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Mardi Gras thus provides a case study of the complexities of cultural change. Carnival was not merely a diversion, or even a simple reflection of society. Cross-dressing, racial disguise, and manipulation of carnivalesque symbols reveal a struggle over the meaning of masculinity and femininity in a racialized society.
Karen Leathem
To perform also means, though often more secretly, to reinvent.
Joseph Roach
Multi-faceted and dynamic, despite its reliance on core traditions, Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a complex series of events that illuminates struggles over class, gender, and race.1 One of the few studies of New Orleans Mardi Gras asserts that, "while there is community-wide maskery and enjoyment, Mardi Gras and Carnival have a pervasive upper-class association" (Raabe 1975:16). Since 1975, however, Mardi Gras has evolved. A comparative study of three Mardi Gras carnival organizations or krewes-including the most celebrated group, Rex; its tailcoats, the truck parades; and a relatively new women's krewe, Muses-this article focuses on the impact of gender in these primarily white organizations. Examining these three krewes reveals the increasingly active role of women in New Orleans Mardi Gras over time. While women's roles vary widely, ideas about gender shape the participants' experience of the festivities.
Considering three established krewes together reveals not only salient differences, but also the commonalities of tradition that make all three representative of New Orleans Mardi Gras's predominantly white krewes' adaptability. As I note at the end of this essay, the first version of which was written before Hurricane Katrina, the devastated city continued with Mardi Gras, with varying effects on the participants analyzed here. The krewes' continuance, even in the face of overwhelming tragedy, suggests the importance and meaning of these practices for the participants.
Thanks to a special issue of Journal of American Folklore (Spring 2001), a number of articles, documentaries, and book chapters, many folklorists know a great deal about Cajun Mardi Gras, including issues of gender and race raised by changing rituals and practices. But New Orleans Mardi Gras, often derided as too commercial, also has its folk side. In interviews, my subjects reveal a sense of self-awareness about the importance of their krewe's rituals. The most famous of all krewes, Rex is also the longest running (since 1872) of the social...