Description
Carnival in the Caribbean has mixed roots in colonialism and African tradition. Dressing in masquerade costumes with masks, feathers and headdresses, music, steel bands, dancing and drums all combine in a raucous and hedonistic celebration. Beyond the party however, carnival presents an opportunity for a deeper and more complex exploration of native culture.
In An Archipelago of Caribbean Masks, Lowell Fiet, a critic-historian of theatre and performance, as well as a mask maker and performer, explores what the masks signify, what wearing them represents, their relation to character costumes and movement, on the one hand, and the celebratory traditions from which they emerge, on the other hand, their presumed metaphorical and discursive characteristics, and most importantly, who makes masks and how – their materials and form.
Stunningly illustrated with primarily the author’s photographs, the carnival mas and masks are presented less as costume and more as art form.
Contents
I: Introduction: An Archipelago of Masks
Approaching a Theory of Masks
II: Coconut-Husk Vejigantes
and Other Natural Materials Masks
III: Papier-Mâché Masks in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Panama
Papier-Mâché ‒ Creativity in Jacmel, Haiti
The Diablos of San Juan de la Maguana
(and elsewhere), Dominican Republic
The Diablos Sucios of La Villa de Los Santos, Panamá
IV: Papier-Mâché Masks in Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Dominica
The Vejigantes of Ponce, Puerto Rico
Papier-Mâché Masks in Trinidad’s Carnival
Carnival in Dominica
V: Wire Screen, Cardboard, “Paint,” and Synthetic Masks
Wire Screen
Cardboard
Paint
Global Masks
VI: Mask-Making in Transcultural Education
Mask-Making Workshops
Results
Afterword
Works Cited or Referenced
About the Author
Lowell Fiet was educated at the University of Wisconsin (PhD 1973) and has taught at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras since 1978. His dozens of reviews, articles, and books focus on Caribbean and Puerto Rican theater, drama, and performance. He is the founding editor of Sargasso, launched the Rockefeller Foundation-supported “Caribbean 2000” project, organized three National Endowment for the Humanities summer projects, and designed and for several years coordinated the UPR-Río Piedras PhD Program in Caribbean literature and linguistics. He was Eugenio María de Hostos Honorary Professor at UPR in 2001‒2003, and has also served as the director of the Interdisciplinary Studies program in Humanities and the Institute of Caribbean Studies in Social Sciences. His books include El teatro puertorriqueño reimaginado (2004) and Caballeros, vejigantes, locas y viejos: Santiago Apóstol y los performeros afro-puertorriqueños (2007). His current work focuses on festival masks in Portugal and Spain and masks in contemporary Puerto Rican theater.
