Poetics and Power in Phagwa: Media Representation, Cultural Identity, and Religious Play in Trinidad’s Festival of Colours

Abstract

ABSTRACT We conduct a thematic analysis of digital news articles (2016–2020) about religious celebrations of Holi or “Phagwa” in Trinidad and Tobago to explore media representations of the festival of colors and Trinidadian cultural identity. We adopt Stuart Hall’s understanding of cultural identity and diaspora, and draw on Davis’ cultural performance framework that connects observable communicative practices to cultural performances. Two themes frame our analysis, Phagwa as (1) poetic process of performing religious identity and (2) power-play in performing national identity, suggesting that Phagwa rituals and local media attest to color-play as a complex, communicative practice used to demand attention and affirm participants’ religious (Hindu) and national (Indo-Trinidadian) cultural identities. Our findings represent a critical exploration of one religious festival played in a diasporic spatial context, interrogating issues around culture, power, religious identity, and digital media depictions in the act of celebration.