Jamaica experienced organized violence from 1976 to 1980, when general elections were held. Describes field work carried out in ghettos and shanty towns which mapped the rigid geographical polarization of Jamaica and its effects on employment, education, and migration. The geographic framework for a resumption of hostilities remains. (CS)

Kingston, capital of Jamaica, has been molded by three institutions: colonialism, the sugar plantation, and slavery. It has an enormous marginal population living in permanent poverty and not absorbable into the labor force. This marginality, fundamentally related to dependent capitalism, sustains itself by keeping wages low. (CS)

After a prolonged period of unplanned expansion and administrative neglect, Kingston is now suffering the social and physical consequences of unattended urbanization. Increasingly Kingston's problems in coping with its rapid urban growth are a deterrent to Jamaica's social and economic advancement, and this calls for greater efforts in…