Abstract
Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s discussion of the ambivalent stereotype Wilkes examines the packaging and repeated display of the black male body as servitude in representations of the Caribbean. This chapter discusses the significance of the use of colonial iconography to mark the presence of whiteness, particularly with references to British royalty, which evokes nostalgia for colonialism. The texts and images presented for analysis reveal the way in which the consumption of black labor in the Caribbean is sold as luxury; these are reminders of successful colonial projects.
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Notes
- 1.
Video montage promoting Sandals’ Red Lane Spas can be accessed via these links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LOvv05YCAY
http://www.sandals.co.uk/main/whitehouse/wh-spa/ [Last accessed October 13, 2015].
- 2.
http://www.sandals.com/main/plantation/rp-butler/ [Last accessed October 28, 2015].
- 3.
The Elite Butler Service web page can be accessed via this link: http://www.sandals.co.uk/difference/butler-service/ [Last accessed October 16, 2015].
- 4.
http://www.sandals.co.uk/general/candlelight-dinner/ [Last accessed October 17, 2015].
- 5.
The Georgian House in Bristol, dated 1790, was originally built for and owned by the slave plantation owner and sugar merchant John Pinney. Details about the house and the African slave “Pero” can be accessed via this link: http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/georgian-house-museum/whats-at/life-above-stairs/ [Last accessed October 18, 2015].
- 6.
A video of Rory the Butler can be accessed via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSUbtkMR1C8 [Last accessed October 17, 2015].
- 7.
Thistlewood smashes one of his slaves, Lincoln’s banjo, as punishment for what he considers to be participation in obeah (Burnard 2004: 206).
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Wilkes, K. (2016). Feted and Pampered Whiteness in a (Post)colonial Paradise. In: Whiteness, Weddings, and Tourism in the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50391-6_7
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