Description
Rihanna is arguably the most commercially successful Caribbean artist in history. She is Barbadian and has been unwavering in publicly articulating her national and regional belongings. Still, there have been varied responses to Rihanna's ascendancy, both in the Barbadian public and Caribbean community at large - responses that reveal as much about our own national/regional anxieties as they do about the artist herself. The cutting edge, boundary-transgressing, cultural icon Rihanna is certainly subject to moralistic scrutiny from her global audiences as well; however, the essays in this collection purposely seek to de-centre the dominance of the Euro-American gaze, focusing instead on considerations of the Caribbean artist and her oeuvre from a Caribbean postcolonial corpus of academic inquiry. To this end, Rihanna: Barbados World Gurl in Global Popular Culture brings together U.S. and Caribbean based scholars to discuss issues of class, gender, sexuality, race, culture, and economy.
Using the concept of diasporic citizenship as a central theoretical frame, this book intervenes in current questions of national and transnational circuits of exchange as they pertain to the commoditization and movement of culture, knowledge, values, and identity. The contributors- drawing from literature, history, musicology, sociology, cultural studies, feminist, gender, and queer studies, the creative/cultural industries and political science - approach the subjects of Rihanna, globalization, gender and sexuality, commerce, transnationalism, Caribbean regionalism, and Barbadian national identity and development, from different disciplinary and at times radically divergent perspectives. At the same time, the essays collectively work through the limitations, possibilities and promise of our best Caribbean imaginings.
About the Author
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles is Principal and Pro-Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. He is a distinguished University administrator, and an internationally reputed historian. He is VP of the International Task Force for the UNESCO Slave Route Project; a consultant for the UNESCO Cities for Peace Global Programme; an advisor to the UN World Culture Report; and member of Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, Science Advisory Board on sustainable development. He has published authored numerous books and articles on transatlantic slavery, popular culture and sport.
Dr. Heather D. Russell is Associate Professor of English, Florida International University, USA. Her publications include Legba's Crossing: Narratology in the African Atlantic.
Book Information
ISBN 9789766405021
Author Hilary McD. Beckles
Format Paperback
Page Count 200
Imprint University of the West Indies Press
Publisher University of the West Indies Press
Weight(grams) 320g
Using the concept of diasporic citizenship as a central theoretical frame, this book intervenes in current questions of national and transnational circuits of exchange as they pertain to the commoditization and movement of culture, knowledge, values, and identity. The contributors- drawing from literature, history, musicology, sociology, cultural studies, feminist, gender, and queer studies, the creative/cultural industries and political science - approach the subjects of Rihanna, globalization, gender and sexuality, commerce, transnationalism, Caribbean regionalism, and Barbadian national identity and development, from different disciplinary and at times radically divergent perspectives. At the same time, the essays collectively work through the limitations, possibilities and promise of our best Caribbean imaginings.
About the Author
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles is Principal and Pro-Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. He is a distinguished University administrator, and an internationally reputed historian. He is VP of the International Task Force for the UNESCO Slave Route Project; a consultant for the UNESCO Cities for Peace Global Programme; an advisor to the UN World Culture Report; and member of Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, Science Advisory Board on sustainable development. He has published authored numerous books and articles on transatlantic slavery, popular culture and sport.
Dr. Heather D. Russell is Associate Professor of English, Florida International University, USA. Her publications include Legba's Crossing: Narratology in the African Atlantic.
Book Information
ISBN 9789766405021
Author Hilary McD. Beckles
Format Paperback
Page Count 200
Imprint University of the West Indies Press
Publisher University of the West Indies Press
Weight(grams) 320g
