Carnival of Resistance? A study on the antiracist significance of the Notting Hill Carnival
Although academics acknowledge the antiracist impulse lying behind the Notting Hill Carnival’s early development, few have evaluated how effective the cultural form has been as a method of resisting racism. Today, studies highlighting the aesthetic, commercial, and hedonistic facets of the parade’s identity have surpassed those concerned with the political contribution of the carnival.
This research project, in contrast, aims to understand how the carnival provided the Caribbean community with a tool to collectively resist the racism they faced between the mid-to-late 1970s. A secondary concern of the thesis is establishing Notting Hill Carnival’s broader impact on the direction of antiracist politics in Britain, particularly its influence on the Rock Against Racism movement of the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
The research is underpinned by in-depth qualitative interviews with participants of the Notting Hill Carnival and Rock Against Racism, alongside relevant archival sources from interviewees and established collections. The thesis offers insight into the relevance of the Notting Hill Carnival today in the context of a rise in racism and renewed threat from the far-right.