From Devi to Diva: Indo-Caribbean Women Rising in Trinidad’s Chutney Soca

Abstract

This chapter explores the conflicts and complexities of Indo-Caribbean femininity at a moment when the Indo-Caribbean woman is breaking away from embodiments of devi, traditional models of female representation strongly tied to religious patriarchy, to diva, a contemporary persona publicly expressed in the realm of chutney soca, a popular form of Indo-Caribbean music that has absorbed the Carnival aesthetic in Trinidad.