Drama and Politics in the Development of a London Carnival

The potentialities of the dramaturgical approach to the analysis of links between cultural forms and political formations are explored in the course of discussing a carnival movement in different stages of development, within a complex industrial society. The part played by various individuals and groups in these links is analysed. Leadership is seen as a process by which a collectivity mobilises, revives, modifies, creates and integrates various cultural symbolic forms derived from different cultural and artistic traditions, to deal with changing economic-political conditions. An attempt is made to show how political strategies are melted into a cultural movement and fused with the activities and emotions of people, to produce potent cultural symbols that exist in their own right and are irreducible.