UC Berkeley

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 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.