The High Plains Society
for
Applied Anthropology

Community Development, Corruption, and "Felt Needs": The Challenges of Neighborhood Reform Initiatives in Kingston, Jamaica

Anne M. Galvin

Despite the enormous opportunities for the growth of Jamaica as a nation that neoliberal globalization is purported to provide, this political-economic model also poses significant obstacles to members of the state who seek to carve out a workable niche in the world market. Policies associated with neoliberal restructuring over the past 25 years have demanded a dramatic reorganization of the Jamaican state in relation to both society and the global economy. Reforms in Jamaica have resulted in a protracted struggle for the incorporation of the nation‘s economy into the global market, as well as profound experiences of social upheaval and dislocation. Intensive, unplanned, urbanization has exacerbated the problems associated with poverty, including violence, high unemployment, skyrocketing crime and the entrenchment of organized crime networks, necessitating community development strategies that can reshape disruptive communities in accordance with the national agenda of economic and social progress. In this article I explore the complexities of one such strategy ethnographically.

The Applied Anthropologist, No. 2, Vol. 32, 2012, pp 15 - 19

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