Master of Arts in Carnival Studies
Application Deadline: 16.01.26
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The Master in Arts (M.A) in Carnival Studies will focus on Carnival as both a historical product, and the evolution and development of cultural practices that are unique to the multi-cultural society of Trinidad and Tobago. It will provide a lens through which students will come to understand the richness, aesthetic, beauty and depth of the festivities relevant to carnival in particular, and to the oral traditions of Trinidad and Tobago in general. Courses to be studied will include, Caribbean History and Civilisation, Proseminar in Ethnomusicology (to include the history and evolution of Carnival music and instrumentation), Caribbean Carnival and Culture: the management, business features, development and spread of Carnival at home and aboard. The programme will allow students to further their research and ethnography skills, study the history of Carnival, Calypso and Steelband, while exploring the relative economic and social issues that arise and the related and applicable themes of ethnomusicology and entrepreneurship. This programme is accredited by The Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago ACTT. Programme Credits: 40 |
Available Full Time:Yes
Available Part Time:Yes
Full Time : Two (2) years
Part Time: Three (3) to Four (4) years
- UTT John S. Donaldson Port-of-Spain Campus
- UTT Campus at NAPA
- A Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university
- An undergraduate graduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher (normally an upper second class degree)
- A grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on any previous graduate work
- Experience in Carnival, Carnival Studies, or a related industry will serve as an asset for applicants
Year 1, Semester 1
| COURSE CODE | COURSE TITLE | NO. OF CREDITS |
|---|---|---|
| CAST5011 | Caribbean Carnival and Culture | 4.0 |
| CAST5011: CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL AND CULTURE The course introduces students to the origins of carnivals, and to the history and development of the Trinidad-style Carnival in particular, and Caribbean carnivals in general. Students will study the circumstances whereby the carnivals reached North American and European cities, and the laws, regulations and other social circumstances that have affected the music, dance and the many accompanying masquerades which today comprise the festivals. | ||
| CAST5029 | Pan Yard Studies | 4.0 |
| CAST5029: PAN YARD STUDIES This course gives students a practical knowledge of “Pan Yard.” It will cover the history of the steelpan and the pan yard, and introduce students to the operations, events and management of a pan yard such as the selection of a music arranger, selection of musicians and music for music making, management, the holding of auditions for the selection of pannists and Panorama, the drawing up of the nightly/ weekly/ monthly programme, the bases for payment of players/ pannists, the purchasing of materials for decorations, the purchasing of pans for tuning, the tuning of pans, and the day to day operations of the yard, including advertising policies and the strategy for increasing the yard’s patronage through lecture and immersion. | ||
| CAST5030 | Calypso Tent Studies | 4.0 |
| CAST5030: CALYPSO TENT STUDIES This course gives students a practical knowledge of the “Calypso Tent.” It will cover the history of Calypso and the calypso tent, and introduce students to the operations and management of a calypso tent. Students will learn about all the tent’s activities such as the selection of musicians and music making, management, the holding of auditions for the selection of singers, the drawing up of the nightly programme, the bases for payment of singers, the purchasing of materials for decorations, and the day to day operations including advertising policies and the strategy for increasing the tent’s patronage through lecture and immersion. | ||
| CAST5028 / CAST5031 | Academic Writing / Cultural Literacy |
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CAST5028: ACADEMIC WRITING The course is a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of academic writing: selecting a topic, pre-writing technique, organizational technique, rhetoric and grammar. Regardless of the student’s past achievement, graduate writing is a specific discipline most undergraduate courses do not engage. As such it is imperative that students orient themselves to the rigor of graduate academic writing and argumentation. During this course, students will also become familiar with Microsoft Word and Canvas. CAST5031: CULTURAL LITERACY The Course will introduce the learner to areas of learning that have lasting significance in the world of education today, as well as areas that will form the basics for a proper understanding of Carnival in the Caribbean and abroad. An emphasis on background information is indeed critical for the teaching of language arts especially those dealing with Carnival. An active understanding of the written language needs much more than the ability to call words: a successful understanding of reading, especially at a postgrad level, requires a knowledge of shared data that may not be printed on the accompanying pages held by the student. A high national and cultural literacy is the key to understanding all domains of learning in any university. Cultural literacy is therefore a course that will allow students to increase their reading ability by linking it with their learning ability since it has been shown in education that both depend on a diversity of prior knowledge, which in the case of carnival is knowledge cultural and historical in nature. |
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Total Credits: 13
Year 1, Semester 2
| COURSE CODE | COURSE TITLE | NO. OF CREDITS |
|---|---|---|
| CAST5016 | Caribbean History and Civilisation | 4.0 |
| CAST5016: CARIBBEAN HISTORY AND CIVILISATION The course introduces students to the history of the Caribbean area from the era of Columbus up to the present and the development of social, political and economic institutions that are important for an understanding of the contemporary Caribbean. It will provide for students a broad analysis of Caribbean history, as they are led to consider the comparisons and contrasts, the uniformities and contradictions, the convergences and divergences, the various ideologies and thoughts that have plagued the difficult attempts at social construction, adaptation and reconstruction in this exciting and important area, that is so often forgotten by modern-day historians. | ||
| CAST5029 | Pan Yard Studies II | - |
| CAST5029: PAN YARD STUDIES This course gives students a practical knowledge of “Pan Yard.” It will cover the history of the steelpan and the pan yard, and introduce students to the operations, events and management of a pan yard such as the selection of a music arranger, selection of musicians and music for music making, management, the holding of auditions for the selection of pannists and Panorama, the drawing up of the nightly/ weekly/ monthly programme, the bases for payment of players/ pannists, the purchasing of materials for decorations, the purchasing of pans for tuning, the tuning of pans, and the day to day operations of the yard, including advertising policies and the strategy for increasing the yard’s patronage through lecture and immersion. | ||
| CAST5030 | Calypso Tent Studies II | - |
| CAST5030: CALYPSO TENT STUDIES This course gives students a practical knowledge of the “Calypso Tent.” It will cover the history of Calypso and the calypso tent, and introduce students to the operations and management of a calypso tent. Students will learn about all the tent’s activities such as the selection of musicians and music making, management, the holding of auditions for the selection of singers, the drawing up of the nightly programme, the bases for payment of singers, the purchasing of materials for decorations, and the day to day operations including advertising policies and the strategy for increasing the tent’s patronage through lecture and immersion. | ||
| CAST5026 | Understanding the Social Sciences | 3.0 |
| CAST5026: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL SCIENCES A topical examination of the social dimensions of Caribbean cultures from the origins of human habitation to the present. Its interdisciplinary approach will emphasises the perspectives of the various social sciences, with attention given to the arts of the Caribbean as well as the ideologies and thoughts that have emanated from academics, leaders and notable personalities of post- colonial, Caribbean society. | ||
Total Credits: 7
Year 2, Semester 1
| COURSE CODE | COURSE TITLE | NO. OF CREDITS |
|---|---|---|
| CAST5007 | Mas Camp Studies | 4.0 |
| CAST5007: MAS CAMP STUDIES This course covers the origin and development of the masquerade/mas characters in the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival celebrations, with emphasis on the African masking traditions, religious aspects of the masquerade, the genesis of the traditional mas characters in the Carnival, the early mas camp tent, the mas band competitions, mas design and mas making, the pioneering mas band leaders, some of the outstanding individual masqueraders of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. | ||
| CAST5000 | Pro-Seminar in Ethnomusicology | 3.0 |
| CAST5000: PRO-SEMINAR IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY This course exposes students to the central issues confronted and the major concepts developed by ethnomusicologists over the past fifty (50) years or so. Specific issues such as the nature of musical creation, the definition and conceptualisation of music, the relationship between music and society as well as the geographical distribution of musical phenomena will all be examined. The diversity and universality of the world’s music will at all times be stressed. Besides the fundamentals of a few, notable forms of notation, students will be exposed to the writings of the major ethnomusicologists and through critiques, reviews and debates, assess their contribution to ethnomusicology. | ||
| CAST5013 | Fundamentals and Techniques of Calypso Composition and Performance | 3.0 |
| CAST5013: FUNDAMENTALS AND TECHNIQUES OF CALYPSO COMPOSITION, LANGUAGE AND PERFORMANCE This is an in-depth study of all the elements needed for the composition of a good calypso. It includes the art of rhyming and lyrical measurement, the history and development of the art form, the methods of arriving at suitable melodies to accompany the lyrics, and the history, development and understanding of the traditions that have guided, regulated and governed the various compositions and performances. Emphasis will be placed too, on the language of calypso as well as on the methods (lyrical, tuneful and otherwise) used by calypsonians to treat with compositions that underscore important concepts that affect Caribbean people such as identity, satire, smut, race, ethnicity, nationalism, colonialism and male-female relationships. | ||
| CAST5005 | Carnival Ethnography: Writing Empirical Research Reports © | 4.0 |
| CAST5005: CARNIVAL ETHNOGRAPHY: WRITING EMPIRICAL RESEARCH REPORT This course emphasises the guidelines used by social science writers of empirical research. It is thus concerned with the types of information that is normally included in a research report, the manner of expressing the information and where the data should be placed within the report itself. The focus throughout the course will be on carnival in Trinidad and Tobago and carnival ethnography. The course content also examines the many ways that research in the realm has been conducted over the years by well-known researchers, their methods of analysis as well as their ways of writing the reports. | ||
| CAST5020 | Exploratory Research in the Social Sciences (core) | 3.0 |
| CAST5020: EXPLORATORY RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES This course is the second part of the programme on research methods and furthers the students’ knowledge of the nature, value and methods of research in the social sciences. It explores how research findings come to assume the status of knowledge and the scientific structure that permits the findings to do so. The course also exposes students to problems that usually arise in the course of research and the methods of solving them. | ||
Total Credits: 17
Year 2, Semester 2
| COURSE CODE | COURSE TITLE | NO. OF CREDITS |
|---|---|---|
| CAST5006 | The Business of Carnival | 4.0 |
| CAST5006: THE BUSINESS OF CARNIVAL This Course of study is meant to let students become aware of the complex nature of entrepreneurial activities involved in the masquerade, the panyard, the calypso tent and the music of Carnival. It is meant too, to educate artists and budding carnivalists into understanding all the many ways that revenues flow from Carnival in particular and festivity in general, as well as their responsibilities and inputs into the financial flow. It is especially concerned with the business activities that allow the masquerade, the panyard and the calypso tent to function and the management practices involved. The course will also provide, for musicians especially, information on virtually every economic, legal and financial aspect of the complex music business, including themes such as recording companies, music publishers, trademarks, copyright and protection, contracts and related materials. | ||
| CAST5004 | Topics and Treatment of Themes in Calypso | 3.0 |
| CAST5004: TOPICS AND TREATMENT OF THEMES IN CALYPSO The course explores calypso as a form of communication by examining how calypsonians treat with various themes using music, lyrics and performance. The selected themes, to a large extent, are meant to help the students to better understand the social structure and behavioral patterns of the people of Trinidad and Tobago in particular, and of those of the wider Caribbean in general. | ||
| CAST5003 | Caribbean Music: Fundamentals Structure and Performance | 3.0 |
| CAST5003: CARIBBEAN MUSIC FUNDAMENTALS STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE The course introduces students to the nature of musical expressions and elements of music, including rhythm, melody, harmony, form and colour. It will explore too, the most important musical traditions of the English, French and Spanish Caribbean, such as Zouk, Cadence, Salsa, Parang, Calypso Rapso and Chutney, through illustration of the many ways that aesthetics, ritual, communication, religion and social structure in the Caribbean are embodied in and contested through performance. It will focus on stylistic differences and similarities and consider the influences that culture and cultural ties have on musical expressions in the region. | ||
| CAST7001 | Carnival Studies: Research Paper/Thesis © | 6.0 |
| CAST7001: CARNIVAL STUDIES: RESEARCH PAPER/THESIS This course reflects a comprehensive, systematic presentation of a researched topic using the scientific approach in the social sciences. The presentation underscores the relationship between theory and research and demonstrates the interrelated stages that normally define such methods. | ||
Total Credits: 17
TOTAL CREDITS REQUIRED FOR COMPLETION: 40
Graduates can be employed in the following positions:
- Artistic Directors
- Carnival Band Producers
- Choral Directors
- Composers
- Calypsonians
- Conductors of Music and Chorales
- Cultural, Academic and Artistic Education
- Entertainment writers for journals and magazines
- Event Management and Planning
- Lecturers, Instructors and Professors of Music and Carnival Studies
- Musical Directors
- Musical Theatre Personnel
- Music Educators in Private and Public Schools
Candidates writing examinations or awaiting results are encouraged to apply
– we are currently accepting applications towards provisional offersContact Information
Programme Officers/Admin Asst
Krisson Joseph: 868-749-0042
Fees
Click on the image below to download Fees Booklets
