Describes the high cultural level of native American Indian populations at the time of conquest. Illustrates how cultural breakdown and demographic decimation have resulted from systematic policies that focused on exploiting natural resources at the expense of native peoples. (GC)

Jamaica experienced organized violence from 1976 to 1980, when general elections were held. Describes field work carried out in ghettos and shanty towns which mapped the rigid geographical polarization of Jamaica and its effects on employment, education, and migration. The geographic framework for a resumption of hostilities remains. (CS)

Kingston, capital of Jamaica, has been molded by three institutions: colonialism, the sugar plantation, and slavery. It has an enormous marginal population living in permanent poverty and not absorbable into the labor force. This marginality, fundamentally related to dependent capitalism, sustains itself by keeping wages low. (CS)