To promote Caribbean culture, the Caribbean Student Association, or CSA, will host Color Invasion, a paint festival based on the Caribbean street party J’Ouvert, as part of CSA Week from March 22 to 26.
Throughout the week, CSA will raise money to attend the Florida Caribbean Students Association conference, a networking event for CSA members from schools in Florida, Georgia and New York.
J’Ouvert usually takes place during Carnaval, a festive, public celebration before the Catholic season of Lent. J’Ouvert starts before dawn and often includes food, dancing and paint, although traditions vary among Caribbean countries.
Tranell Graham, marriage and family therapy doctoral student and public relations officer of CSA, participated in J’Ouvert many times in Barbados. She said that she remembers getting up at 3 a.m. and dressing in white, listening to bands, getting her clothes messed up with paint and chocolate, and eating breakfast at around 9 a.m. after the party cooled down.
“You get to be free,” Graham said. “No one is judging you because everyone is dirty the same way. You’re all going to look a mess by the end of the morning.”
Graham said that, in Barbados, J’Ouvert celebrates the end of the sugarcane season.
“Color Invasion will be a combination of different cultures’ versions of J’Ouvert,” she said. “They’ll each get to put their own touch on it.”
Shanae Brown, junior criminal justice major and secretary of CSA, said that the purpose of CSA is to be a home away from home for Caribbean students.
“We want them to always feel comfortable and know that even though they’re in a new place feeling lost, there are people with the same background as them,” she said.
She also compared J’Ouvert to Waterworks, the annual paint party hosted by the Undergraduate Student Government Association, and said that CSA Week will help CSA become more active on campus.
For Graham, CSA Week is a way to expose NSU to other cultural traditions and to bring awareness to CSA.
“We want NSU to see what we do and what our culture is,” she said. “By coming to our events, they can see what we’re all about. You can see both our differences and our similarities.”
CSA Week is open to all NSU students.
Schedule of CSA Week events
March 22: Professional Development Forum 5-6 p.m. @ DeSantis 2057
March 23: Caribbean Potluck 12 p.m. @ DeSantis 1047
March 24: Soca, Dancehall and Latin Dance Class 6-8 p.m. @ Mailman Auditorium
March 25: Caribbean Life Forum 6-9 p.m. @ Commons 113
March 26: Color Invasion (J’Ouvert) 8 a.m.-12 p.m. @ Alvin Sherman Library Quad
Photo Credit: S. Brown
