Berkman & Jamaica, Over the Years

The Berkman Center has undertaken a number of initiatives, areas of research, and projects during its first ten years.  As we approach our tenth anniversary, we hope to revisit some of the conversations from the past decade and see how they have progressed, regressed, or stagnated over time, as well as what can or should be done to readdress those concerns.

Former Berkman Intern Christina Xu gets us started with a great blogpost from last week.  After spending a summer interning for Students Expressing Truth (SET), a volunteer organization led by Berkman affiliate Kevin Wallen that runs a number of projects in correctional centers throughout Jamaica, she wondered where the direct connection was between the two organizations.

In "An Open Letter to the Berkman Community," Christina elaborates on her hopes for increased collaboration:

Many of Berkman’s projects and ideas deal with power at a fundamental level–the net defense projects try to keep corporations and governments from exerting their power over the otherwise democratic web, and the Society 2.0 projects seek to use technology to funnel more power to the people. The idea is that by transferring more power to the people, some of the world’s bigger problems can be solve or, at least, better illuminated. In a prison setting, especially one as intense as Jamaica’s, the power disparity is enormous and provides a very interesting testing ground for these ideas. Does citizen media work in these constraints? And furthermore, can we tweak our ideas to make it fit even for this model?

Berkman founder Charles Nesson joined Kevin Wallen earlier this year for a presentation on "Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice in Jamaica's Prisons."  To learn more about the Berkman Center's past involvement and interest in Jamaican society, visit the Jamaica Project page of our website.