Turning The Tides: An Investigation of Jamaican Intergenerational Understandings of Water and Global Health Implications

Abstract

This thesis utilized the ethnographic testimonies of diasporic Jamaicans and a historical analysis to examine the current water and health situation in Jamaica. Jamaica, in itself, is a location in which water may appear abundant; however, over the course of this work, I take note of the current and past gaps in the water access system. Exploring past and present-day systems, I sought to understand how water access and inequity appear in the island. Water, within this work, was considered as more than a simple resource, and instead a form of power via structural commodification. Utilizing an anthropological frame, the multiplicitous nature of water will be examined as a factor of global health. Through the employment of these research methods, I noted the current gaps in the Jamaican water system and additionally provided means to address the evident gaps. The goal of this project was to bring focus back to those who have been globally and historically overlooked to address their needs and the structural limitations. In doing so, this revealed possibilities that this system may have if additional community engagement and policy efforts were made, benefiting not only Jamaica’s water system but its national health as well.