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During the masquerades common during carnival time, jumbies (ghosts or ancestral spirits) are set free to roam the streets of Caribbean nations, turning the world topsy-turvy. Modern carnivals, which evolved from earlier ritual celebrations featuring disguised performers, are important cultural and economic events throughout the Caribbean, and are a direct link to a multilayered history.


This work explores the evolutionary connections in function, garb, and behavior between Afro-Creole masquerades and precursors from West Africa, the British Isles, and Western Europe. Robert Wyndham Nicholls utilizes a concept of play derived from Africa to describe a range of lighthearted and ritualistic activities. Along with Old World seeds, he studies the evolution of Afro-Creole prototypes that emerged in the Eastern Caribbean--bush masquerades, stilt dancers, animal disguises, she-males, female masquerades, and carnival clowns.


Masquerades enact social, political, and spiritual roles within recurring festivals, initiations, wakes, skimmingtons, and weddings. The author explores performance in terms of abstraction in costume-disguise and the aesthetics of music, songs, drum-rhythms, dance, and licentiousness. He reveals masquerades as transformative agent, ancestral endorser, behavior manager, informal educator, and luck conferrer.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright Page
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  1. Contents
  2. p. vii
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  1. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. FOREWORD: Clash of Cultures
  2. pp. xiii-xvii
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  1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  2. pp. xviii-xx
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  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. pp. 3-6
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  1. 1. Masquerade Derivation, Costumes, and Behavior
  2. pp. 7-45
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  1. 2. Aesthetics of Masquerading
  2. pp. 46-76
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  1. 3. Masquerading in the Eastern Caribbean
  2. pp. 77-105
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  1. 4. Specific Masquerade Types
  2. pp. 106-144
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  1. 5. Masquerade Prototypes in West Africa
  2. pp. 145-176
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  1. 6. Masquerade Prototypes in Western Europe
  2. pp. 177-208
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  1. 7. Old World–New World Comparisons
  2. pp. 209-230
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  1. CONCULSION
  2. pp. 231-241
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  1. APPENDIXES
  2. pp. 242-247
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  1. NOTES
  2. pp. 248-254
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  1. REFERENCES
  2. pp. 255-271
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  1. INDEX
  2. pp. 272-293
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