Jab Jab in Grenada: Race in Resistance and Reimagination

ABSTRACT

Jab Jab in Grenada is more than a festive masquerade—it is a symbol of enduring resistance, not as a fixed reaction, but as a dynamic, embodied process rooted in identity, micromobilization, and the expansive articulations of Blackness. Through its enigmatic costume, incantatory chants, ecstatic dances, and spirited music, it expresses a historical and socio‐political struggle that transcends mere performance and becomes an embodied critique of systems of power that continue to influence Caribbean societies. Centering the role of anti‐blackness in cultural resistance is essential to understanding embodiment as a legitimate mode of knowing that challenges colonial hierarchies and meaning. As a medium to articulate Blackness in the wake of slavery, Jab Jab ordains the body as both archive and instrument. It surfaces the multitudes of Blackness as more than merely an opposition to whiteness, but also textured by joy, opacity, and creativity. With interlocutor‐derived knowledge through wake‐work, August 2023–2024, this article analyzes the cultural, political, and social meanings ascribed to Jab Jab by Grenadians, uncovering how Jab Jab's persistence is more than resistance; it is reimagination. This project positions Jab Jab as an epistemological intervention into how Black cultural resistance practices endure and drive transformation.