Abstract
The purpose of the proposed paper – which places itself within the field of Postcolonial Critical Discourse Studies (see Esposito, E. (2021). Politics, ethnicity and the postcolonial nation – a critical analysis of political discourse in the Caribbean. John Benjamins Publishing Company) – is to analyse the multi-semiotic practices contributing to the characterisation of the protagonist of Trinidadian short-film “Doubles with Slight Pepper” as a cinematic portrayal of the hybrid Indo-Trinidadian identity. By way of a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: the grammar of visual design. Routledge, London, Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse. The modes and media of contemporary communications discourse. Hodder Educations, London, Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2nd ed. London: Routledge; O’Halloran, K.L. (2004). Multimodal discourse analysis. Continuum, London), the study aims to cast light on the strategies exploited by the filmmaker (1) to depict the protagonist (Dhani) as an in-betweener whose ambitions are inhibited by his social status stemming from generations of subjugation and misuse by colonialists; and (2) to promote Indo-Trinidadian cultural specificities. Following an introduction to the key concept of individual and collective identity with a focus on Trinidad and Tobago, and an outline of diasporic cinema as applied to the Indo-Trinidadian community, the Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis is carried out on the verbal, non-verbal, and visual sub-corpora gathered up in sequences according to the main three identitarian traits exhibited in the short-film: ‘religion/folklore’, ‘food’, and ‘lineage’.
References
Amazing Trinidad Vacations (2014). Home. Available at: <http://www.amazing-trinidad-vacations.com> (Accessed 02 June 2014).Suche in Google Scholar
Baldry, A. (2000). Multimodality and multimediality in distance learning age. Palladino Editore, Campobasso.Suche in Google Scholar
Baldry, A. and Thibault, P.J. (2006). Multimodal transcription and text analysis. Equinox, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Balirano, G. (2015). Framing identities in advertising: a multimodal discourse analysis. In: Balirano, G. and Nisco, M.C. (Eds.), Language, theory and society: essays in English linguistics and culture. Liguori, Napoli, pp. 1–31.Suche in Google Scholar
Bartlett, T. (2012). Hybrid voices and collaborative change: contextualising positive discourse analysis. Routledge, New York and London.10.4324/9780203109373Suche in Google Scholar
Bell, D. and Valentine, G. (1997). Consuming geographies: we are where we eat. Routledge, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Bhabha, H.K. (1985). Signs taken for wonders: questions of ambivalence and authority under a tree outside Delhi, May 1817. Crit. Inq. 12: 144–165.10.4324/9781003101536-6Suche in Google Scholar
Bhabha, H.K. (1990). The third space. In: Rutherford, J. (Ed.), Identity: community, culture, difference. Lawrence & Wishart, London, pp. 207–221.Suche in Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse. A critical introduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511610295Suche in Google Scholar
Brereton, B. (2007). Contesting the past: narratives of Trinidad & Tobago history. NWIG N. West Indian Guide 81: 169–196.10.1163/22134360-90002480Suche in Google Scholar
Brereton, B. (2010). ‘All ah we is not one:’ historical and ethnic narratives in pluralist Trinidad. Global S. 4: 218–238, https://doi.org/10.2979/globalsouth.4.2.218.Suche in Google Scholar
Cham, M.B. (Ed.) (1992). Ex-Iles: essays on Caribbean cinema. Africa World Press, Trenton, N.J.Suche in Google Scholar
Chouliaraki, L. and Fairclough, N. (1999). Discourse in late modernity: rethinking critical discourse analysis. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.Suche in Google Scholar
Collins Dictionary (2022). Identity. Available at: <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/identity> (Accessed 07 January 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Esposito, E. (2015). The critical study of political discourse: narration, slavery and multiculturalism in a Trinidadian election campaign. In: Balirano, G. and Nisco, M.C. (Eds.), Language, theory and society. Liguori Publications, Naples, pp. 59–92.Suche in Google Scholar
Esposito, E. (2021). Politics, ethnicity and the postcolonial nation – a critical analysis of political discourse in the Caribbean. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Naples.10.1075/dapsac.93Suche in Google Scholar
Fischler, C. (1988). Food, self and identity. Soc. Sci. Inf. 27: 275–292, https://doi.org/10.1177/053901888027002005.Suche in Google Scholar
Gottlieb, H. (1997). Subtitles, translation and idioms. Centre for Translation Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.Suche in Google Scholar
Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In: Rutherford, J. (Ed.), Identity: community, culture, difference. Lawrence & Wishart, London, pp. 222–237.Suche in Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. Edward Arnold, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. Edward Arnold, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K. and Hasan, R. (1989). Language, context and text: aspects of language in a social semiotic perspective, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Indian Council of World Affairs. (2001). Report of the high level committee on the Indian diaspora. Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.Suche in Google Scholar
Kareem, K. (2011). Trinbagonianness in film: national identity in Trinidad and Tobago cinema, Available at: <https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2011/feature-articles/trinbagonianness-in-film-national-identity-in-trinidad-and-tobago-cinema/> (Accessed 11 February 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Klien-Thomas, H. (2019). Historical disjunctures and Bollywood audiences in Trinidad: negotiations of gender and ethnic relations in cinema going. J. Audience Reception Stud. 16: 465–488.Suche in Google Scholar
Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: the grammar of visual design. Routledge, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse. The modes and media of contemporary communications discourse. Hodder Educations, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2nd ed. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203619728Suche in Google Scholar
Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1993). Semiotics and communication: signs, codes, cultures. Routledge, London and New York.10.4324/9780203821909Suche in Google Scholar
Leppihalme, R. (1997). Culture bumps: an empirical approach to the translation of allusions. Multilingual Matters, Clevendon.10.21832/9781800417908Suche in Google Scholar
Lexico (2022a). Brahmin. Available at: <https://www.lexico.com/definition/brahmin> (Accessed 06 January 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Lexico (2022b). Coolie. Available at: <https://www.lexico.com/definition/coolie> (Accessed 06 January 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Manuel, P. (1997). Music, identity, and images of India in the Indo-Caribbean diaspora. Asian Music 29: 17–35, https://doi.org/10.2307/834410.Suche in Google Scholar
Miller, D.R. (2004). Language as purposeful: functional varieties of texts, Available at: <http://amsacta.unibo.it/866/> (Accessed 06 January 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Mohammed, P. (2002). Gender negotiations among Indians in Trinidad 1917–1947. Palgrave Macmillan, London.10.1057/9781403914163Suche in Google Scholar
Mohammed, P. (2020). Considering the impact of Indians in Trinidad on visual culture. Middle Atl. Rev. Lat. Am. Stud. 4: 10–39.10.23870/marlas.323Suche in Google Scholar
Moodie-Kublalsingh, S. (1994). Cocoa panyols of Trinidad. British Academic Press, London/New York.Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, S. (2011). Identity in (inter)action: introducing multimodal (inter)action analysis. De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin.10.1515/9781934078280Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, S. (2020). Multimodal theory and methodology: for the analysis of (inter)action and identity. Routledge, New York.10.4324/9780429351600Suche in Google Scholar
Norris, S. and Pirini, J. (2016). Communicating knowledge, getting attention, and negotiating disagreement via video conferencing technology: a multimodal analysis. J. Organ. Knowl. Commun. 3: 23–48, https://doi.org/10.7146/jookc.v3i1.23876.Suche in Google Scholar
O’Callaghan, M. (1998). Hinduism in the Indian diaspora in Trinidad. J. Hindu-Christian Stud. 11: 1–9, https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1178.Suche in Google Scholar
O’Halloran, K.L. (2004). Multimodal discourse analysis. Continuum, London.Suche in Google Scholar
Palmer, C. (1998). From theory to practice: experiencing the nation in everyday life. J. Mater. Cult. 3: 175–199, https://doi.org/10.1177/135918359800300203.Suche in Google Scholar
Persad, R.S. (2008). A passage from India: the East India indenture experience in Trinidad 1845–1885, Available at: <https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.16/1372/etd.pdf?sequence=1> (Accessed 06 June 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Persaud, P.K. (2013). Hyphenated Hindus: a study of the relationship between the formation of a Indo-Caribbean Hindu identity and the development of the west Indian temple in Trinidad and in the United States, Available at: <https://surface.syr.edu/rel_thesis/2> (Accessed 06 June 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Raj, A. (2007). Bollywood cinema and Indian diaspora. In: Macedo, D. and Steinberg, S. (Eds.), Media literacy: a reader. Peter Lang, New York, pp. 332–339.Suche in Google Scholar
Rajadhyaksha, A. (2003). The ‘Bollywoodization’ of the Indian cinema: cultural nationalism in a global arena. Inter Asia Cult. Stud. 4: 25–39, https://doi.org/10.1080/1464937032000060195.Suche in Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, A. (2013–2014). Exploring the ‘third space’ in postcolonial Trinidadian literature: presentations of hybridity and assimilation in Merle Hodge’s Crick Crack, Monkey and Willi Chen’s ‘Trotters’. Innervate 6: 1–20.Suche in Google Scholar
Sysoyev, P.V. (2001). Individual’s cultural identity in the context of dialogue of cultures. The Tambov State University Press, Tambov.Suche in Google Scholar
Thibault, P. (2000). The multimodal transcription of a television advertisement: theory and practice. In: Baldry, A. (Ed.), Multimodality and multimediality in the distance learning age. Palladino Editore, Campobasso, pp. 311–385.Suche in Google Scholar
Tinker, H. (1974). A new system of slavery: the export of Indian labour overseas, 1830–1920. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Trinidad and Tobago Central Statistical Office –, TTSCO (2011). Population and housing census demographic report. Available at: <https://cso.gov.tt/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2011-Demographic-Report.pdf> (Accessed 02 January 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
TT Film Festival (2014). Filmmaker in Focus: Ian Harnarine. Available at: <http://www.ttfilmfestival.com/2014/02/filmmaker-focus-ian-harnarine/> (Accessed 09 February 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
United States Department of State – Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. (2018). International religious freedom report for 2018, pp. 1–7, Available at: <https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/TRINIDAD-AND-TOBAGO-2018-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf> (Accessed 02 January 2022).Suche in Google Scholar
Van Leeuwen, T. (2004). Introducing social semiotics: an introductory textbook. Routledge, London.10.4324/9780203647028Suche in Google Scholar
Voicu, C.G. (2014). Exploring cultural identities in Jean Rhys’ fiction. De Gruyter Open Ltd, Warsaw/Berlin.10.2478/9788376560687Suche in Google Scholar
Welsch, W. (1999). Transculturality – the puzzling form of cultures today. In: Featherstone, M. and Lash, S. (Eds.), Spaces of culture: city, nation, world. Sage, London, pp. 194–213.10.4135/9781446218723.n11Suche in Google Scholar
Williams, E. (1962). History of the nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Andre Deutsch, London.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Reliability in the identification of metaphors in (filmic) multimodal communication
- Music, multimodality, and narrative viewpoint: Beowulf in performance
- Hybrid Indo-Trinidadian identities and tasty food: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of ‘Doubles with Slight Pepper’
- Multimodal metaphors and sexism in Arabic cartoons depicting gender and gender relations during COVID-19
- book-review
- Review of: Theo van Leeuwen (2022) Multimodality and identity. Routledge
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Reliability in the identification of metaphors in (filmic) multimodal communication
- Music, multimodality, and narrative viewpoint: Beowulf in performance
- Hybrid Indo-Trinidadian identities and tasty food: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of ‘Doubles with Slight Pepper’
- Multimodal metaphors and sexism in Arabic cartoons depicting gender and gender relations during COVID-19
- book-review
- Review of: Theo van Leeuwen (2022) Multimodality and identity. Routledge