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Using Intersectionality to Challenge Visual Myths of Paradise

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Whiteness, Weddings, and Tourism in the Caribbean

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Abstract

Wilkes discusses the range of discourses that are employed to construct contemporary representations of Jamaica and the Caribbean as paradise. In order to effectively challenge the taken-for-granted nature of tourism visual texts, Wilkes suggests using an intersectional approach, combined with a postcolonial framework, semiotics, and discourse analysis, which takes into consideration the historical context in which the text has been produced. By focusing on the components of a selection of images and textual examples, Wilkes demonstrates the way in which different discourses intersect: in this case, discourses which associate blackness with servitude, and white female bodies with white weddings, luxury, and paradise.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Jonathan E. Schroeder (2002) argues that advertising creates its own referent systems. He acknowledges that this contention is controversial; however, he “points to the long-running De Beers diamond campaign that first established diamonds as the standard engagement ring stone, and then created a cultural belief that an appropriate amount to spend on such a gift is ‘two months’ salary’” (Schroeder 2002: 29) to support his point.

  2. 2.

    http://sandalsweddingblog.com/blog/category/trending/testimonials/ [Last accessed June 26, 2015].

  3. 3.

    The Circuit of Culture by Hall, S. (ed.) (1997b) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, London: Sage, developed with cultural methods in Johnson, R. et al (2004: 41) The Practice of Cultural Studies, London: Sage.

  4. 4.

    This photograph was taken at Belle Abri Private Villa Spring Farm, Montego Bay Jamaica.

  5. 5.

    Anthony Trollope was an author and colonial civil servant for the British postal service in the 1830s.

  6. 6.

    Sara Baartman was a servant to Dutch farmers near Cape Town and came to England with her “employer’s” brother Hendrick Cezar in 1810 and was exhibited in London at the Egyptian Hall.

  7. 7.

    Gilroy (1993a), Fryer (1993), and Anim-Addo (2007) note that Britain has had a black population for over 400 years.

  8. 8.

    Note how the black servant is aligned with the working-class women carrying trays of food across the dining hall.

  9. 9.

    The Duchess, Louise de Kéroualle, was the mistress of King Charles II. The black slave child holding the precious objects emphasizes de Kéroualle’s wealth and status. This portrait of the Duchess, dated 1682, is held in a collection at The National Portrait Gallery, UK. The image can be viewed via this link:

    http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw05102/Louise-de-Kroualle-Duchess-of-Portsmouth, [Last accessed October 21, 2015].

  10. 10.

    A video of the World Travel Awards ceremony 2011 can be accessed via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0hmOhd5l0o, [Last accessed October 22, 2015].

  11. 11.

    Traci-Ann Simone Patrice Wint (2012: 16) provides a discussion on the Beaches Control Act (1956) and the Prescription Act which limit public access to beaches in Jamaica.

  12. 12.

    http://www.sandals.co.uk/about/ [Last accessed November 17, 2014].

  13. 13.

    Sandals offer discounts to American and Canadian military personnel. Details can be accessed via this link: http://www.sandals.com/specials/firefighter-military-police-savings/ [Last accessed October 22, 2015].

  14. 14.

    Parts of London and Manchester have also been racialized as black and dangerous (Noxolo 1999: 144). Young, L. (1990) and Tyler (2012) also note that in the British context whites remove themselves from the urban centers by living in the countryside, where black people are largely absent.

  15. 15.

    Stephen Nathan Haymes (1995) argues that the black subject is fixed in place in poor neighborhoods in the USA and is regarded as evidence of black inferiority.

  16. 16.

    The Sambo Lawn Sprinkler. See http://www.rubylane.com/item/370999-5639/Black-Americana-Metal-Sprinklin-Sambo-Lawn [Last accessed August 16, 2015].

  17. 17.

    Donald Bogle’s (1973) book, Toms, Coons, Mulattos, Mammies and Bucks: an interpretive history of blacks in American films, documents the repeated use of racial stereotypes in American cinema.

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    Karen Wilkes

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Wilkes, K. (2016). Using Intersectionality to Challenge Visual Myths of Paradise. In: Whiteness, Weddings, and Tourism in the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50391-6_2

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