"Just a Dash of Salt": Salt and Identity Formation in Historical and Contemporary Jamaica
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Date
2021-04-27
Authors
Sperry, Alyssa
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Salt is a ubiquitous substance that has played a significant role in the development of human culture. It is a recognizable universal human need that over time has adapted symbolic and practical significance across cultures and regions. However, most scholarship around salt has focused on the practical use in the form of production and consumption, where salt’s symbolic significance has been overshadowed. Moreover, research has underestimated how essential salt was in the fueling of the Atlantic Slave trade (15th – 19th centuries), while being a contributor in creating, and later preserving, identities of enslaved Africans and the newly developed cultures that emerged from colonial oppression. This thesis explores the symbolic significance and value of salt, and how beliefs and practices were created around salt to aid in the development and preservation of two African-derived cultures in Jamaica that emerged from the Atlantic Slave trade era: Maroons and Rastafarians.
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Keywords
Culture, Identity, Jamaica, Maroon, Rastafarian, Salt