Frances Henry and Dwaine Plaza (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781496825445
- eISBN:
- 9781496825490
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496825445.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
What is most intriguing in the Carnivals today is the substantial increase in the number of women who play mas’ with some figures estimating as much as 70% of all players. This volume, probably the ...
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What is most intriguing in the Carnivals today is the substantial increase in the number of women who play mas’ with some figures estimating as much as 70% of all players. This volume, probably the first of its kind to concentrate solely on women in Carnival, normalizes the contemporary Carnival especially as it is playedin Trinidad and Tobago by demonstrating not only their numerical strength but the kind of mas’that is featured. The bikini and beads or bikini and feathers or 'pretty mas' is the dominant mas’ in today’s Carnival. The players of today, mainly women, are signifying or symbolizing by this form of mas’, their own newly found empowerment as females and their resistance to the older cultural norms of male oppression. Several chapters discuss in detail the commoditisation of Carnival in which sex is used to enhance tourism and provide striking visual images for magazines and websites. Several put the emphasis on the unveiling of the female body and the hip rolling sexual movements called “winin” or sometimes just “it” as in “use your it.” What most of these chapters have in common however is the emphasis on the performance of scantily clad female bodies and their movements and gyrations. This volume provides a feminist perspective to the understanding of Carnival today.Less
What is most intriguing in the Carnivals today is the substantial increase in the number of women who play mas’ with some figures estimating as much as 70% of all players. This volume, probably the first of its kind to concentrate solely on women in Carnival, normalizes the contemporary Carnival especially as it is playedin Trinidad and Tobago by demonstrating not only their numerical strength but the kind of mas’that is featured. The bikini and beads or bikini and feathers or 'pretty mas' is the dominant mas’ in today’s Carnival. The players of today, mainly women, are signifying or symbolizing by this form of mas’, their own newly found empowerment as females and their resistance to the older cultural norms of male oppression. Several chapters discuss in detail the commoditisation of Carnival in which sex is used to enhance tourism and provide striking visual images for magazines and websites. Several put the emphasis on the unveiling of the female body and the hip rolling sexual movements called “winin” or sometimes just “it” as in “use your it.” What most of these chapters have in common however is the emphasis on the performance of scantily clad female bodies and their movements and gyrations. This volume provides a feminist perspective to the understanding of Carnival today.
