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Key research themes
1. How do ethnic festivals mediate cultural identity formation and community cohesion?
This research area investigates the role of ethnic and multicultural festivals as dynamic sites where cultural identities are constructed, negotiated, and expressed. It examines how festivals serve both diasporic and local communities in maintaining cultural heritage, fostering social cohesion, and creating spaces for inclusivity and belonging. Understanding these mechanisms contributes to broader debates on multiculturalism, transnationalism, and identity politics in increasingly diverse societies.
Key finding: This study reveals that minority parents, exemplified by Kurdish participants, perceive multicultural school festivals in Norway as crucial creative spaces for constructing transnational and diasporic identities. Contrary to... Read more
Key finding: Through ethnographic fieldwork in two indigenous Mexican communities, the paper demonstrates that festival practices are deeply embedded in lived religion, where embodied ritual performances and material culture co-produce... Read more
Key finding: The literature review synthesizes multidisciplinary perspectives to establish that multicultural festivals function as dialogic platforms where ethnic minorities and majority populations negotiate identity and belonging. It... Read more
Key finding: This research highlights how Latin American immigrants use the Canadian Hispanic Day Parade both to assert a collective ethnic identity and negotiate their societal belonging within Canadian multiculturalism. The parade... Read more
Key finding: The paper reveals politically divergent representation strategies in two Vietnamese Tết festivals in Poland that mediate internal community divisions and differently engage youth and Polish audiences. It argues that festival... Read more
2. How do ethnic festivals contribute to local economic development and cultural heritage preservation?
This research theme focuses on the economic and sociocultural impacts of ethnic festivals as mechanisms within regional development strategies. It explores how festivals serve as platforms for tourism promotion, generate income and employment, support local artisanship, and play a vital role in conserving and transmitting cultural heritage. The theme addresses challenges of commercialization, authenticity, and sustainability in linking festivals to local development.
Key finding: Based on surveys of festival organizers, local entrepreneurs, and tourists in South Bulgaria, the study quantifies the authenticity of local traditions within festivals and identifies their potential to contribute to... Read more
Key finding: This study documents how indigenous festivals in Meghalaya serve as critical cultural tourism assets that stimulate regional economic growth and socio-cultural vitality. It evidences that vibrant festivals showcasing tribal... Read more
Key finding: Focusing on Italy's grassroots food festivals (sagre), this volume evidences that festivals primarily counteract rural socio-economic marginalization by encouraging community socialization, enhancing local environment... Read more
Key finding: This ethnographic comparison of Nigeria’s Osun Osogbo Festival and Calabar Carnival highlights tensions between indigenous religious traditions and the commercial-tourism interests shaping modern festivals. Findings reveal... Read more
Key finding: The article articulates how festivals mobilize human and economic resources contributing actively to urban and regional cultural development within globalization. It critically examines the interplay between state policies,... Read more
3. How do ethnic festivals function as complex sites of cultural expression balancing tradition, innovation, and political contestation?
This theme examines the multifaceted cultural, political, and performative dimensions of ethnic festivals. It addresses how festivals embody a dialectic between ritual and carnivalesque elements—serving as sites of both cultural preservation and creative reinterpretation. The research explores issues related to public visibility, representation politics, contested authenticity, social control, and the influence of globalization, offering nuanced understanding of festivals as arenas where tradition and modernity intermingle and are contested.
Key finding: This qualitative study analyzing Peru’s San Antonio de Padua festival demonstrates how social perceptions of cultural change and increased tourism engender complex dynamics in the community’s cultural identity construction.... Read more
Key finding: Through interdisciplinary methodology, the study situates the Terceira Island Carnival as a unique multi-modal festival blending music, drama, and dance, which fosters social cohesion and identity formation. It critically... Read more
Key finding: This theoretical work develops an attitudinal model linking residents' festival satisfaction with strengthened place identity and future participation intentions. Using Divali in Mauritius as a case, it shows how festivals... Read more
Key finding: The research identifies traditional festivals as mechanisms of cultural social control that reinforce social harmony, transmission of values, and collective identity. By engaging various social strata through ritual, dance,... Read more
Key finding: This synthesis clarifies the conceptual distinction and overlap between carnival (expressive, transgressive, temporary) and ritual (instrumental, sacred, reinforcing social order) in festival studies. It argues for... Read more