‘The Official Feast’: cultural tensions in U.K. carnival

U.K. street carnivals, particularly those in Dorset and East Devon, challenge institutional narratives by offering alternative symbolic constructions of community and place. This study reveals how vernacular carnivals resist aesthetic hegemony and neo-liberal discourses of inter-place competition, contrasting with policy-driven 'official feasts' that promote preferred identities for the Jurassic Coast and Olympic events. Using ethnographic research from two community carnivals and the Battle for the Winds performances at Weymouth during the 2012 Olympics, the paper exposes tensions between these grassroots celebrations and institutionalized place-identities. It argues for a reassessment of vernacular carnivals as culturally significant forms of resistance, providing alternative symbolic representations that often conflict with those favored by institutional actors.

Croose, J. (2017). ‘The Official Feast’: cultural tensions in U.K. carnival. Social & Cultural Geography, 20(4), 551–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2017.1362587