|
This paper will analyze some ways that language is used in local print media to suggest, without stating outright, that Cayman Carnival Batabano has a long and firmly established history as part of the culture of the Cayman Islands. It will summarize a survey of several texts relating to Batabano in Caymanian magazines, newspapers and websites to identify patterns such as relating the name 'Batabano' to Cayman's turtling heritage. It will then examine a smaller selection of texts in detail to discuss how techniques such as juxtaposition are used to link a local Caymanian phenomenon, Batabano, with the regional Caribbean practice of Carnival, thereby implying that the former grew directly out of the latter. The paper will suggest that these techniques are utilized in an effort to create the impression of 'authenticity' for Batabano as an artifact of Caymanian culture.
The paper will then go on to examine some of the implications of these linguistic practices. It will discuss the idea that Batabano's status as a unique, modern cultural practice is seen as insufficient and in need of authenticity, yet there is a continued oversight of Junkanoo as a long-standing but now defunct tradition within the Cayman Islands. This will be followed by a discussion of the mythologization of Batabano, particularly of the way that the texts under examination can become creators and definers of culture as they enshrine 'inauthentic' ideas. The paper will also touch on the cultural dominance of larger territories within the Caribbean region, particularly the ways that the accoutrements of Carnival are imported to the Cayman Islands and the idea that local practices must align themselves with, or be shaped by, regional practices, in order to be 'authentic.'
|
University College of the Cayman Islands
