish
leaf, reflecting one=s relationship with nature= (Mark Wright 2001). This relationship
with nature also serves as a means of returning to the >old time= of the early warriors who
habitually ate their food in this manner. One can also argue that utilizing the leaves of
the banana tree and the fish leaves that are so plentiful locally also serves an economic
function since no one in the community could possibly afford to make a purchase of
disposable utensils for the hundreds of people that gather at the Kindah tree during this
part of the celebrations. The same can be said for using the ground provisions which are
grown locally, minimizing the cost of the event. Even as it is, the cost of the food given
As Mary Douglas has written, AIf food is treated as a code, the messages it
encodes will be found in the pattern of social relations being expressed. The message is
transactions across boundaries@ (Douglas 1975:249). This Myal ritual in the form of a
communal meal is used to venerate Maroon ancestors. The communal meal symbolically
affirms present day Maroon males= connection to the male warrior heroes of their
ancestral past while maintaining gender and ethnic boundaries that exclude women and
non-Maroons from participating in the ritual. The rules for participation in the ancestral
offering even draw a distinction within the group of all Maroon males, since it is only
>full-blooded= Maroon males that can be present to make the offering and communicate
with the ancestral spirits at their Old Town graves on that day; even >full-blooded=
Accompong Maroons living in other parts of the country are allowed to return and
participate in this ritual. At the same time as participating in the ancestral worship
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reaffirms the relationship between the living and the dead heroes, it also defines who the
true descendants and family of the ancient heroes are, and articulates a set of ritual values
The construction of the boundaries between full-blooded Maroon males and other
Maroons goes beyond the participation in this ritual. Like Turner, I found that I could not
analyze ritual symbols without studying them in a time series in relation to other >events,=
for symbols are essentially involved in social process. (Turner 1967:20). The drawing of
boundaries here are reflections of other aspects of Maroon life such as who is and who is
>full-blooded= Maroon males and other Maroon males in a dramatic public form. Turner
(1967) suggests that ritual symbols should be viewed “as distinct phases in the social
process whereby groups become adjusted to internal changes and adapted to their
external environments. From this standpoint the ritual symbol becomes a factor in social
endogamy, this community is not one of all Maroons. Non-Maroons have entered the
community and their presence is acknowledged, through their exclusion on treaty day.
Although there are some families that are endogamous, marry within the village
and take only other Maroons as mates wherever they may find them, Maroons are in
practice exogamous. Since Maroons are exogamous, then not everyone will be a >full-
blooded= Maroon. Some are half Maroon, and if a half Maroon has children with a non-
Maroon, the children will be a quarter Maroon and so on. Non-Maroons have entered
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village life in different ways and been incorporated into it to different degrees. Non-
Maroon males have entered the community by purchasing land in the village, or through
conjugal relationships with Maroon females. As a result there are non-Maroons living in
Accompong who are related to its resident population either through marriage, common-
example, since my family had participated in the daily lives of the Maroons and made
economic contributions to the community, we were told that we had earned Maroon
citizenship and were encouraged to send money back to Accompong to build a guest
house there. Maroon citizenship grants an individual the right to own land, participate in
The ancestral offering intensifies the gender division of labor in this ritual and
honors the male warriors of the Maroon past: only males are allowed to prepare the meal
and make the offering. In terms of the rituals commemorating the treaty, Nanny=s renown
as a warrior woman on the other side of Jamaica does not devolve upon subsequent
coming into the village they are important primarily for reproduction and the continuation
of the Maroon group as a whole. The core of Accompong Maroon identity is male.
Women, then, are totally excluded from ritual practices at the ancestral offering but may
mediate between the full-blooded male Maroons who prepare the food and the more
broadly defined >family present at Kindah where >family= includes both male and female
The Accompong Maroons argue that their foodways differ from wider Jamaican
foodways. However, their diets are similar to the larger Jamaican society even though the
similar, not just at the surface level, but at deep levels such as the sacred/profane
classification. Their difference from the wider Jamaican society is in the food symbolism
The foodways in Accompong are governed by its ecology, political economy, and
particular food items; and lack of economic infrastructure and vulnerability to the
the use of high quantities of canned and salted foods. In the economy chapter, I
demonstrated the penetration of the metropolitan core of the world system in to the rural
periphery in terms of the recruitment of a cheap labor pool. But the flow of goods in the
opposite direction is slow. We see with the lack of technological development for the
refrigerator is still beyond the reach of the rural poor and lags behind people in the urban
centers. In the wider Jamaica, the gas cooker was available to the middle class in the
early 1970s compared to Accompong where it occurs much later, further demonstrating
that this village in on the periphery of the world system and there need to be more
studies.
Appendix V
Caribbean Timeline
1697 Treaty of Ryswick. Spain ceded the western portion of the island of
Hispanola to France
1734 200 Indians brought in from Mosquito Coast to hunt Jamaican Maroons.
1739 – 1748 “War of Jenkin’s Ear between the British and the Spanish over The
Caribbean, North America and India
March 1st
1738-9 British (Guthrie and Francis Saddle) signed treaties with Maroons Captain
Cudjoe, Accompong, Johnny, Cuffee and Quaco (Maroons), with land
grant, freedom and local autonomy
Cudjoe awarded 1500 acres of land in Trelawny Town.
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March
1740 British (Robert Bennett) signed treaty similar to that of Cudjoe’s, with
Quaco
1769 - 1793 Military hostilities between the Aluku and the Dutch
1778 France seized some of her former colonies (Dominica and Grenada)
England seized St. Lucia
1780 – 1787 15,000 Jamaican slaves died from famine due to loss of American food
supplies.
1791 Treaty between the Dutch and the Aluku, placing them under the
supervision of the Ndjuka
1795 Accompong Maroons fighting with Trelawny Maroons for the treaty and
1500 acres of land
Trelawny Maroons revolted against the British.
Accompong Maroons aided the British to suppress the Trelawnies.
Trelawnies exiled to Nova Scotia and then to Sierra Leone.
1796 Treaty with the Trelawny Maroons declared null and void.
1779 – 1798 British settlement (British Honduras) in Central America under attack by
Spanish
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1831-1832 Jamaica: Maroons served in military and helped the British to suppress
the Taki and Sam Sharpe rebellions.
1838 – 1918 half million indentured laborers entered the British West Indian plantation
system
1850 – 1852 Jamaica: Cholera epidemic in Kingston, killing 80% of the population.
1860 Dutch recognize the Aluku (now living in French Guiana) as free people
October
1865 Jamaica: Maroons assisted the British to suppress the Morant Bay
Rebellion and returned runaway slaves. Rebellion led by Paul and Moses
Bogle, who were executed along with 352 others. 1000 houses destroyed.
December
1896 Accompong: Robert J. Wright, Colonel
July
1897 Accompong: Isaac Miles, Colonel
1903 Under a treaty with Cuba, US is granted the naval base of Guantanamo.
December
1906 Joseph Williams visits Jamaica.
January
1907 Earthquake hits Jamaica.
1917 US grant people from Puerto Rico US citizenship and a limited degree of
self-government.
US purchase the Virgin Islands from Demark for $25 million.
1918 WW I ends
1920 – 1945 Migration from the Caribbean to England, France and Holland is
limited to middle and upper classes.
1928 – 1933 Prices of West Indian experts (banana and sugar) halved.
Results: wages cut, increased taxation, high unemployment.
1930
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo y Molina seizes power in the Dominican
Republic.
November 2
1930 Ras Tafari crowned Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.
The coronation was taken as a sign by Jamaicans who became
Rastafarians
March
1934 Haile Selassie tried for sedition.
1935
St. Kitts: No wage increase for sugar laborers resulting in strike
th
28 January (war ship arrived and workers went back to work)
September to
October British Guiana: outburst of strikes for higher wages on plantations
1936
Accompong: Melville and Frances Herkovits, Katherine Dunham, and
Zora Neal Hurston visits.
Colonel H. A. Rowe resigns but remains in office.
1937
Jamaica: decline in sugar prices on world market, banana diseases
19th June Trinidad: strike in the oilfields. Grievances included rise in cost of living
(17%) and the “Red Book’, a system for identifying the workers which the
workers felt was used to facilitate victimization.
Uriah Butler arrested, causing a riot.
Navy summoned from Bermuda
27th July Barbados: riot broke out after deportation of Clement Payne
August St Vincent: agricultural workers on the sugar plantation struck for higher
wages.
December Trinidad: wage increase offered and accepted by oilfield workers after
negotiation with union.
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1938
5th January Jamaica: strike on Serge Island sugar estate (St. Thomas)
Police reserves dispatched. Wage concession
2nd May Jamaica: strike at construction site of Tate & Lyle (West Indies Sugar
Co.) Frome in Westmoreland
Alexander Bustamante and William Grant conducted a series of public
meetings.
16th May Jamaica: Strikers prevented workers of road construction in Trench Pen
area of St. Andrew.
22nd May to
June Jamaica: Street cleaners on strike, resulting in riots, destruction of private
property, streets blocked, and tramcars attacked. Soldiers, navy and
special constables used to calm unrest.
Bustamante and Norman Manley emerged and leaders in the struggles.
July Charles Town Maroons demands land in St. Mary’s where they were
squatting and later evicted 30 or 40 years previously.
28th November Accompong: Group of Maroons (22) led by James T. Cawley (acting
Colonel) seized sleepers and lumber from government workers and also
seized tram cars to uphold their demand for more land.
1939
February Accompong: Major Robertson goes to Colonial Secretary for more land
Maroons should have 1,500 acres more than they had. They have 1220
acres.
1939 Accompong: Governor offers 350 acres of land which is added to original
grant of 1000 acres with no taxes to be paid; plus 2,000 - 3,000 acres of
crown land with minimal rent to be held communally. Maroons are only
given agricultural surface rights. The crown reserves all oil and mineral
rights. In return, Maroons agreed to be citizens with all rights. Agreement
accepted by Colonel Thomas James Cawley.
June 10
1940 Marcus Garvey dies in London.
February 10th
1942 Universal Adult Suffrage in Jamaica
September 20th
1944 Jamaica granted semi-responsible government.
1958 – 1961 British Guiana, civil unrest as a result of fight for political and economic
power by the three political parties within the country, economic disasters,
blatant racism, severe long-term food shortage, military colonial
intervention and fear of Marxism.
January 3rd
1958 Establishment of the West Indies Federation, consisting of Jamaica,
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
July 1958 Haiti: attempted invasion and takeover of the Haitian palace.
1959 Cayman Islands separated from Jamaica and became a crown colony
1962
May 31 West Indian Federation dissolves
1963
President Juan Boach Gavino of Dominican Republic overthrown by
military coup.
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1986 – 1987 Civil war between the national government and the Sramacca, Paramacca
and Ndjuka
2001
March 14 Seven men killed by police in Kingston suburb
July 7 Police crack after two months of fighting in Tivoli Gardens in Kingston.
July 9 Prime Minister Patterson ordered army deployed to restore calm across
Jamaica following 3 days of violence.