Recentering Global Festival Studies Report of the 2nd Annual International Symposium on Festival Culture (ISFC)
Symposium Report
Over two days in June, researchers and practitioners from different fields discussed current trends in global festival cultures at the 2nd Annual International Symposium on Festival Culture (ISFC). The keynote lectures set the frame for the themes of power, empowerment and disempowerment.
Caribbean Carnival Festivals in the time of Pandemics
Symposium Opening Address
First, welcome participants, academics and supporters of festival cultures to the second International Symposium on Festival Culture (ISFC). Events like this organised today by ISFC allows a discussion and exchange between artists, academics and administrators. It is an opportunity to learn from each other’s festivals with various artistic and financial models and practices...
‘A New Paradigm, Moving on from Bakhtin’
Symposium Report on Workshop Session
This was an engaging workshop-styled session with presentations by Jarula M.I. Wegner and Kim Johnson, addressing the theme ‘A New Paradigm: Moving on from Bakhtin’. Along with several points and questions taken from the wider group, and discussion between the presenters, the session become a lively debate about matters of methodology and theoretical approaches to the study of Trinidad carnival and carnival more globally...
Cornwall’s Festivals: A Space for Festivity, Subversion and Empowerment
Journal Article
Cornwall, in the UK is a place where the performance of heritage in public is intrinsically woven into the community calendar. Three hundred and sixty-eight festivals take place each year in villages and towns (Kent, 2018). This paper explores three community-led festivals, St Germans May Tree Fair, a revived festival, Trevithick Day and Golroos, both reinvented[1] festivals, which formed part of research between 2017-2019, into how heritage is defined and valorized in Cornwall...
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Public Pedagogy through the Tumaini Festival at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi
Journal Article
Festivals as traditionally conceived are spaces where communities gather and celebrate a plethora of causes. Such cause for celebration can vary from national observances such as Saint Patrick’s Day in the United States to longstanding religious traditions like the Holi Festival in India. Some of the notable aspects of festivals are performances, music, displays, costumes and food, which Gabbert characterizes as the materialization of primary festival energy [1]...
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Holiday Island(s): Artistic Mobilities and a Caribbean Festival
Journal Article
“Cruise to the Isle where they began the Beguine” proclaimed an enticing early 1950s Alcoa Cruise Ship advertisement. Aimed at capturing the imagination of perspective travelers, the advertisement wove a lyric fantasy that described the Caribbean archipelago with flowery prose wrapped around vibrant graphic artistic illustrations of local Martinique and Guadeloupean dancers...
Revelry, Inclusion, and Disability in the Street Carnival of Rio de Janeiro
Journal Article
In Rio de Janeiro, the vibrant world of the diverse ensembles of “street carnival” known as “blocos” is distinct from the world-famous samba schools and have grown exponentially since the fall of Brazil’s dictatorship in 1985. Central to the ethics of many of these blocos has been a commitment to being participatory, free, democratic, and inclusive....
Personal Narrative of the Festival of Roce: Gender, Kinship and Premarital Celebrations among Konkani Catholics
Personal Narrative Article
The ceremony of roce (translated: coconut milk) is a premarital tradition practiced by Konkani speaking Roman Catholics residing in the western coastal regions of South India. The festival involves bathing the bride and groom with coconut milk, dancing, exchange of gifts, and recitation of songs called voviyo. Voyiyo are Konkani folk songs being passed down orally from many generations.
A Review of UK Carnival 2022: A Personal Narrative
Events Review
The 2022 carnival season in the United Kingdom has been a busy time for many carnivalists in the Caribbean diasporic community, because of the move from online or virtual and back into the public space. The utopic feeling of being able to socialise outdoors with others, being able to hug, laugh, dance, whilst observing and sharing the sights, listening to the musical sounds, taking in the smell of Caribbean food cooking