Project Title: "Showtime": The Evolution of Carnival
BASIS Advisor: Darlene Forde
Carnival has yet to be defined in a way that does it justice. Everyone who participates returns speechless, trying to describe this feeling, a “vybe” that remains unmatched with an air of comradery that brings people back. Carnival’s popularity has spread to be celebrated in cities all around the globe, bringing together it's Caribbean and non-Caribbean populations. It’s music is at the center of the festival, setting the mood for galavanting and parading the streets. For ten weeks, I will be interviewing Mas Band Leaders, Tourism Officials, local hotels and restaurants to explore what it takes to create costumes and bands for the parade as well as the traffic businesses get during the festival season. This festival has withstood the test of time. By investigating its creation, meaning, cultural connection, financial successes, I hope to discover why Carnival has consistently been so successful and ensure its continuation in the future.
My Posts
Week 10: Final Week of Research!
Jun 10, 2020
Hello and welcome to my last week of research. Similar to last week, I spent this week truncating my findings into a twenty minute presentation to by shown on Tuesday. This week I embarked on creating a video that shows Carnival’s humble beginnings compared to today, which is full of color, feathers, and way more […]
Week 9: Reformulating the Research Question
Jun 10, 2020
Hello! This week was spent focusing on my presentation. I am looking to focus on the future of Carnival. Rather than my original question’s focus on economic value and how the festival comes together, I think it would be more appropriate to focus on strategies to continue the cultural festival in the midst of a […]
Week 8: Mirroring the Steps + Video?
May 22, 2020
I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far in our research! Two weeks left until we’re finished. It’s been fun seeing all of your progress. Presentation week will be incredible. In the meantime, I am balancing interviews and my own creative project. I have been drafting and sending off questions like last week. I am putting […]
Week 7: Interview Preparation
May 15, 2020
Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed my last post of little me playing mas. This week was relatively simple and uneventful in terms of research. I spent my time preparing questions to send to business and mas camp owners to ask them about how COVID has impacted their careers. When drafting questions, I wanted to […]
Week 6: Archive Digging
May 08, 2020
Last week, I mentioned that I would do an archive dive. Today I will be showing you images and flyers of Carnival that we have saved over time. I also have another surprise: I have been working with Refinery 29 over the past few weeks to document and speak about my time in quarantine. See […]
Week 5: Competition
May 01, 2020
We’ve hit the halfway point on research! As a treat, next week’s blog will be on family archives and pictures of Carnival, some even of me! But this week I focused on Carnival’s various competitions, including Miss SVG, Road March, among others. Along with the music, the dancing, and the vibrant colours, artists can participate […]
Week 4: The Costumes
Apr 24, 2020
Welcome back! This week’s topic is costumes and what it takes to make them. Like many creatives, the process for costume making starts with research. Originally, Carnival costumes were used to mock the wealth and attire of European masters. Later came the “Moko Jumbie”, signifying the strength of the African diaspora after being enslaved and […]
Week 3: “Soca to the Universe”
Apr 17, 2020
Hello everyone! This week’s blog is covering the vybe, the life of Carnival: music. The festival began with live performances of steel pan bands. Starting as bamboo bands and tubes, the steel pan was created out of necessity and experimentation. The British banned the instruments due to fear of it promoting minority uproar after emancipation. […]
Week 2: Oral and Visual Histories
Apr 10, 2020
Hello all! I return to share with you the oral and visual histories I explored this week. Thanks to Ms Forde, who showed me the West Indian Carnival Documentation Project, created by the Brooklyn Historical Society, from which I listened and wrote about the festival’s meaning and transcension. The BHS website is home to hundreds […]
Week 1: The Festival + Changes
Apr 07, 2020
Hello all! I return to you after the first week of research with some changes and alterations to my overall project. COVID-19 has swept the world in ways we’d never imagined. My original plans consisted of traveling to Barbados and St Vincent to compose interviews, shadowing different local businesses and masquerade camps, and creating a […]
Week 0: An Introduction to Carnival
Mar 13, 2020
The other day, I told my parents I wanted a graduation party. After, some convincing they decided I deserve it and we started to plan. At the end of our search for dates and venues, it turns out that my celebration will be on Juneteenth. At the same time that I will be celebrating my […]