Between Diaspora and Celebrity: Caribbean Canadian and Pacific New Zealand Public Personalities and the Next Generation

Abstract

This is the first comparative study of Caribbean Canadians and Pacific New Zealanders on this topic. While using a triangulation of different methods, it focuses on the descendants of migrants, and offers empirical and theoretical insights into the symbolic meanings of Caribbean Canadian and Pacific New Zealand public personalities for the next generation. Across three different occupations, it compares a Caribbean Canadian public personality with its Pacific New Zealand counterpart. Through individual interviews and an analysis of biographical and professional sources, it explores how the artists/entertainers Farley Flex and Oscar Kightley, the (retired) athletes Donovan Bailey and Tana Umaga and the former Governors General Michaëlle Jean and Anand Satyanand perceived their positioning within their respective diasporas and nations, and their relations to the next generation. It also illustrates the geo-cultural contexts in which these public personalities were represented in diasporic and national media texts. Furthermore, it investigates how young Caribbean Canadian and Pacific New Zealand focus group participants viewed the selected public personalities. By taking an appreciative approach, this thesis reveals the interconnected power relationships between diaspora, nation and celebrity culture, which challenges simplistic representations and perceptions of Caribbean Canadian and Pacific New Zealand public personalities as primarily role models that the next generation should or would aspire to emulate. This thesis argues that family, friends and community tend to be far more important in this respect. However, the success stories of the selected public personalities provided subjective diasporic representations in “arts and entertainment”, obvious (inter)national recognitions through “sports” and their opinions about the “Governors General” indicated the next generation’s ambivalent relations to the state. Drawing on interdisciplinary literatures from diaspora and celebrity studies, this thesis contributes to these two fields by proposing “diasporic public personalities” as a new analytical concept, which illuminates various socio-economic interdependencies when assessing questions of visibility, influence and diverse minority and majority statuses. The comparison of Caribbean Canadians and Pacific New Zealanders also highlights the significance of small island regional identities within national localities and the global space of diaspora and celebrity culture, which demonstrates the continuities between various (is)lands across the sea.