Echoes of Africa: Cosmological Continuities in Contemporary Bahamian Junkanoo

Junkanoo is recognised as the national cultural festival of The Bahamas and is commonly understood as a celebration imported from Africa. While its African origins and historical ritual foundations are well established, scholarly debate persists over whether contemporary Junkanoo is as secular cultural performance or whether it is still a spiritual rite. Expanding on this discussion, this thesis investigates the extent to which modern Bahamian Junkanoo continues to reflect African cosmological frameworks within its contemporary form. To analyse this dimension of the festival, this study adopts an Afrocentric framework that recognises spirituality as embedded within artistic expression and everyday practice. Using the spiritual traditions of the Yoruba, Akan, Mande, Igbo, Wolof, and Kongo, the research compares Junkanoo to African spiritual concepts such as a divine creative force and spirit interaction, exploring the cosmological role of music, costuming, timing, and collective participation in relation to these principles. This study employs qualitative, semi-structured interviews with contemporary Junkanoo participants and analysed their responses using thematic analysis, connecting their experience with African metaphysical frameworks. Findings reveal that Junkanoo’s music, costuming and overall experience reflect their underlying spiritual origins, even when not explicitly described in metaphysical terms. Ultimately, this research concludes that contemporary Junkanoo operates as a modern expression of African cosmological continuity. This idea contributes to existing scholarship on African diasporic performance and spiritual survivals in the Caribbean.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Sweeting, India

• BD Athroniaeth Ddamcaniaethol

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:4321