My Tropic Escape: Survival of the Most Visible
The article entitled "On my own" is misleading and so is the blurb that "at age 28, armed with loads of innovative ideas and free of the responsibilities associated with children, [Imani Duncan] decided to take the risk and follow her dream."
My Tropic Escape signs off its introduction as:
I asked myself, is a person truly a wealth creator if the co-creator of her business is her former lover?
I thought it looked strange when one minute, Imani is lovey-dovey and doing ski trips with Peter and less than a year later, is engaged to be married to Basil Waite. The Jamaica Observer's Tatler blamed Peter for the breakup, and painted him out to be the loser, but that was a hasty judgement. I think that he is an experienced businessman who has made effective use of his left brain.
And I'm saying that the press has made this middle-class girl look more ambitious than she really is. I was proud of her a few years ago when I read about her tireless efforts to get Global Justice off the ground. She was right there when it all began, so I feel that it's an anticlimax when this woman with a master's degree from Harvard University comes back to Jamaica and starts a tour company that's funded by her wealthy ex-boyfriend.
I also question her role as wealth creator because it occurs to me that her Escape Artists (borrowed term) and members of the local communities will have to serve up themselves to receive tourist dollars. How does servitude contribute to wealth? Who is becoming wealthy?
It seems to me that the tourists are the wealthy ones because they can order up anything they like. For a reasonable cost, they can enjoy the holiday of their dreams, hundreds of people bending over backwards so they can really have fun.
One woman (not a Jamaican) told me recently that she had seen an advertisement on TV for the Jamaica Tourist Board. She wanted to know where she would stay during her vacation, since everyone in Jamaica lived in the woods, under the shade of trees, eating only fresh fruit. How would she dry her hair after shampooing in the river? This was a university educated woman was in her late 20's. Anyone who has lived outside of Jamaica for a considerable period of time should have had this stranger-than-fiction experience.
I'm not bothered by Imani's ex-boyfriend's sponsorship. What bothers me about this whole thing is the fact that the press has named her a wealth creator. The term doesn't really have any meaning because none of the people who are cooking cheap lunches or pointing fingers "over there" can get rich doing just that. So, who, I ask again, is getting all this wealth?
What bothers me is that the Observer article has implied that she is a role model for young women who want to strike out on their own. How can Imani truly spread the message of wealth creation in Jamaica when she had a rich boyfriend to begin with? If I were a member of the reading public who was reading this article, I would assume that I am to look to this beautiful, educated woman for mentorship. After finding out that she had help from a special friend, I would think that it is impossible for me to make it on my own. I would then decide to make my ultimate goal in life "finding a rich man" to sponsor my ambitions.
Unfortunately, many women in Jamaica have adopted this mindset. It is one of the side effects of our culture of beauty pageantism. Many talented women enter these contests because they feel that their true goals in life will be otherwise compromised. In Jamaica, if you don't live in the right neighbourhood, or if you weren't born in the right family, you are forced to make up for it with maximum exposure. What better way to do so than to invite yourself to the coming out party of the Jamaican middle class?
The real reason that young women enter beauty pageants is to ensure their own survival. To be invisible, or out of the media spotlight in Jamaica, is a very bad thing, especially when you need a boyfriend with lots of cash.
My Tropic Escape signs off its introduction as:
One Love,Innovation is relative, because when you think of it, My Tropic Escape is a tour company. Using adjectives like "luxury" and "adventure" doesn't make it more than what it really is. It's just as silly as calling a flight attendant a "international hospitality consultant", for example. Where is the risk in asking your lover to lend you his support in starting up a business in Jamaica's thriving tourism sector?
Imani Duncan & Peter Bunting
Co-creators of My Tropic Escape
I asked myself, is a person truly a wealth creator if the co-creator of her business is her former lover?
Wealth is created through several means.
- Natural resources can be harvested and sold to those who want them.
- Material can be changed into something more valuable through proper application of knowledge, skill, labor and equipment.
- Better/smarter production methods also create additional wealth by allowing faster creation of wealth.
- Ideas create additional wealth by allowing it to be created faster or with new methods.
I thought it looked strange when one minute, Imani is lovey-dovey and doing ski trips with Peter and less than a year later, is engaged to be married to Basil Waite. The Jamaica Observer's Tatler blamed Peter for the breakup, and painted him out to be the loser, but that was a hasty judgement. I think that he is an experienced businessman who has made effective use of his left brain.
And I'm saying that the press has made this middle-class girl look more ambitious than she really is. I was proud of her a few years ago when I read about her tireless efforts to get Global Justice off the ground. She was right there when it all began, so I feel that it's an anticlimax when this woman with a master's degree from Harvard University comes back to Jamaica and starts a tour company that's funded by her wealthy ex-boyfriend.
I also question her role as wealth creator because it occurs to me that her Escape Artists (borrowed term) and members of the local communities will have to serve up themselves to receive tourist dollars. How does servitude contribute to wealth? Who is becoming wealthy?
It seems to me that the tourists are the wealthy ones because they can order up anything they like. For a reasonable cost, they can enjoy the holiday of their dreams, hundreds of people bending over backwards so they can really have fun.
One woman (not a Jamaican) told me recently that she had seen an advertisement on TV for the Jamaica Tourist Board. She wanted to know where she would stay during her vacation, since everyone in Jamaica lived in the woods, under the shade of trees, eating only fresh fruit. How would she dry her hair after shampooing in the river? This was a university educated woman was in her late 20's. Anyone who has lived outside of Jamaica for a considerable period of time should have had this stranger-than-fiction experience.
I'm not bothered by Imani's ex-boyfriend's sponsorship. What bothers me about this whole thing is the fact that the press has named her a wealth creator. The term doesn't really have any meaning because none of the people who are cooking cheap lunches or pointing fingers "over there" can get rich doing just that. So, who, I ask again, is getting all this wealth?
What bothers me is that the Observer article has implied that she is a role model for young women who want to strike out on their own. How can Imani truly spread the message of wealth creation in Jamaica when she had a rich boyfriend to begin with? If I were a member of the reading public who was reading this article, I would assume that I am to look to this beautiful, educated woman for mentorship. After finding out that she had help from a special friend, I would think that it is impossible for me to make it on my own. I would then decide to make my ultimate goal in life "finding a rich man" to sponsor my ambitions.
Unfortunately, many women in Jamaica have adopted this mindset. It is one of the side effects of our culture of beauty pageantism. Many talented women enter these contests because they feel that their true goals in life will be otherwise compromised. In Jamaica, if you don't live in the right neighbourhood, or if you weren't born in the right family, you are forced to make up for it with maximum exposure. What better way to do so than to invite yourself to the coming out party of the Jamaican middle class?
The real reason that young women enter beauty pageants is to ensure their own survival. To be invisible, or out of the media spotlight in Jamaica, is a very bad thing, especially when you need a boyfriend with lots of cash.
Blogged by Shaggy's girl at 18:48
3 Comments:
Now I'm not knocking you really, except I want to ask you two questions...
1) You say "What bothers me is that she is now a role model for young women who want to strike out on their own. How can Imani truly spread the message of wealth creation in Jamaica when she had a rich boyfriend to begin with?". Now I ask you :
What is it that makes a person a role model? Does a person set out to become one? Or do you think that maybe she is just living her life, trying to make her way through this convoluted mess that we all must navigate in the best way she can, and you, and others like you, decide that she is some role model and that she should be living her life differently? What do you think?
2) So if a handsome rich man come looking you and you find that you like him, what are you going to do, run the man because him rich? And if said rich man hears you talking about a business you want to start, and if he thinks its a good idea and wants to bankroll you, would you run him or would you take the cheap financing? After all, do you want to start a good viable business and get it to start making returns quickly and become stable quickly, or are you going to worry about being someone else' role model?
I just stumbled on this site and have to agree. This story always bothered me and the general adulation showered on Duncan is surprising. Mad Bull asks should she say no to the rich boyfriend and his offer to finance - no, that's all fine - but on the split as I understand it she took it all and didn't repay him - women need to pay back the man - even if he's a lover or boyfriend or fiance or husband - independence is just that - stand on your own - if you can get through Harvard you don't need a leg up - admire him - thank him for his generousit and support - he does seem to be a remarkable man with vision and ambition and creativity - if anyone is going to be praised and adored in this case = seems like it should be Mr. Bunting.
As a Jamaican living in california I am always shocked by the nonsense that comes out of this little island. I read the article on Imani too and thought - who the hell are these people trying to spin this nonsense story to? - The stupidity of the jamaican middle class never ceases to amaze me. Imani is as wealthy as they come and yeah, her father might have taught her some level of social responsibility, but come on now, like most upper middle class "established" families she, like her predecessors will use the poor until they are dry for personal gain. The more I studied Jamaica while living outside of it - the more pissed I get at the craziness that we used to just sit there and take. I came to the US at age 27 and there aint no hell that could make me live there again.
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