Masking and Power: Carnival and Popular Culture in the Caribbean

191 Pages·2002·5.84 MB·English

by  Gerard Aching

Masking and Power
Cultural Studies ofthe Americas
Edited by George Yúdice,Jean Franco,and Juan Flores
Volume 8 Masking and Power: Carnival and Popular Culture in
the Caribbean
Gerard Aching
Volume 7 Scenes from Postmodern Life
Beatriz Sarlo
Volume 6 Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts
Néstor García Canclini
Volume 5 Music in Cuba
Alejo Carpentier
Volume 4 Infertilities: Exploring Fictions ofBarren Bodies
Robin Truth Goodman
Volume 3 Latin Americanism
Román de la Campa
Volume 2 Disidentifications: Queers ofColor and the Performance ofPolitics
José Esteban Muñoz
Volume 1 The Fence and the River: Culture and Politics at the
U.S.–Mexico Border
Claire F.Fox
Masking and Power
Carnival and Popular Culture
in the Caribbean
Gerard Aching
Cultural Studies ofthe Americas,Volume 8
University ofMinnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Copyright 2002 by the Regents ofthe University ofMinnesota
Quotations from Notebook ofa Return to the Native Land,by Aimé Césaire,are
from Aimé Césaire: The Collected Poetry,translated by Clayton Eshleman and
Annette Smith (Berkeley:University ofCalifornia Press,1983).Copyright 1983
The Regents ofthe University ofCalifornia.Reprinted with permission ofthe
University ofCalifornia Press.
Quotations in French from Cahier d’un retour au pays natal,by Aimé Césaire,are
reprinted from the edition ofthis book published by Editions Présence Africaine
in 1956.Reprinted with permission ofEditions Présence Africaine.
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in
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mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,without the prior written
permission ofthe publisher.
Published by the University ofMinnesota Press
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aching,Gerard.
Masking and power :carnival and popular culture in the Caribbean /
Gerard Aching.
p. cm.— (Cultural Studies ofthe Americas ;v.8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8166-4017-3 (hardback :alk.paper) — ISBN 0-8166-4018-1 (pbk.:
alk.paper)
1. Carnival—Caribbean Area. 2. Masquerades—Caribbean Area.
3. Popular culture—Caribbean Area. 4. Caribbean Area—Social conditions.
I. Title. II. Series.
GT4223.A2 A25 2002
394.25'09729—dc21 2002005312
Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper
The University ofMinnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction:Masking,Misrecognition,Mimicry 1
PARTI
Undisguised Masking
ONE
Dispossession,Nonpossession,and Self-Possession:
Postindependence Masking in Lovelace’s The Dragon Can’t Dance 51
TWO
The New Visibilities:Middle-Class Cosmopolitanism in the Street 73
PARTII
Masking through Language
THREE
Specularity and the Language ofCorpulence:
Estrella’s Body in Cabrera Infante’s Tres tristes tigres 101
FOUR
Turning a Blind Eye in the Name ofthe Law:
Cultural Alienation in Chamoiseau’s Solibo Magnifique 126
Notes 153
Works Cited 165
Index 171
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Acknowledgments
This project has been long in the making,and there are many people to
thank.At the institutional level,I am grateful to the Center for the Critical
Analysis ofContemporary Culture at Rutgers University,New Brunswick,
for the opportunity it gave me in 1993to begin approaching my inquiries
in an interdisciplinary fashion.Copies ofPeter Minshall’s public speeches,
“The Use of Traditional Figures in Carnival Art,”“Where Do We Go
from Here?”and “Address,”provided by the Callaloo Company,were of
great value.I would also like to thank the Spanish and Portuguese depart-
ment at New York University for its collegial support ofmy research and
writing at very crucial junctures in their development.Many thanks to
Doug Armato and his assistant,Gretchen Asmussen,of the University
ofMinnesota Press for their fine professionalism.
I am grateful to Ulrich Baer,Manthia Diawara,Olakunle George,Sylvia
Molloy, Judylyn Ryan, and George Yúdice for their time, critical en-
gagement,and ideas.For their advice and insightful questions,I would
like to thank Sandra Dunn,Bruno Gaudenzi,Conrad James,Cecelia Law-
less,Ardele Lister,Pierre Sassone,Todd Senzon,and Edward Sullivan.I
am indebted to Jeffrey and Cheryl Aching,Gabriela Basterra,Clif and
Vanessa Davenport,Françoise Hayet,Catherine Lenfestey,and Carmen
Wesson for their long-standing interest and support.For his patient at-
tention during the last leg ofbook preparation,I am especially grateful
to Miguel Ángel Balsa.
Finally,it is a pleasure to dedicate this book to my parents,William and
Ann Aching,who,in very important and tangible ways,encouraged me
to undertake and complete this project.
vii
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
Masking, Misrecognition, Mimicry
He wanted everybody to see him.When they saw him,they had to be
blind not to see.
—aldrickfrom The Dragon Can’t Dance,by Earl Lovelace
Creole is originally a kind ofconspiracy that concealed itselfby its
public and open expression.
—édouard glissant,Caribbean Discourse
The epigraphs with which I open this chapter have inspired me to think
about this study in a particular way. The first one comes from Earl
Lovelace’s classic novel about transformations in Trinidad and Tobago’s
carnival and urban society less than a decade after the twin-island na-
tion obtained its political independence from Britain in 1962. In this
excerpt,Aldrick,the novel’s protagonist,expresses the desire to be seen
in a more profound manner than the collective gaze that observes him
as he performs and revels in the dragon-mask costume that he would
fabricate almost single-handedly and introduce into the streets of the
capital during the annual carnival festivities.What has intrigued me about
Aldrick’s expression of this desire to be seen is the apparent contradic-
tion in terms.Why would he want “everybody to see him”after he had
gone to the trouble of creating and wearing his dragon mask? Further-
more,Aldrick is quick to claim that his mask and performance will be
so convincing that when the public sets eyes on him,it would have “to
be blind not to see.” In perceiving this distinction, the dragon-mask
maker suggests that two modes of visual perception lie at odds: one
1