Dancehall Queen Book Launch on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at The MECA, Kingston

Launch of the book: 

Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica

6pm, Thursday, April 18, 2024

The MECA, Marketplace, 67 Constant Spring Road

Professor Donna P. Hope and The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative Team, in association with a range of collaborators and sponsors, officially announce the launch of the bilingual book Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica at 6pm on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at The MECA, Marketplace, 67 Constant Spring Road.

Since its rise to prominence in 1992, the Dancehall Queen phenomenon has provided many working-class women with opportunities for empowerment and visibility. Beyond the 1997 movie Dancehall Queen and the 1999 start of the International Dancehall Queen Competition, this aspect of Jamaican culture has expanded globally. Today, DHQ Competitions stretch across Europe, the USA, Latin, South and Central America, Asia and Japan. Dancehall Tourists make annual pilgrimages to Jamaica to participate in Dancehall Culture. This book stands firmly planted in the center of these movements.

A jointly edited publication between The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative (Professor Hope) and FIEBRE Ediciones (Carla Lamoyi), Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica epitomizes the spirit of cross-border collaboration between Jamaica and Mexico, and the drive to foster cross-cultural and touristic networks.  It is the first book written on this intriguing aspect of Jamaica’s Dancehall Culture and also the first book on Jamaican and Dancehall Culture that is written simultaneously in English and Spanish, providing accessible information about Jamaican Culture to the just under 600 million Spanish speakers globally. To date, the book Dancehall Queen: Erotic Subversion/Subversión Erótica, has reached just under than 30 countries, travelling on the networks of the Dancehall Dance Industry, Dancehall and Reggae Music.

Renowned Cultural Entrepreneur, Author and Broadcaster. Clyde McKenzie, is confirmed as the Guest Speaker to speak to this seminal work and its role in Jamaican Culture.

Copies of Dancehall Queen are available at the University Bookshop, Mona Campus, or by emailing info@dancehallarchive.org.  Kindle copies are available via Amazon. Books will be on sale at the launch.

Attendance is Free and the public is invited.

Contact:    The Dancehall Archive & Research Initiative

Email:       info@dancehallarchive.org

Tel:           876-451-1512

Website:    http://www.dancehallarchive.org

Instagram: @dancehallarchive

Professor Donna P. Hope

DONNA P. HOPE, PhD, is Professor of Culture, Gender, and Society in the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit, the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Her publications include Inna di Dancehall: Popular Culture and the Politics of Identity in Jamaica; and Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Jamaican Dancehall.

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