UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title "In Plenty and In Time of Need": Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7d59h0c8 Author Bascomb, Lia Tamar Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California “In Plenty and In Time of Need”: Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity by Lia Tamar Bascomb A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies in the Graduate Division of University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Leigh Raiford, Chair Professor Brandi Catanese Professor Nadia Ellis Professor Laura Pérez Spring 2013 “In Plenty and In Time of Need”: Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity © 2013 by Lia Tamar Bascomb 1 Abstract “In Plenty and In Time of Need”: Popular Culture and the Remapping of Barbadian Identity by Lia Tamar Bascomb Doctor of Philosophy in African American Studies University of California at Berkeley Professor Leigh Raiford, Chair This dissertation is a cultural history of Barbados since its 1966 independence. As a pivotal point in the Transatlantic Slave Trade of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one of Britain’s most prized colonies well into the mid twentieth century, and, since 1966, one of the most stable postcolonial nation-states in the Western hemisphere, Barbados offers an extremely important and, yet, understudied site of world history. Barbadian identity stands at a crossroads where ideals of British respectability, African cultural retentions, U.S. commodity markets, and global economic flows meet. Focusing on the rise of Barbadian popular music, performance, and visual culture this dissertation demonstrates how the unique history of Barbados has contributed to complex relations of national, gendered, and sexual identities, and how these identities are represented and interpreted on a global stage. This project examines the relation between the global pop culture market, the Barbadian artists within it, and the goals and desires of Barbadian people over the past fifty years, ultimately positing that the popular culture market is a site for postcolonial identity formation. With this project I put Barbadian history, visual analysis, performance theory, cultural theory, diaspora theory, and gender theory in conversation. The first two chapters offer a cultural history of Barbadian identity focusing on independence in 1966. Using the theoretical framework of national sincerity, I argue that the nation’s history of performance and migration has made national representation a constitutive part of national identity formation. The next three chapters focus on the images of three of the nation’s most popular performers who have strong audiences outside of the region as well: Alison Hinds, Rupert “Rupee” Clarke, and Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty. Using these three artists, the project analyzes how femininity, masculinity, and sexuality are put in service of Barbadian nationalism. The final chapter explores the ways in which pop culture images circulate through new technologies that redefine the boundaries of nation and identity. Using Jean Baudrillard’s concept of the hyperreal, I argue that the definition of national identity Barbados has struggled with occurs most poignantly in the realm of representation. By 2 examining websites, blogs, and digital products of these artists I conclude the project with a re- examination of the ways in which commodity, sexuality, gender performance, and diasporic consciousness undergird individual careers and national representations. “In Plenty and In Time of Need” shows that the post-independence Barbadian nation- state relies upon regionalism and transnationalism, and that its popular culture artists use diasporic resources to both promote and define a national identity. Using personal interviews, newspapers, internet blogs, and various archival sources, my work reveals how an analysis of Barbadian identity constructions can demonstrate the ways in which transnationalism, popular culture, and diasporic consciousness interact in the postcolonial world. i This dissertation is dedicated to Ruby Gwendolyn Babb and Anita Yvonne Babb-Bascomb for all of the memories, realities, and imaginings of strength and tenderness that have made our lives possible. In memory of Wellington Selden Sr., Carmen Nicole Mitchell, and Vèvè Amasasa Clark ii Table of Contents Abstract...........................................................................................................................................1 Dedication........................................................................................................................................i Table of Contents...........................................................................................................................ii List of Figures................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................vii Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Methodologies......................................................................................................................5 Chapter Outline....................................................................................................................5 Chapter One—From England’s Child to the People’s Nation................................................10 The Little England That Could..........................................................................................13 “The Pride of Nationhood”................................................................................................17 “We Write Our Name on History’s Page with Expectations Great”: Independence.........26 Chapter Two—Tuk a Drum Beat Across the World: Performing Barbadian Personality On and Off “de Rock”.......................................................................................................................34 Rhythms of History............................................................................................................35 Migrations: Representing Bim...........................................................................................40 The Rebirth of Crop Over..................................................................................................50 Chapter Three—Caribbean Queen: Barbadian Femininity...................................................56 Market Women and the Markets of Women......................................................................68 Mothers, Daughters, Woman Power..................................................................................63 Queen Alison: Crowning Moments and Different Thrones..............................................70 Refining Respectability: Jammette as Queen....................................................................79 “I’m So Proud to be Your Queen”.....................................................................................84 Chapter Four—“Love You All”: Barbadian Masculinity.......................................................91 This is Rupee......................................................................................................................94 Temptation and Representation.......................................................................................104 iii “Woman, I’ll Always Be There For You”.......................................................................115 “So Many Others Wanna Take Your Spot, You Better Realize What You Got”............122 Chapter Five—“That Rihanna Reign Just Won’t Let Up”: Stardom and the Politics of Representation............................................................................................................................128 “Hurricane”......................................................................................................................133 Branded Beautiful: Brand Rihanna Meets Brand Barbados............................................144 “Fly”: Liminality meets Celebrity (Un)Bounded............................................................161 Chapter Six—Remapping Bim.................................................................................................165 The Hyperreal and Cyber Homes....................................................................................166 “Where Dem Bloggers At”..............................................................................................170 Old Sights and New Visions............................................................................................174 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................179 Appendix.....................................................................................................................................212 iv Figures Figure 2.1 A traditional Crop Over donkey cart.................................................................36 25 Years of Crop Over. 1998, 23. National Cultural Foundation Archives. Figure 2.2 Mother Sally....................................................................................