Abstract
The aim of this contribution is to share my experience as a woman doing research at street parties in Kingston, Jamaica. I will talk about how I faced the challenge of going out at night and going to parties as a woman going deeper in my recent fieldwork experience in Jamaica during the summer of 2023. I am not willing to say that street parties in Kingston are dangerous or impossible for women to enjoy. Although I love nightlife and party scenes, I have felt this sensation of danger and insecurity in all the cities and countries where I have been partying. Is not about the place, is about the fact of being a woman exposed to different unpleasant situations in the party scene and the nightlife. When I encountered myself in Kingston ready to start my fieldwork and was already time to go to the party, I was excited and happy to be able to experience the dancehall parties in person, but the fear of going to the streets alone in the night overshadowed this situation. I was scared and overwhelmed about what could happen to me in a country where I knew nobody, where I did not know whom to call, where to go, or how to proceed if something dangerous happened. Drawn from my own experience, when hanging out alone in the night as a woman you are exposed to harassment and indiscreet proposals and considered as an easy target to approach. Maybe a question that the reader would ask at this moment is ‘Why not look for a safer fieldwork place where you do not have to hang out alone at night?’. Totally understand it, but the question should be, ‘What is happening in our society and which behaviours are we having as human beings that make women feel insecure in the streets?’ Nevertheless, my aim with this text is not to answer those questions, but to show how I was able to navigate those fears finding creative solutions to them. How I was able to build a support system in Kingston with the local and international dancehall community and virtually with my beloved ones: my boyfriend, my classmates and my close friends. I will tell how I went from feeling alone and scared to feeling safe and cared for at the parties and in many other spaces of Kingston. Also, I aim to explain how these changes were reflected in the way I used my moving and dancing body to interact with the people and the whole environment.
Keywords: fieldwork, dancehall, Jamaica, security in the fieldwork, anthropology of dance, support system
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How to Cite:
Rodríguez Neira, D., (2024) “Party Girls Don’t Get Hurt (?) Loving and Fearing the Party Scene and Nightlife in Kingston, Jamaica”, Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies 43. doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/conversations.5948
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