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  • 13 - Reggae, Sound Systems, and Arrested Decolonization in Bermuda

  • from Part III - Anticolonialism in a Postcolonial Age
  • Edited by Erez Manela, Harvard University, Massachusetts, Heather Streets-Salter, Northeastern University, Boston
  • Book:
    The Anticolonial Transnational
    Published online:
    10 August 2023
    Print publication:
    24 August 2023, pp 265-291

  • Summary

    This chapter explores how Black youth in the British colony of Bermuda engaged decolonization, Black Power, and Black internationalism through Reggae, Dancehall, and sound system culture in the “global 1990s.” Centered on a racially charged 1995 referendum on independence in which, out of 58.8 percent of eligible voters, 73.6 percent voted against and 25.7 percent voted for independence, it argues that it is critical to explore Black anticolonialism through soundscapes and not just ballot politics, as Black Bermuda is a sonic culture. The era’s Reggae sound system clashes often invoked long-standing racial and colonial tensions, such as one between Bermuda’s Souljah One and British DJ David Rodigan. Through archives drawn from print media, government surveillance, and audio recordings, it shows that while sound system culture could not “free decolonization,” it played a crucial role in galvanizing the Black and working-class Progressive Labor Party’s youth base in its first political victory in 1998.