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[^0]:    1 'Jamaica reaches out to diaspora', Daily Observer, 17 June 2004.  
The editorial that appeared after the conclusion of the Conference in the Observer, one of Jamaica's two daily newspapers, argued that the profound significance of the event lay in its having officially initiated 'a process of redefining Jamaica - its expansion from an island territory to a concept of a people'. ${ }^{2}$ Indeed, with the 2.7 million Jamaican nationals living in North America and Great Britain roughly equalling the number of Jamaicans living 'on the rock', and with a reported forty-two per cent of overseas Jamaicans having attained a tertiary education, ${ }^{3}$ the recognition of a new sense of peoplehood would seem to herald new possibilities for transforming Jamaica's political economy. The editorial continued, 'There must be a continuous relationship between those of us who live on the island and the offshore communities. The critical issue is how to build these seamless relationships'. ${ }^{4}$