Kearn Christopher Williams

Profile

As a national of Trinidad and Tobago, my involvement in the carnival industry started from being a participant since I was a toddler, to eventually having a professional career in the sector including being a researcher, operations director and customer/client relations specalists within public and private sector carnival organisations. These include the Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago, Karnival by Kandi and MasOS. The opportunties allowed me to network and better understand the dynamics of not only the Trinidad Carnival, but the global caribbean carnival industry, which consists dominantly of the English-Speaking caribbean and its diaspora in such cities like New York, Miami, Toronto, London and Leeds. My background and training in media and communication has also played a role in my professional pursuits, using the media to perserve and record carnival history through interviews, photography and video features for traditional and digital media. 

My PhD project looks at the fete sector in Trinidad, i.e. the parties that are put on during caribbean carnival festivities, as a space that might influnce and be influeneced by power relations, as well as the industry practices that are present. It examines this space by firstly looking through a historical lens of the entire carnival as a site filled with tensions amongst social groups, practicioners and stakeholders, and looks at the sector as part of the wider popular culture. 

The project is funded by the White Rose College of Arts and Humanities, WRoCAH, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. 

Research interests

• Caribbean studies
• Carnival studies
• Festival studies 
• Black Diaspora 
• Place-based research 
• Audience studies
• Media and Communication
• Performance
• Creative and Cultural Industries

Qualifications

• MA Media and Creative Industries; Loughborough University, London (UK).
• BA Journalism (major), Cultural Studies (minor); The University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica).