On Tourism and the Creation of the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Wesleyan University “The Rapture is Really Coming”: On Tourism and the Creation of the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival By Gabrielle Misiewicz Faculty Advisor: Dr. Eric Charry A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Wesleyan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Middletown, Connecticut May 2015 Acknowledgements This is the first time I have taken on a project of this magnitude, and I have a greater appreciation now for the amazing difference a wonderful community makes in such an undertaking. I am thankful to so many people for their kindness and support over the past year. I would especially like to recognize my advisor Dr. Eric Charry, whose guidance and careful consideration of my work has been invaluable. I am grateful too for Drs. Mark Slobin and Su Zheng for their thoughtful contributions as readers, and for their service on my committee. Thank you to all of my research associates for being open in conversations on this subject, and to the staff of the Bahamas National Festival Commission for patiently fielding my questions and providing me with information. Thank you to Ender Terwilliger for his help on linguistic terminology. There was only one other ethnomusicology student in my cohort at Wesleyan, Stephanie Ho. We have been partners on this journey and I could not have asked for a better person to share it with. The generosity I received from Eugenia Conte belies the fact that we have just become friends. I am so much the better for her levelheaded advice, challenges to take my ideas further, and for generally having her in my corner this spring. My sister Anna Misiewicz went above and beyond when she learned how to operate microfilm in order to find an article in the National Archives of The Bahamas that I could not retrieve myself. My mother, Carol Misiewicz, was a careful reader of early parts of this work, kept me in touch with several sources on the ground, and has always been my enthusiastic cheerleader. Finally, thank you to Maxwell Poitier, who has been an incredible help in all ways and in every part of this process. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................................ii List of Figures and Tables.................................................................................................................iv Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Musical Terminology................................................................................................................................2 Tourism Terminology ..............................................................................................................................5 Methodology..................................................................................................................................................8 Literature Review ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Organization and Summary of Chapters...................................................................................... 13 1. The Development of the Tourism Industry in The Bahamas......17 Early Settlement ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Beginnings of the Tourism Industry.............................................................................................. 21 Serious Investment in the Tourism Industry............................................................................. 27 Tourism at the Turn of the Century............................................................................................... 37 2. Junkanoo, Soundmark of The Bahamas ...................................................42 History ........................................................................................................................................................... 43 Junkanoo Today........................................................................................................................................ 55 The Music..................................................................................................................................................... 58 The Cost........................................................................................................................................................ 64 3. The Shape of the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival....................................69 Announcement to the Public ............................................................................................................. 69 Components and Organization.......................................................................................................... 72 Positive Response ..................................................................................................................................... 85 4. The Problems with the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival.......................87 “Bahamian Carnival is a Betrayal”................................................................................................... 87 Funding the Wrong Festival............................................................................................................... 93 “Jump in Da Line”.................................................................................................................................... 96 “This Naked Parade” .............................................................................................................................101 “Junkanoo is My Carnival” ................................................................................................................106 “The Rapture is Really Coming” ....................................................................................................114 “The Emperor Has No Clothes”......................................................................................................116 The Absence of Ownership................................................................................................................117 Conclusion................................................................................................................... 119 Tourism and the Nation......................................................................................................................120 The Region and the Nation...............................................................................................................125 Agency and Appropriation................................................................................................................128 Appendices .................................................................................................................. 134 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 139 List of Figures and Tables Figures 1. Forms of Tourism 2. Map of The Bahamas 3. “Over-the-Hill” Junkanoo beat transcription 4. Music Masters competition flier 5. Stanley Burnside, “Sideburns” cartoon 6. Bahamas Carnival logo 1 7. Bahamas Carnival logo 2 8. Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival logo 9. Illustration from the call for costume designers 10. “Photo Gallery: Carnival Outfits Launched in Style” 11. “Who is the Headliner?” Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival Facebook page cover photo Tables 1. Industries that benefit from the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival 2. Top 25 songs in the Music Masters competition iv Introduction In May 2013, during the 2013-2014 Budget Communication, the Right Honorable Perry Christie, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, announced his government’s intention to hold a carnival in 2015. He said that the event was to be in the style of Trinidad’s carnival and New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, and that it would boost the tourism industry and thus the economy (McKenzie 2013; Adderley 2013). His announcement was met with shock and indignation from the Bahamian public, who were amazed that other nations’ traditions were chosen as the model for this plan, rather than The Bahamas’ own parade, Junkanoo. Finances were another cause for concern, as the Prime Minister stated during his presentation that one million dollars1 of government funds were allocated for the development of this carnival (McKenzie 2013). Almost a year later, he revealed that the government would have to spend a further eight million dollars to produce the carnival (Rolle-Brown 2014a and 2014b). Junkanoo has never received this kind of funding, much less any of the other local festivals – like Cat Island Rake n’ Scrape – which makes the plan even more distressing for many Bahamians, who are upset that this exorbitant sum is being injected into a project that is not indigenous. As time wore on, the carnival began to resemble Trinidad’s Carnival more than anything else, which only raised Bahamians’ ire further. Nevertheless preparation for the inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival continued, and the event season opened on April 6, 2015. As a Bahamian, the carnival raises several questions and concerns which I interrogate in this thesis. I ask: What does it mean to be Bahamian, more specifically, to be an individual that grows up and lives in a place where tourism is an intrinsic part of your life and shapes the way you assess your