In this path-breaking ethnography, anthropologist Francio Guadeloupe probes the religious ethos and attitudes crafted by radio disc jockeys on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten (referred to throughout this book by its airport symbol, SXM). The bi-national island of SXM is governed jointly by the Dutch and the French. Nevertheless, SXMers see themselves as part of one, unified nation. On SXM, over eighty different nationalities coexist in an area of thirty-seven square miles. Most contemporary island inhabitants arrived after 1960. Prior to 1960 there were only about 1600 SXMers whose main source of income was collecting remittances from abroad. The post–1960s tourist boom has resulted in widespread economic prosperity and an island population that now exceeds sixty thousand.
Chanting Down the New Jerusalem addresses the creation of national identities within the contexts of international economic development, but it is also very much a book “about” religion. Chapter three, “Christianity as a Meta-Language for Inclusiveness,” will be of the great interest to church historians because it touches on issues of organized religion and church memberships. Multiple religious bodies are represented on SXM. Anglicans, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Lutherans, Methodists, pentecostals, Roman Catholics, and Seventh-Day Adventists all maintain active congregations. While Guadeloupe did not attend religious services regularly, he nevertheless provides invaluable insights concerning the relationship between denominational groups, their adherents, and various segments of SXM society. Ultimately, the author concludes that only the elderly and children on SXM are expected to attend church services, while most others—diligently working in the tourist industry—are excused from participation in organized religion.
Following an approach suggested by University of Cape Town professor of comparative religion David Chidester in Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), Guadeloupe seeks the locus of religious sentiments in pop culture rather than churches. He deliberately does not spend as much time talking with religious leaders as with DJs who he sees as professing a “public religion” (what sociologist Robert Bellah would have labeled “civil religion”). Guadeloupe contends that being “Christian” on SXM is equated with tolerance and egalitarianism and that “Christianity” has become the island's most widespread, non-territorial “idiom of belonging.”
By examining the interconnections of Christianity, diverse musical styles (reggae, calypso, and hip-hop), and the tourist industry, Guadeloupe aptly demonstrates how a multiethnic and multi-religious island—where residents are totally dependent on the tourist trade—encourages peoples of all social classes to transcend their ethnic, cultural, and religious differences. Local DJs—whose innovative formulations provide an eclectic mix of Christianity, music, and unabashed advocacy of free market capitalism—encapsulate people's hopes and fears and promote high degrees of religious tolerance.
Disc jockeys—Guadeloupe contends—are the only local celebrities on an island dominated by outside media, and some island DJs take on roles that are traditionally assumed by religious leaders elsewhere. The author concludes that “belonging/identity” on SXM is not rooted in common history but on a generic, non-denominational understanding of “Christianity” that also encompasses elements of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Guadeloupe identified four distinct (but overlapping) SXM lifestyles: Rummies, Fortune Seekers, Intellectuals, and Rastas. Rummies and Fortune Seekers, he asserts, favor Caribbean dance music spun by DJ Fernando Clarke. Intellectuals prefer call-in talk radio hosted by DJ Cimarron, while Rastas like the music of DJ Shadow. Lifestyle differences cannot be reduced to social class because all four lifestyles attract both rich and poor. Guadeloupe implies that everyone on the island is basically the same because all work in the tourist industry. This is open to question.
According to Guadeloupe, it is not considered a contradiction for SXMers to profess Christianity while simultaneously dabbling in the occult. He charts the complex relationships between organized religion and so-called “Science” (an eclectic combination kabbalah, ancestor worship, obeah, and vodoun) and cites Stephan Palmie's Wizards and Scientists (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2002). Palmie correctly pointed out that the term “Science” was deliberately chosen by practitioners to show that their beliefs and practices are not mere superstition. Practitioners of “Science” on SXM—like European “Scientists” of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—see their activities as practical and empirically based.
Guadeloupe also suggests that pentecostalism on SXM may be as “creolized” as it has been in Haiti (as depicted by Frederick J. Conway) and Jamaica (as portrayed by Diane Austin-Broos). Haitian and Jamaican pentecostals have adapted their faiths to serve localized needs. He regrets that he did not study interactions between SXM pentecostals, non-pentecostals, and tourists, and he posits that this constitutes an important topic for future research (86).
Chanting Down the New Jerusalem is a first-rate study notable for its straightforward treatment of issues surrounding national identity, tourism, and development. The author evidences a good command of the recent literature on religion and nationalism. In a style that is refreshingly free of jargon, Guadeloupe covers complex issues with clarity, brevity, style, and wit. Theoretically and ethnographically sophisticated, Chanting Down the New Jerusalem compares favorably with other recent works on tourism and Caribbean identity; most notably, Steven Gregory's The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). It also compares favorably with David Chidester's publications on popular culture in both the United States and South Africa. A cautionary note: Guadeloupe's analysis of religion on SXM seems valid for the period of economic expansion he describes, but it may not hold for times of economic downturn.
