Times of the Self in Kingston, Jamaica^†

† This is essay has been produced as part of a special volume on ‘Urban Times'.

ABSTRACT

Revival Zionists – a small spiritist following in Jamaica – describe how their relations with spirits allow them to bring personal spiritual gifts to bear on every day or ‘temporal’ experience. Taking a hint from Kant that ‘time itself does not change but only something which is in time’, the article considers the timely logic of these ‘gifts’. In a social-economic situation characterised by paucity of material resources but plenitude of labour-time, spiritual gifts reappear as a valued ground for a person's reputation. Likewise, we may also see them as one example of an attempt to organise the relationship between homo noumenon and homo temporalis.

KEYWORDS:

• Homo noumenon
• Revival Zion
• Kingston
• Jamaica
• Caribbean
• Kant
• reputation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

† This is essay has been produced as part of a special volume on ‘Urban Times'.

1. ‘Signs happen to us without respite, living means being addressed, we need only to present ourselves and to perceive. But the risk is too dangerous for us, the soundless thunderings seem to threaten us with annihilation … ’ (Buber 1955: 10).