Women in Caribbean Carnival

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The Women in Carnival Research network will be the first international network of carnival scholars and carnival artists focusing on the changing roles of women in carnival (inclusive of anyone who self identifies as a woman). Its originally also lies in its engagement with both the artistic and academic carnival community and breaking down boundaries between these communities. It will create a cross-disciplinary research group which aims to explore the role of women in carnival in the Caribbean, the US and the UK. Through these workshops, a website and a series of publications, the network will provide a longstanding platform to sustain artistic and academic research on the role of women in carnival culture. One of the main criticisms aimed at contemporary Caribbean carnivals by traditionalists is that they no longer seek to challenge the power of the establishment but have become a spectacle of the female body. The Women in Carnival research network will explore the role of women in contemporary carnivals through breaking down the traditional masquerade and so-called 'bikini and beads' mas binary in carnival research to examine the many new ways women are participating in carnival; as scholars, artists, performers, traditional mas players, organisers, event curators, designers, calypsonians and steel pan players. In Trinidad carnival 2017 the legendary 80-year-old calypso star Calypso Rose released a hit song entitled 'Leave Me Alone'. Quickly dubbed one of the first feminist calypso songs by the international press, the lyrics warn men to leave women alone on the road and to let them 'free up' and party. The song declares a woman's right to not be harrased by men during Carnival where deeply imbedded patriarchal rules no longer apply and echoes the celebratory freedom of Carnival which is asserted and claimed by women. Calypso Rose's song drew attention a culture of 'victim blaming' amongst Trinidadian politicians and officials in the wake of sexual assaults and the long-standing problem of domestic violence on the island. Following the unsolved murder of a young female Japanese steel pan musician during carnival 2016, who was according to the The Washington Post, found strangled and wearing a yellow bikini, the former mayor of Port of Spain Raymond Tim Kee was reported to have argued that the 'vulgarity and lewdness' of women on the road during carnival was partly to blame for crimes against them. Trinidadian carnival costume designer Anya Ayoung-Chee responded to Calypso Rose's song and the issues highlighted by it by partnering with local artists and activists to design t-shirts, worn by hundreds of Trinidad carnival goers in 2017, emblazoned with the phrases 'Leave Me Alone' - and the Trinidadian English version -'Leave She Alone'. Ayoung-Chee also argues that women out on the streets in large numbers during carnival is an act of political activism in itself; 'coming out in the streets in the tens of thousands, owning your space, owning your freedom [...] what is that besides activism?' (Anya Ayoung-Chee in Powers, The Washington Post, Feb 26 2017). This is just one example of the complex gender and sexual politics at play in the carnival sphere which the network seeks to examine and address. In recent carnivals in Trinidad traditional masquerades such as the 'Baby Doll' mas has been used by social activists to highlights issues of sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy on the island (see Eintou Springer and the Idakeda Group). Carnival offers a space for celebrating and emancipating women but can also replicate deeply patriarchal systems of power imbedded within in its communities. This unique network will connect key carnival collaborators and to gain a profound understanding of the evolving role of women in carnival from a comparative, cross-disciplinary and perspective.