“Trench Town Rock”: Reggae Music, Landscape Inscription, and the Making of Place in Kingston, Jamaica

Abstract

This paper examines place inscriptions in Trench Town, Jamaica, and explores the ways these are used to reinforce, shape, or challenge dominant images of this inner-city community. On one hand, Trench Town is like many of its neighbouring communities, characterised by high levels of poverty, unemployment, political and gang violence, derelict buildings, and overcrowded homes. On the other hand, Trench Town is iconic and unique as it is recognised worldwide for being the birth place of reggae music and home to a number of well-known reggae artists including reggae superstar Bob Marley. Today, Trench Town's landscape is filled with inscriptions reminiscent of its rich cultural past. Linked to this is a conscious effort by its residents to identify themselves with reggae music and to recapture and sustain the positive legacies that have made the community popular. This is manifested in the numerous murals, statues, and graffiti seen throughout the community evoking past images of reggae music icons such as Marley and Tosh alongside renowned black leaders such as Marcus Garvey. These inscriptions are conceived as texts and are seen as part of a broader discourse on issues relating to urban spatial identity, commoditisation, exclusion, struggle, resistance, and change.

Inscriptions: Narrating the Spatial Dynamics of the Immaterial Interior

“…Other than language, an inscription may demonstrate mutual knowledge through shared technical, cultural and aesthetic thinking (Emmons et al, 2017). The use of graphs, diagrams or figures in a scientific text, for example, communicates technical thinking (Latour, 2003), while the inscription's cultural expression can be seen from how an inscription illustrates a certain group's lifestyle (Alonso, 1998;Rhiney & Cruse, 2012). In addition, the aesthetic thinking of an inscription can be demonstrated from its production methods (Emmons et al, 2017).…”

“…There is a wide variety of mediums for an inscription, from mobile elements, such as specimens, graphs and photographs (Latour, 2003), to electronic media, such as computer screens (Roth & McGinn, 1998). This paper takes a particular interest in the inscriptions that are embedded directly in elements of a spatial setting (Rhiney & Cruse, 2012;Roshko, 2018;Roth & McGinn, 1998). In a spatial setting, inscriptions may be present on the surfaces of walls and floors (Taghizade & Ardekani, 2016) or situated on objects in space, such as furniture and installations (Brooker & Stone, 2018).…”

“…An inscription, produced through the act of writing or carving words as a formal record, is a spatial element that informs the in-depth story of a context ('Inscribe', 2010;'Inscription', 2010). Current inscription discourses are largely limited to defining the story of space in a symbolised way (Rhiney & Cruse, 2012). Examples of such symbolised inscriptions vary, from the use of hieroglyphs in ancient Egyptian culture (Butin, 1928) to the reggae music, graffiti and murals of Trench Town, Jamaica (Rhiney & Cruse, 2012), and marginalised gangs' graffiti in Los Angeles (Alonso, 1998).…”

“…Current inscription discourses are largely limited to defining the story of space in a symbolised way (Rhiney & Cruse, 2012). Examples of such symbolised inscriptions vary, from the use of hieroglyphs in ancient Egyptian culture (Butin, 1928) to the reggae music, graffiti and murals of Trench Town, Jamaica (Rhiney & Cruse, 2012), and marginalised gangs' graffiti in Los Angeles (Alonso, 1998). Such inscription portrayals demonstrate the spatial meaning in an immutable way (Roth & McGinn, 1998), arguably leading to the conceptualisation of the place as "timeless and bounded, with a singular, fixed and unproblematic, authentic identity" (Madanipour, 1996, p. 23).…”

“…Such inscription portrayals demonstrate the spatial meaning in an immutable way (Roth & McGinn, 1998), arguably leading to the conceptualisation of the place as "timeless and bounded, with a singular, fixed and unproblematic, authentic identity" (Madanipour, 1996, p. 23). Most recent studies on inscription have focused on the urban environment (Rhiney & Cruse, 2012;Roth & McGinn, 1998). However, to better capture the spatial dynamics of a context, this paper tries to narrow the discussion to a smaller, more transient topic, such as traditional production spaces with more mundane and everyday types of inscription.…”