Abolition and Carnival: Black performance and social experience in Trinidad (cc. 17901850)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21057/repamv12n3.2018.30939Keywords:
Carnival, Abolition of Slavery, Caribbean, Trinidad, Black PerformanceAbstract
This article aims to analyze the relationship between the process of abolishing slavery in Trinidad and the forms of social mobilization and carnival performances of black men and women between the beginning of the British occupation of the island and the first decades after the abolition (c.1790-1850 ). Therefore, the text is divided into three topics: in the first one, we will analyze the forms of participation of black men and women during the last decades of slavery on the island, as well as the colonial attempts of repression and control and the arguments of the local press in the construction of the myth of a white, orderly and civilized carnival ( sic); then we seek to investigate demographic impacts, work relationships, and social tensions after 1834; finally, we focused the analysis on the formation of black Canboulay between the 1830s and 1850s, proposing a reflection on his political meanings in a context of freedom. The research used a wide array of primary sources filed at the British Library and the National Archives in London, England, and works of memorialists, folklorists, and historiographical production
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