Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival brings festivities and fun to the city every summer. But beyond the dances and parades, carnivals are and should be places to protest and raise awareness of injustices.
The “Festival do Boi-Bumbá” changed the fate of Parintins, Brazil. Its success shows the crucial role that cultural festivals play in isolated territories that often lack material infrastructure.
Fifty years of the Caribbean Carnival in Toronto has had a significant impact on Canada’s cultural institutions. It’s also helped educate Canadians about Black history.
Gabrielle Hosein, The University of the West Indies: St. Augustine Campus
Some deride a Carnival trend in which women revel in the streets wearing swimsuits and feather boas. But to feminists, ‘bikini mas’ is a highly political act.
Each Mardi Gras, 25 million pounds of beads hit the streets of New Orleans. One researcher went to the Chinese factories that make them – and spoke to the workers who believe the beads will be given to royalty.
The real age of the rave was the early 90s, when politics and partying combined to extraordinary result. And once again we find ourselves in hard times …
This bank holiday weekend, London celebrates yet another glorious Notting Hill Carnival. Relatively few of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of revellers enjoying the festivities appreciate the…