CLARK, Edith, MY Mother WHO Fathered ME; A Study of the Families in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica

CLARK, Edith, MY MOTHER WHO FATHERED ME; A Study of the Families in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica: The Press University of West Indies, 1999, 274pp., $25.00 softcover. This text is a re-issuing by the Clarke of a classic anthropological work which was originally published in 1957. It begins with a forward to the new edition by Rex Nettleford of the University of the West Indies, who provides us with some background information on Edith Clarke and an update on Jamaican society. Though well trained at the London School of Economics, Clarke was much more than just a disinterested researcher. Her study was funded by the Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1940, and her goal was to improve the quality of life for the poor in Jamaica. In the Preface, Clarke explains that she spent almost three years as a participant-observer in three Jamaican communities, referred to as Mocca, Orange Grove and Sugartown. Each had a some what different economic way of life and she investigated how those patterns affected life and household composition. This is followed by a lengthy Introduction by an M.G. Smith which updates the reader on present West Indian structure. Though it claims to be written for this re-issue, it appears to have been written in about 1970. This is unexplained and therefore confusing. The actual text, which is 146 pages long, follows. The first chapter titled The Background, provides a short description of the three communities studied by Clarke. Her focus is on the economic structure and its impact on interaction. She uses the term concubinage to refer to cohabitation, and the denuded for what is commonly referred to as single parent families today. Chapter two Land Tenure, explains bow the rules of inheritance affect life. This chapter has a good summary section at the end, but is the only one to do so. The tradition is that most is family land which is transmitted to all relatives, including females, as a group. Those actually possessing the share their crops with city relatives in exchange for financial support. Pressure to replace this system with legally recognized individual inheritance and its relationship to conflicting patrilineal (by the name) and matrilineal (through the blood) descent systems is discussed. Marriage is the focus of chapter three. Clarke explains that for most Jamaican's marriage should be monogamous and lifelong, and that the couple should be financially stable enough for the man to purchase, rather than rent, a home. The wife should also not have to work. A long period of testing is also necessary to test compatibility, so cohabitation becomes the norm. Legal marriage will come later in life when the participants can afford it

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