Abstract
Focusing on Caribana, an annual Caribbean festival in Toronto, this paper explores the political significance of street festivals and related events. Based on field observation, interviews and archival research in Toronto, the paper makes some comparisons between Caribana and similar events in Britain and other parts of the Afro-Caribbean
diaspora. It situates an analysis of Caribana within the context of Canada's official commitment to multiculturalism arguing that this policy defines the terms and sets the limits of the political potential of Caribana which its participants constantly threaten to transgress. Various territorial issues are central to the political and social geography of Caribana, including the routing (and re-routing) of the parade and the strategies of ‘containment’ used to police the parade and associated festivities. The paper argues that through its limited financial commitment to Caribana the state restricts the legitimate expression of cultural difference, exposing the contradictions of official multiculturalist rhetoric. The paper begins and ends with some broader reflections on the political significance of street festivals in the context of an increasingly post-colonial, postmodern world.