Jamaica (World Bibliography Series, Vol. 45) by K. E. IngramReview by: S.B. BANDARACaribbean Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 1, Poets and Poetry (MARCH, 1984), pp. 75-77Published by: University of the West Indies and Caribbean QuarterlyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40653527 .

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Jamaica (World Bibliography Series, Vol. 45) by K. E. Ingram, Clio Press, Oxford 1984. xxiv. 369 pages map.

The World Bibliography series consists of useful and practical reference works aiming at providing literature guides to various countries of the world. Publishers intend to cover every country in the world, and 49 countries have been identified for such guides so far, many of which, like the one for Jamaica (and two others for neighbouring Carib- bean countries - no. 21 , Belize and no. 39, Haiti -) are already available. These volumes, it is announced, seek 'to achieve, by use of careful selectivity and critical assessment of the

literature, an expression of the country and an appreciation of its nature and national aspirations', and 'to guide the reader towards an understanding of its importance'. This is the kind of ready reference tool of which every serious student of the country and its affairs would like to possess a personal copy, but in keeping with the cost of books of these times its price is over £40.00 placing this valuable volume with all the care, scholar-

ship and love that has gone into its production beyond the purchasing power of many of us who could really make use of it. It would be a most valuable service to the academic

community especially in developing countries if the publishers were to bring out paper- back editions of the volumes in this series at more manageable prices.

In compiling a guide of this type within a framework specified for the series "to

provide, in a uniform format, an interpretation of the country "that will express its cul- ture, its place in the world, and the qualities and background that make it unique", the

bibliographer sets himself with three difficult tasks. First, those writings that are most

appropriate for the guide have to be selected from the available literature. In the case of Jamaica there is indeed a very large volume of literature to select from, especially when the bibliographer, as we find in this case, chooses to select from the widest possible variety of types of material, books, pamphlets, journal articles (since they are more easily obtainable, and, more appropriate for the reader who prefers a short and summary treat- ment of the subject), theses (only those available in published form), government pub- lications and technical literature.

Although selecting from such a wide range of material makes the task harder for the compiler, it also makes the result richer for the user. This volume on Jamaica with its 1182 numbered (and many more unnumbered) citations is among the few titles in the series with a selection of over 1000 entries, 801 items per volume being the average number of entries found in 25 volumes in the series examined by this reviewer. In addi- tion to the numbered entries there are many more uncounted identifiable citations rich in information packed into the annotations. To give two examples: item 527 listing the government publication 'Consumer price indices, percentage movements, January 1970 - December 1980 (1981) with its simple annotation consisting of a quote from the book's preface and a sentence indicating the fact that the Department of Statistics issues an annual Consumer Price Index is a useful guide to the reader who will now have an author- itative source not only for information on the specific decade, but also for more current data: the annotation to item 894 ('A discourse of the state of health in the island of Jam- aica (1679), by Thomas Trapham) cites the article by Ashcroft in the West Indian Medi-

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cal Journal (1979) containing "an account of this book, and of other important histori- cal writings on medicine in Jamaica" providing the reader with an easily available source for information on 300 years of writings on medicine in Jamaica.

Once the selection is made, the second task is to organize the selected material in a way that would allow the user to get the best out of the selection with the least obstruc- tion. Here, assisted by the framework already patterned for the series, this compiler adds new section and other headings (for example 'Slavery and Maroons' under 'History and Collective Biography', and 'Marcus Garvey and Garveysm' under 'Society and Social Con- ditions') and uses many cross references in the sections to refer to items cited elsewhere. The presentation is clear and uncomplicated, and a good index facilitates approaches not covered in the sectional divisions.

The third task that awaits the compiler is that of interpreting the material so select- ed and organized. This in fact, is the unique creative element added by the compiler of a bibliography to the results of his more technical and mechanical tasks of selection and organization. Through his brief Introduction (pp. xvii - xxii), and, mainly through the many, carefully written annotations, the compiler of this volume accomplishes the task of interpretation very well. Through the annotations information is provided on the subject, on the authors of the works cited, historical factors, and on further reading, thus providing an interpretation that is full, rich and extremely useful to the reader. The provision of a proper annotation was so important to the compiler that, as he indicated in the 'Preface' several works were not included in the bibliography "for the reason that it has not been possible to examine a copy personally for annotations". The annotations stand out as the work of a scholar who has lived and worked with books, and through his own personal experience could give his readers a running commentary on what to read on any subject on Jamaica and for what reasons.

In addition to the annotations a bibliographer can also use the index to reveal hidden aspects of the subjects covered in his selection of citations, and to interpret the cited material further to the user. The index provided for this volume is extensive. It numbers over 3,700 main entry terms, and together with sub -headings runs to a total of about 5,500 index entries providing so many points of access to the material selected. The index, however, reveals several instances as shown below where further care would have been useful.

In the introduction (p. xix), mention is made of the Jamaica Banana Producers' Association and the Jamaica Agricultural Society. The index has an entry for the latter, but not for the former. There is however an index term "Banana Producer's Association' .leading to entry No. 545 citing an article from the Fruit Trades Journal (1974) with the name 'Jamaica Banana Producer's Group' as part of its title. Do all three names refer to the same entity? The index (or the annotation) could have been used to clarify for the reader the confusion caused by the three names.

Item 444 which cites the article by Van Home (1981) entitled 'Jamaica: why Manley lost' in the October 1980 elections, is one that should have been accessible through the index from the entries for both political parties that fought the election. However we do not find an entry for the party that won (Jamaica Labour Party) although the losing party (People's National Party) is found in the index with a reference to item

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444. Examining the index further we come across the entry 'Labour Party', and although item 444 is not indexed under this term, we are led to four other entries from this term. Of the four entries, three, namely item 398, 403, 428, name the Jamaican Labour Party by this name, and it is puzzling why the full name as quoted in the text was not used in the index. Similarly the term 'Workers' Party of Jamaica' is not found in the index, but there is an entry against the 'Worker's Party' with one reference - item 425 - which seems to be the name selected to represent the WPJ. This single citation does not provide adequate coverage to this party as an existing political entity.

Several references included in the section 'Science, Technology and Medicine' would have been useful to the reader seeking information on the University of the West Indies in the sub-section on Higher Education in the section on Education. For this reason cross references should have been provided under 'Higher Education' to items 858 (article 'Marine Lab at Port Royal' which was 'completed in 1960 as a research adjunct to the Department Zoology, University of the West Indies), 859 (article on 'The work of the University's Marine Laboratories'), 889 ('The Medical Faculty, UWI - a brief review of twenty-five years of activity, 1949 - 1974) and others. In the index too there seems to be some confusion in the order in which the entries under the University of the West Indies are given and this difficulty is caused by a failure to use uniform index headings to describe units of the University listed.

Balancing these weaknesses of the bibliography with what has been achieved in it the latter far outweigh the former and this work is undoubtedly the most valuable single contribution made to general documentation of Jamaican studies that has appeared in recent years. Regardless of the cost, it is a must for purchase for any good Library with an interest in contemporary Jamaica.

S.B. BAND ARA

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