Framing a fiscal/cultural micro-encounter: value added tax meets calypso in Dominica

This article focuses on the performance of the calypso song VAT on You', as a response to the introduction into Dominica of the value added tax (VAT). The article applies a set of concepts to frame and so enhance our understanding of the event in terms of global history. Both calypso and VAT have extended histories and this performance represents an unusual meeting of earlier and current forces of globalisation. The conclusion assesses the helpfulness of the framing concepts longue duree,' continuities, centring, class divisions and micro-resistance, and assesses the song's contribution to such resistance