Abstract

This article explores the reflections of Caribbean culture found in mid-century calypso album cover art. Calypso cover art offers important documentations of Caribbean folk life and cultural identity pre-independence, but at the same time, facilitate the exportation of colonial fantasies about local life to attract tourists. The images examined invariably construct Caribbean islands as “places to play” (Sheller, 2003 Sheller, M. (2003). Consuming the Caribbean: From Arawaks to zombies. Routledge.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and its people as carefree and even childish natives. We use semiotics and critical visual analysis to analyze mid-century record album cover characterizations of the primordial rhythm of folk life and caricatures of native culture, as well as the ways touristic esthetics adapted Calypso, including the figure of the Coconut Woman, as a soundtrack for colonial fantasies and fuel for the colonial gaze. This article reveals how minor, even peripheral, objects such as Calypso records promoted as fun and festive consumer goods reveal powerful, yet relatively unnoticed, insights into visual communication.

摘要

本文探讨了中世纪卡里普索专辑封面艺术中加勒比文化的反映。Calypso 封面艺术提供了独立前加勒比民间生活和文化身份的重要记录，但同时也促进了关于当地生活的殖民幻想的输出，以吸引游客。检查的图像总是将加勒比岛屿构建为“玩耍的地方”（Sheller，2003 谢勒，M.（2003）。吞噬加勒比海：从阿拉瓦克人到僵尸。劳特利奇。[交叉引用]  ，[谷歌学术]）及其人民是无忧无虑甚至幼稚的当地人。我们使用符号学和批判性视觉分析来分析中世纪唱片封面对民间生活原始节奏的描述和本土文化的漫画，以及旅游美学如何将卡里普索（包括椰子女的形象）改编为配乐殖民幻想和殖民目光的燃料。本文揭示了诸如 Calypso 唱片之类的次要甚至次要物品如何被宣传为有趣和节日的消费品，揭示了对视觉传达的强大但相对不被注意的见解。