Of fancy dress, rank and dignity

A talk about carnival balls as a theatrical event will be held at St James Cavalier, Valletta, on Wednesdayat 6 p.m.

Carnival balls, seen as a theatrical event, are used in Vicki Ann Cremona’s seminal paper as a means of accessing social reality during the first half of the British period in Malta.

Entitled ‘Fancy dress, rank and dignity: Power and Play in Carnival balls from 1800 to the early 1900s’, the paper examines the extent of British penetration and the influence of British mores in different playful settings, to reveal thetussle between social distinction and social difference between British and Maltese, as well as among Maltese citizens who strive either to distinguish themselves from their fellow citizens or express their belonging to a particular group or class.

The paper will describe the different balls given during the carnival period as distinct social events, where theatricality is used to underpin the serious social games that are played to affirm or claim power and identity.

The paper is being presented as part of the Works in Progress seminar series, organised by Paul Clough, Anthropology Division, and Peter Mayo, dean of the Faculty of Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Cremona is associate professor at the University of Malta, where she teaches Theatre Studies. She is seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was appointed Ambassador of Malta to France between 2005 and 2009. She has also been serving as Malta’s Ambassador to Tunisia since 2009.