'This is De Test": Festival and the Cultural Politics of Nation Building in the British Virgin Islands

Abstract

In this discussion of an annual festival commemorating emancipation in the British Virgin Islands I examine the interconnections among concrete social and political structures and circumstances and the contingent histories put into play in moves to constitute a sense of national identity. By focusing on a competition between bands from two neighboring but politically distinct islands, I map a complex "national" identity that crosscuts local, regional, and global affiliations. I also elucidate broader questions about identity formation in a transnational context. [British Virgin Islands, Caribbean, national identity, festival, transnationalism, creolization, citizenship)

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