ABSTRACT
This contribution aims to give a short exploration of the symbolic order of the city of Kingston, Jamaica. By examining a specific urban marker – the sculpture ‘Redemption Song’, intended as the highlight of the city’s Emancipation Park – I will investigate the contemporary discourse of slavery, ‘race’ and colour and the dynamics of contested space in a postcolonial society. The symbol’s significance is examined in the context of the construction of national identity, a process that is intimately linked to local power relations and ethnic discourse. This study of the symbolic domain is based on a review of leading Jamaican newspapers centring on the debate surrounding the sculpture which took place in August 2003 and following months.1
