BVI Barbie: Materializing Subjectivity on the Beauty Pageant Stage

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a small Eastern Caribbean country whose economy is based on elite tourism and financial services and where questions of local affiliation intersect with global prerogatives and competing national loyalties. These intersections were highlighted in the talent performance of the winning contestant of a 2009 pageant selecting a queen to represent the BVI in the Miss Universe pageant. In her performance, the contestant took on the persona of a collectible Virgin Islands Barbie Doll to address concerns about her racial and ethnic authenticity. Drawing from Inger Sjørslev’s work on public performance, I argue that, in performance, the contestant materialized a conceptualization of belonging that resists racial or ethnic embodiment and flows beyond the borders of the nation. The article illuminates how popular cultural forms represent and respond to local impacts of globalization, transnational migration, and neoliberal policies and practices, and adds to recent studies noting the emergence of new conceptualizations of citizenship, identity, and subjectivity in the English-speaking Caribbean.