Carnival Relocated? Popular Culture and the Carnivalesque in Colonial Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)

AbstractThis article re-evaluates the historical research on the carnivalesque rituals that arrived in Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) with British convicts, their colonial minders and free settlers. The revaluation deploys more theoretically informed understandings of carnivalesque ritual (using Bakhtin, Zemon Davis, le Roy Ladurie, Bristol, Underdown, Durston and others), coupled with more recent historical understandings of carnivalesque ritual in Britain at the time of convict transportation and new evidence on how carnivalesque ritual specific to VDL responded to changes in penal policy and practice. It is argued that carnivalesque rituals persisted as a means for building social solidarity, belonging, cultural-political expression and resilience.KEYWORDS: Carnivalesque ritualsconvictsVan Diemen’s landTasmaniatheatrepubsfestival Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. 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Petrow, “Leisure,” Citation2002, 82.140. Petrow, “Leisure,” Citation2002, 82–83.Additional informationNotes on contributorsAdrian FranklinAdrian S. Franklin is Professor of Creative Industries and Cultural Policy at the University of South Australia. He has published extensively on topics including cultural policy, cultural history, art publics, festivals, museums, loneliness, social theory, the social bond, human-animal studies, more-than-human studies, posthumanism, travel and tourism and mid-twentieth century design and material cultures.