The Gwo Pwel

I recently gave a presentation at a postgraduate conference at the Newcastle University Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. The preseentation was on the phenomenon known in the Francophone Antilles as the Gwo Pwel, or the 'Love Sickness' (known in Trinidad as 'the Tabanka') - the ubiquitous and deeply painful emotional affliction that often befalls somebody left by their lover. 

Men claim to suffer from it far worse than women since its cure - finding a replacement lover - is more readily available to females than men. The GP is also bound-up in a gendered micropolitics of conjugal distrust and ideals of masculinity constituted through emotional autonomy. The Gp therefore provides a fascinating social vehicle for understanding Dominican ideas about love, gender, kinship and the ideal of the mature, emotionally robust and independent individual self. I'm currently writing up this chapter on the GP but since the sickness seems to provoke humour at every turn I thought it might be fun to share the presentation here.

I was up until 2:30 am the night before the presentation producing this Prezi on the GP. Enjoy!