This dissertation research project conducted by an anthropology student at the University of Michigan investigates how the two dominant ethnic groups (peoples of African and of South Asian Indian ancestry) in the nation-state of Trinidad and Tobago interact with one another and shape this twin-island Caribbean republic. The research contrasts two visions of a multicultural state: plural society, with distinct and separate ethnic communities that exhibit a high degree of segregation and polarity, and multicultural society in which the various ethnic groups integrate freely, shaping creolized cultural forms and traditions. In Trinidad and Tobago performance is a well-established means of representing identities and engaging in social commentary, and serves in this project as a significant context in which to understand interethnic social relations. The project will analyze performance as individual activism and as community engagement, and will also analyze performance practices, traditions and symbolism. Intellectual Merit: Focusing on the intersection of the Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian communities in Trinidad and Tobago through reanalyzing the creole concept and its present exclusion of Indo-Trinidadian culture, will contribute to Diaspora Studies, redirecting the focus from relationships between European and non-European communities to relationships between non-European diasporas. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of this research include creating new survey data on the ethnic composition of Carnival masquerade bands, which will be made available to scholars at the University of the West Indies to be used in further studies on ethnicity and festivals. In addition the researcher is an African-American woman, a member of a group historically underrepresented in the sciences, who will receive training and assistance toward the completion of her doctoral degree in anthropology.
