According to Goffe’s article, we find that the sound/soundscape plays a crucial role of the communication of different groups in Jamaica. This kind of communication is not restricted to the polities but becomes a black and Chinese cultural production. Moreover, women’s labors and creativity also contributed during this process. The sound/soundsystem was an intimate part of the integration process for the Chinese and Jamaicans. “Multiple exclusions of race, color, and class are negotiated through sound (Goffe 107).” In this way, ethnicity in front of those Chinese shops was no longer stereotyped.
Capitalism was an important part of Jamaican economy, which brought up their GDP, and it also stimulated the growth of economics for the Chinese merchants. However, under the rule of the Great Britain, the conflicts between this two groups emerged. Britain encouraged more Chinese labor to come in order to lower the spending on wages, but Jamaicans were afraid of their market would be replaced by a different group. The tension between groups destroyed their relationships to each other. However, Jamaican soundsystem seemed to have the potential to reoder beyond coloniality. As the Chinese shops spread over every corner of the land of Jamaica, the radio and the music brought the inspiration to the people there. The coproduction of black and Asian also contributed to the development of the sound. Besides, the Chinese grocery shops provided those sonic innovators not only a site of leisure, community, and listening but also a training ground. The Jamaican sound was able to flow and thrive also due to Jamaican engineering. With the concept of extra-colonity mentioned in the passage, which means different cultures mix together to form a new combination under the control of a foreign country, Chinese and Jamaican cultures combined and produced new sensorially heightened worlds through sound (Goffe 104).
Similarily, we think about the case in Honolulu’s Chinatown, and it was also under the rule of the United States and the manipulation of capitalism. Honolulu also experienced the conflicts between the local people and Chinese people. However, Jamaican and Chinese people got to communicate their thoughts and cultures with each other through sound/soundsystem. In Honolulu, the situation was different: different groups were separated and did not have opportunities to know about each other and exchange their own cultures. Because of this reason, the ethnic problems in Honolulu became more serious than the case of Jamaica.
Like we mentioned above, sometimes different cultures and races could survive and thrive under the colonialism through the efforts of the people from different groups. However, sometimes the situation may be even tensive under this kind of environment. Paying attention to the sound/soundsystem helps us understand the relationship between each other better and make us think more more deeply about this problem.
