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I think Jamaicans mistake our hypervisibility for cultural superiority.
Hypervisibility does not mean extremely visible. It does not mean famous. It does not mean renown. Hypervisibility is about a distortion of reality to create certain myths that are often harmful to the subject or object in question, in this case Jamaica.
Hypervisibility is a kind of erasure actually. It makes “reality” invisible through distortion. The trope of Jamaica as paradise is a kind of hypervisibility.
The stereotypes about Jamaica as sun, sand, sea, sex, violence, a place of no-problem-mon and of everyone-must-be-an-athlete, and everyone-is-a-backward-homophobe are all forms of hypervisibilities that are produced when our culture circulate within a racist global economy.
People don’t just desire us. They desire those things they *imagine* about us. It’s why Europe and North America and Asia can love reggae and hate actual black people. It’s why we’re met with stereotypes when we travel.
And I focus on the aforementioned areas because they are the biggest consumers of our culture.
This is not a commentary on the quality of our culture. It’s about how our culture is perceived by these people that confirm antiblack ideas.
This is not a commentary on the quality of our culture. It’s about how our culture is perceived by these people that confirm antiblack ideas.
And it is these antiblack ideas that influence our circulation within a global economy. Need to find that paper I was reading that was talking about how certain parts of Europe enjoy dancehall because they perceive dancehall as something that “confirms” their own fantasies of
the violent, hypersexual black body. But that’s just one example.
So what I’m trying to say is that there are multiple reasons for our recognition and one of those reasons is our hypervisibility.
So what I’m trying to say is that there are multiple reasons for our recognition and one of those reasons is our hypervisibility.
But also “cultural superiority” is a colonial metric. Sorry. 
And it’s funny because we understand this concept very well when African-Americans claim cultural superiority and we beat over their head that they’re just hypervisible because of their position in the US empire. We’re hypervisible too, loves.
Found the paper!
Also glad that people are applying this analysis to other parts of the world: Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil are some I’ve seen so far.
He talks about dancehall too but reggae is the focus.
There’s another paper I just knowwww I’m forgetting. Will find it soon.
