The Quest for National Identity and Visual Sovereignty in Trinidad and Tobago Television Advertising

Navigating the Cultural Marketplace: Negotiating the Folk in Trinidadian Performance

“…And perhaps it is the dance's safe handling of this partnership courtship that makes it such a popular item. Like a local Guardian Insurance television commercial also featuring Rudder's song, these national unity dances do the work of selling an idealized hybrid national identity grounded in a carefully choreographed cultural politics that allows for encounter and even mixture (McFarlane-Alvarez, 2004). While the dance disputes narratives of purity, it does so within the permissible limits of this historical moment invoking a multicultural politics that is safe rather than threatening.…”

“…[10] For more on Caribbean self-imaging through media, see McFarlane-Alvarez (2004) and Warner (2000).…”