The Politics of Space: A Reflection on Remapping
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v24i0.312Keywords:
Right of property - Puerto Rico, Land tenure - Bahamas, Land use, Urban, Real estate developmentAbstract
Sea bathing shall be permitted at or from the public property between the western boundary of the British Colonial Hotel and Nassau Street between the hours of 9 a.m. and 12 noon and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. only. (“Sea Bathing Rules,” 1938) Finally we’re inside The gated community Finally with Massa inside The gated community Savages singing the blues Safe within the pink wall (Manoo-Rahming, 2010, p. 79) Place and space are vital ingredients to Caribbean success in tourism. Space and how we live in it is historically and politically or geopolitically determined beyond our lives. The Bahamas and Puerto Rico share a particular resonance as their spaces are being repacked and re-commercialized as parts of an elite geographical zone where the rich come to play and stay but avoid the crowds. So, public spaces, the coast and beaches, are being taken as privately owned and rezoned spaces for high-end enjoyment. In the last two decades, this privatization of space has taken over in Puerto Rico and The Bahamas in disturbing and interesting ways. Many locals buy into the offer of jobs in exchange for international development or Foreign Direct Investment as government eases its way out of governance in the wake of climate-change-powered super hurricanes and the resultant green gentrification. So, while small coastal communities succumb to the dream of progress couched in land sales and increased land prices, local access to regular lives disappears under high-end gated communities and private islands.References
Baldwin, J. (2005). The contested beach: Resistance and resort development in Antigua, West Indies. In C. Cartier & A. A. Lew (Eds.), Seductions of place: Geographical perspectives on globalization and touristed landscapes (pp. 222-241). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134651887
Cartwright-Carroll, T. (2018, June 16). Bannister: No money for Ragged Island restoration this budget cycle. The Nassau Guardian. https://thenassauguardian.com/2018/06/16/bannister%E2%80%88no-money-for-ragged-island-restoration-this-budget-cycle/
Bennett, I. (2014). Fragile masculinities: The loss of young men and the pervasive models of masculinity in The Bahamas that encourage them to fail. Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, 8, 43-77. https://sta.uwi.edu/crgs/december2014/journals/CRGS_8_Pgs043-78_FragileMasculinities_Bennett.pdf
Bethell-Bennett, I. (2016). Democracy without voice: An examination of land sales and development in The Bahamas. In D. Ramsaran (Ed.), Contradictory existence: Neoliberalism and democracy in the Caribbean (pp. 128-155). Ian Randle.
Bethell-Bennett, I. (2010-11). The tragedy of Caribbean space/place. Sargasso, 2010-11(1 & 2), 105-121. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00096005/00037/1j
Bethel, N. (2000). Navigations: The fluidity of identity in the post-colonial Bahamas [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2294.8967
Césaire, A. (2000). Discourse on colonialism. Monthly Review Press.
Cocks, C. (2013). Tropical whites: The rise of the tourist south in the Americas. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Dames, C. (2002, September 4). Clifton Cay controversy building steam. The Bahama Journal. http://www.bahamasb2b.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=72
Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. Présence Africaine.
Freitag, T. G. (1994). Enclave tourism development: For whom the benefits roll? Annals of Tourism Research, 22, 538–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(94)90119-8
Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of Peace Research, 6, 167-191. https://doi.org/10.1177/002234336900600301
Glissant, E. (1989). Caribbean discourse. University of Virginia Press.
Gould K. A., & Lewis, T. L. (2018). Green gentrification and disaster capitalism in Barbuda. NACLA Report on the Americas, 50, 148-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2018.1479466
Handy, G. (2018, March 6). Snap election in Antigua puts Barbuda's communal land ownership on the ballot. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/06/antigua-barbuda-election-communal-land-ownership
Harvey, D. (2002). The art of rent: Globalization, monopoly and the commodification of culture. Socialist Register, 93-110. http://opa-a2a.org/dissensus/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/HARVEY_David_The_Art_of_Rent-Globalization_Monopoly_and_the_Commodification_of_Culture1.pdf
Low, S., & Smith, N. (2006). The politics of public space. Routledge.
Manoo-Rahming, L. (2010). Immortelle and Bhandaaraa Poems. Proverse.
Momsen, J. H. (2005). Uncertain images: Tourism development and seascapes of the Caribbean. In C. Cartier & A. A. Lew (Eds.), Seductions of place: Geographical perspectives on globalization and touristed landscapes (pp. 209-221). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134651887
Robinson-Blair, T. (2005, May 23). Residents to demonstrate at Bimini Bay: More trouble for foreign investors as Bahamian protesters intend to imprison work crew and hotel guests. Bahama Journal. http://www.bahamasb2b.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=5281
Saïd, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
Saunders, G. (2016). Race and class in the colonial Bahamas, 1880-1960. University Press of Florida.
Sea Bathing Rules (1938) Bahamas (Ch. 26, Sect. 7). http://laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/SUBORDINATE/1938/1938-0251/SeaBathingRules_1.pdf
Skwiot, C. (2010). The purposes of paradise. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Smith, N. L. (2007). Whose land is it anyway?: An analysis of the management and distribution of crown land in The Bahamas [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/39941
Soja, E. W. (2009, September). The city and special justice. Espace et justice = Space and Justice, 1. http://www.jssj.org/article/la-ville-et-la-justice-spatiale/
Soja, E. W. (2010). Seeking spatial justice. University of Minnesota Press.
Strachan, I. G. (2003). Paradise and plantation: Tourism and culture in the Anglophone Caribbean. University of Virginia Press.
Thompson, K. A. (2006). An eye for the tropics. Duke University Press.
Vagrancy Act (1939) Bahamas (Ch. 89). http://laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1939/1939-0022/VagrancyAct_1.pdf
