International Women's Day 2020 - A Modern Day Jamette Perspective by Abeo Jackson
I am an artist. A black woman creative with a social conscience. I consider myself a Modern Day Jamette. A Caribbean and by extension Afro-Trinidadian woman, fully aware of and walking in the fullness of my sexuality and awareness of my Merikin lineage. A Jamette unapologetically irreverent in my politics, my spirituality and in my understanding of the power of my voice and body. This is the ideology in which my feminism is rooted. An ideology that never premised itself as less than or subjugated to anything or anyone. Hence, despite having a conventional academic and historical grasp of feminism, my Caribbean rebel experience with womanhood has allowed me to navigate spaces in the Caribbean and the wider world fully aware of each dichotomy but empowered by the awareness of our rich Jamette culture.
As an older 'millennial' thriving in a time of social media and hashtag culture, online social justice movements and what seems to be a resurgence of 'feminism' as a hip buzz word, where #metoo and #blackgirlmagic and #blacklivesmatter force questions about whether issues of equality have moved beyond their first manifestations decades ago? Have we come full circle? Are we back where we started? Are these new fights or more of the same that our mothers and grandmothers fought? And how in the world do we not become fatigued by it all? Especially in light of the fact that there are so many willing to gaslight us into thinking that the trauma and microaggressions of so many of our day to day lived experiences particularly as women of color are mere imaginings as a result of being overly sensitive.
The fact is there are so many who believe the fight for equality is over. That those were stories of old told by those who were clamoring for suffrage/political franchise or the right to work in male dominated industries. There are some who believe that all who still speak on issues pertaining to 'feminism' are angry or opportunist social justice keyboard warriors with daddy issues looking for their moment in the sun. There are many who willfully choose to ignore the issue of intersectionality within the movement, and quite a few who get viscerally upset/wounded when told that 'white feminism' is toxic and appropriating at best and at its glorious worst, has done irreparable damage to the narrative and continued struggle for equality for people of color the world over. (And that is a true story as I sat in a London drama conservatory studio discussing feminist ideologies in a Film Theory class and a white woman took such umbrage to that statement that she then decided to deal the ultimate retaliatory blow by.....wait for it....unfollowing me on social media.)
There are historically legendary stories of the weaponization of white women's tears, but this doesn't seem like the forum to get into the tragedies of Emmett Till and now Bothem Jean, but I digress. More to the point, most still refuse to openly acknowledge that modern day feminist issues are just as wrapped in sheaths of racist and classist ideology as they are intrinsically rooted in ideas pertaining to gender equality.
I'd venture that this has always in fact been the case. However in the political and social climate of the first wave of feminism back in the early 20th century it was easier to dismiss those harsh realities. The 2nd and 3rd waves that we read of in books and saw in magazines sought to superficially identify intersectional issues although the term intersectionality wasn't actually coined until the late 1980s by Kimberle Crenshaw. Thankfully black feminism had voices such as Bell Hooks and Angela Davis and on this side of the diaspora in the Caribbean, we had Merle Hodge, Eintou Pearl Springer and Verna St Rose Greaves who long paved the way for Crenshaw's eventual revolutionary theory that forced the consideration of various disadvantages across race, gender and class lines. Now we can add the additional consideration of sexual orientation.
I was fortunate to be nurtured in a society that had pockets of communities that revered women, particularly black women in all our fullness and glory. The Eintous, the Vernas, the Ella Andalls, the Beryl McBurnies and the Joyce Kirtons among others. These were the women from whom a community of creatives, of which my mother and family was a part, thriving during the 2nd wave of feminism and the 'Black Power' movement that was in full swing in Trinidad and Tobago, gleaned their strength. A strength rooted in an understanding of who we were and our potential to do things that directly stood defiantly in the face of all that we were told through an international lens was taboo. A strength also rooted in a spirituality that clearly deified the black female form thus allowing us to see ourselves as worthy of worship, amplifying our own self worth and validating our lived experiences. The issue with this phenomenon happening only in pockets of communities had to do with dealing with the rest of society who was unsure of how to receive this strength, and while there were those who celebrated it, there were others who vilified it or relegated it and the women from whom it emanated to being outliers of society. These were the then modern day jamettes. The modern day women revolutionaries who through the literary and performing arts, and cultural movements weaved a social justice tapestry that helped change the political and social landscape of Trinidad and Tobago and by extension of the Caribbean.
This is the lense through which I view and live women's rights. My claiming of my right to be, to excel, to choose whichever path I decide and to advocate for others to do the same is revolutionary. It is an inherited revolutionary perspective that I do not underestimate or take for granted. And I may now also be considered an outlier of society, but it is a path I choose to walk.
I am because of them.
Ase o.
*The word “Jamette” comes from the French word “diametre” and this referred to the class of people below the diameter of respectability or the underworld. Essentially, this referred to the individuals who were part of the urban working class who lived in the barrack ranges of Port of Spain. In a broader context also included all those who participated in Carnival celebrations.
Abeo Jackson is a multi-disciplined artist from Trinidad and Tobago. She is an Actor, Acting Coach, Writer, Dancer, Choreographer, Radio and Television Host, Creative Producer as well as a Theatre Producer.
She is an Acting for Film Master’s Graduate with Distinction, of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She is also a Theater and Dance honors graduate of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Abeo has over 25 years experience in various elements of the Performing Arts and over 15 years experience in various elements of Mass Communications/Media.
Abeo gained popularity on hit Trinidad and Tobago radio station Star94.7fm as beloved personality "Abi" between 2011 and 2015 after which she left to concentrate on her brand AbeoJacksonProductions. She was also co-creator and creative producer of the television hit series "Cup of Joe". She has since returned to Star94.7 since completing her recent adventures in London.
Theatre Producer and actor in hit local plays "50 Shades of Gravy", "Peepshow", "Act like a Lady, Think like a Ho" and "Man Cyah Take Horn", recipient of the Coco Dance Festival 2016 Maverick Award, as well as a past National Youth Award winner in the sphere of Culture, Abeo is no stranger to wearing multiple hats within the Trinidad and Tobago theatre and media fraternity having worked over the years with experienced stalwarts like Raymond Choo Kong, Penelope Spencer, Nikki Crosby, 3canal and Danielle Dieffenthaller.
She has choreographed 9 full musical productions in last decade, "The Sound of Music", "The King and I", "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Mahalia, A Gospel Musical" and Derek Walcott's "TiJean and his Brothers" to name a few.
Find Abeo here