Voices in Exile

Recovering the voices that shaped Jamaica’s language, literature, and identity.

Voices in Exile: Jamaican Texts of the 18th and 19th Centuries is a landmark anthology that brings together a rich collection of historical documents illuminating the origins and development of Jamaican language, culture, and identity. Edited by renowned scholars Jean D'Costa and Barbara Lalla, the volume gathers songs, sermons, folk narratives, eyewitness accounts, personal testimonies, and other primary materials that reveal the complex social and cultural world of Jamaica during the colonial and post-emancipation eras.

Spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the collection traces the emergence of a distinctive Jamaican society forged through the interaction of African, European, and Caribbean peoples. The selected texts capture the realities of plantation life, slavery, resistance, religious expression, language development, and everyday experience while showcasing the creativity and resilience of communities whose voices have often been marginalized in traditional historical narratives.

Particularly valuable for its documentation of Jamaican Creole and evolving linguistic practices, the anthology provides readers with direct access to the words and perspectives of individuals living through profound social transformation. Materials from the periods before emancipation, during apprenticeship, and after emancipation illustrate how language and culture adapted to changing political and economic conditions.

More than a collection of historical texts, Voices in Exile serves as a window into the formation of Jamaican identity and the broader cultural history of the Caribbean. By preserving and contextualizing these remarkable documents, D'Costa and Lalla offer an indispensable resource for students and scholars of Caribbean studies, literature, linguistics, history, postcolonial studies, and the African diaspora. The result is a compelling archive of voices that continue to resonate across centuries and enrich our understanding of Jamaica’s cultural heritage.