FROM NOTTING HILL AND BEYOND: THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE TRINIDAD-STYLE CARNIVAL

Abstract

The thesis sought to uncover how the Notting Hill Carnival, which has its roots in the small island of Trinidad, was imported, established and became embedded firstly in its host community of Notting Hill and the later on the city of London – in the United Kingdom (UK). It also explored the specific ways in which the event then went on to play an integral role in a host of UK, European and other “Trinidad-style” carnivals across the globe. The thesis also sought to establish an overall process for the Notting Hill Carnival’s internationalisation. It utilised a combination of 28 interviews and a range of documents from both archival sources and interviewees to develop a nested case study of the Notting Hill Carnival from the period 1964-2013. It used international business theory and actor-network theory to code and analyse the data in order to uncover new insights from the festival’s international dimensions. The findings indicate that the Notting Hill Carnival was adapted from an existing festival and was then continuously reinvented or reframed to match changing local conditions. Its establishment and continued growth has been fuelled mainly by a combination of local public and private sector investments, as well as imports from Trinidad and exports to Western Europe by the cultural organisations which participate in the event. Its internationalisation has been marked by four distinct but overlapping phases – pre- internationalisation, inward internationalisation, adaptation/embedding and outward internationalisation, which are responsible for its continuous reinvention, keeping the fifty-year old festival as relevant and culturally significant, if not more so, as it when it first began. Quote of ‘Abstract’ from the Full Text.